Have you heard of “Meetup” groups? If you google meetup in your area, you will come up with a mind numbing number of groups people have started to meet other people. A friend of mine started a “Couples Happy Hour meetup group” for empty nesters between the ages of 50 and 70. What?! She asked us to join, so I went onto the meetup site: http://www.meetup.org
This is what I found:
Portland Weekly Nude, Erotic and Fetish Photography Meetup, Portland Reiki Tummo (whatever that is), Fun, Fabulous & Flourishing For the next Fifty, Willamette Hurling Club, Puppy Play Dates, Portland Fat Mingle, you get the picture! Of course there are very normal things there, but those aren’t as fun to post about. It’s entertainment!
I found my friend’s meetup and joined. Then I joined a hiking meetup and a walking tour meetup. This is what happens when you move to a completely new place. You become different than you were before and revert into total idiocy. We went to one of the happy hour meetups at a bar in Beaverton we had never been to. At first, I wasn’t sure, but it was one of the most fun nights we’ve had in awhile. There were only six of us there (my kind of group), and we got along and laughed all night. Will we ever see these people again? Of course not! It’s called a one night meetup stand.
David and Carol live across the hall from us. They’re around our age. David is an actor and if you ask him a question about his work, he will look down his imperial nose at you for your ignorant, idiotic question. David also does Portland walking tours with a company that comes up when you google that very thing. We had friends in to visit and thought a downtown walking tour would be fun. Well, lucky us, the fates gave us David as our tour guide.
“Stevie and Tom! How great to see you!” sayith David. Those are the most words he has ever spoken to us. The tour starts and ends on the dot. At the end, David walks away with his little pockets stuffed with tips.
That brings me to the meetup walking tours and Eric Wheeler. He and his partner do independent tours for only $15 and no tips. They are two hours but the ones we’ve been on are at least three hours and counting. He is an architectural historian and very enthusiastic. We were just on the Historic Sellwood Tour. Sellwood is an area across the river in SE Portland. Portland has hundreds of neighborhoods and different areas with individual personalities. Since we are on a quest to find our next move-to place, this is a great way to check out areas. We would never move to SE Portland. It’s hip, young and crowded. But it’s also a very cool area. Eric also conducts exciting tours. On ours, two women got into a heated argument about the right to have a garage. Eric was looking from one to the other and said “Oh, isn’t it wonderful that everyone has an opinion, sometimes different, but moving right along…”
Sellwood Puppet Museum. World famous, these people make puppets for Disney movies, have puppets from China, Japan, Burma, Java and Thailand. They do puppet shows, film screenings, have workshops, etc.
This church founded by Reverend Sellwood was located up river and was floated down the Willamette River to be relocated in Sellwood which was named for the Reverend though he never lived there. Great place for weddings and funerals. There were people there about to have a funeral. We apologized for interrupting, but the woman said “Oh, no problem, it’s just my mother and a very happy occasion!” Interpret it how you wish!
Sometimes Eric stops in front of innocuous homes and then points out all the wonderful architectural details
If you’re coming to Portland, look up Eric’s tours! http://www.meetup.com/Positively-Portland-Walking-Tours/
Would someone please tell me what Reiki Tummo is?!
March Madness is coming! I couldn’t be happier. If you want to get in on my contest which I will be posting next week for my wonderful Lipstick Customers, email me at sserleth@gmail.com. I will send you the contest!
Stevie Writes 