Great Big Sea

Being a member of the Oregon Zoo has its benefits. One of the better ones is getting free tickets to any Wednesday night Zoo Tunes concerts. We took advantage of this deal this week. The kids and I packed a picnic dinner and took the train to the zoo. Josh met us there after work. It was a glorious day! We sat in the sun and watched a great concert.

The band was called Great Big Sea and they are from Newfoundland, Canada. They kind of remind me of an Irish-y version of The Decemberists. Their songs tell stories and have more depth and meaning. Mostly about getting drunk, dying, and fishing, but that is besides the point, there is a story there! This band was wonderful at getting the audience involved and at one point had a "test" to see if the audience was good enough singers. They played and had us sing along to: Bohemian Rhapsody, I'm Too Sexy, Thriller, and Don't Stop Believing. They ribbed the audience about doing so well at Hockey during the Olympics, and were otherwise funny and entertaining. I will post some links to their songs at You Tube that we liked.

The real story though about that night was the journey home. Like I said, the kids and I took the train. There is a park and ride about 1 mile from our house and it is super easy to hop on a train. Not to mention, my kids love riding it! So, after the concert is over (Josh had already gone home on his scooter) the kids and I packed up and headed out to the station.

This particular station is underground and you have to take an elevator down that goes almost 400 feet! We got there and the sign said a train was coming in 5 mins. Whew, I thought, Great timing.Well, 10 minutes passed and I check the sign again. This time the next train coming was about 15 minutes away. At first I thought I had just mis-read the previous sign. Then a couple minutes later, a Tri-Met employee showed up saying that the train was delayed and that there were buses at the top waiting to take us all West-Bound.

Back to the elevator. On to a crowded bus. We make one stop, which happened to be another park and ride, just not mine. But lots of people got off and I was able to talk to the bus driver to make sure that he was going to my park and ride too.

That is when I found out that this bus driver was unfamiliar with Beaverton. He normally drives a route in Portland. Another gentleman offered to guide him around to all the train station stops and so we drove on.

By this time, Levi had fallen asleep in the middle of the bus. Claire, however, was a ball of energy. We make it to another station and more people get off. We are down to about 20 people on the bus now.

The next stop that we pull into, we can see the west bound train just leaving the station. Some people get off, but otherwise we hurry to make it to the next station before the train. Wouldn't you know, we made it. Everybody rushes off but me. I have one kid sleeping, one running up and down the isle, and our huge stroller. The bus driver is honking his horn like crazy alerting the train driver to wait for us. He (or she) did not.

I ask the driver if he can take me to my stop and again, he says that he doesn't know the area or how to get there. I am desperate. I do not want to wait out at some random train stop with two kids in total darkness at 10 o'clock at night. So, naturally, I told him I knew where we were and that I could direct him. A little white lie. I had no clue where we were. Okay, he says, Let's go.

By that time, one other person who missed the train got back on the bus. She had just moved here days earlier and had no idea where we were either.

So we pull out of the station and I took a wild guess as to where to go, and miraculously I was right. A couple minutes later we were on the main road through Beaverton and I directed the driver how to get to my stop.

It was kind of cool having a chauffeured bus; although we did not get home till 10:45!

Great Big Sea: The Night Patty Murphy Died

Great Big Sea: Old Polina

Great Big Sea: Mary Mac