Oregon State Fair 2016 Concerts: Foreigner and Montgomery Gentry

This year I had the pleasure of attending the Oregon State Fair for the first time. I went to the Fair three times. The main purpose behind two of those visits was to enjoy the concerts.  The list of acts this year was impressive. If I could have managed it, I would have attended more of them, but in the end selected to see Foreigner and Montgomery Gentry.

Having recently relocated to Oregon from California, I am used to fairs costing $5 to $35 to get in.Years previously I visited the California State Fair and that was never a cheap day.

The Oregon State Fair is different. Opening night was only $1.50 to get in and $5 to park. The amazing part is the concerts are free with admission.  You can pay for VIP Seats, but I found no need to do that. The regular seats are good as you can see for yourself in the photos.

One thing to note about half the VIP seats (starting at $35) is they had benches with no backs. The free seats had backs. For some this doesn't matter as they spend most of a concert standing, but for me having something to lean against is always nice.

Seating for these concerts opened at 6 pm, and the shows started at 7 p.m. and lasted until about 8:30 p.m.  I arrived for Foreigner early thinking it would be hard to get seats, and that maybe I wouldn't, but that proved not to be an issue.
  

 

The night Montgomery Gentry played the entry cost to the Fair was only $1.50. Again I paid $5 for parking.  This time I didn't wait in line for seats, I walked around the Fair a bit first (including getting my free Oregon State Lottery Ticket and an ice tea) before settling in for the show.

As I like a variety of music, I enjoyed both shows. The crowds were energized, but not too big. Both shows even had a pre-show band play, of which I have a photo, but I can't seem to recall the exact name of that band. 

 The Oregon State Fair had many other things to enjoy, which I did as well, but I find it amazing one could go see some truly famous bands for less than $7 (and remember that was to get into the Fair and for parking as the concerts were free).

Here are a few more pictures for fun.

Favorite Photos from Serbia and Romania

I spent several hours sorting photos from my trip to Serbia and Romania. As I did so I revisited all those special moments.  Yet, a handful of photos really caught my attention, and not because of the memories to which they were attached.

These photos appealed to the artist in me. Each captured something I felt was unique. Lighting had a great deal to do with this. How the light falls has a great impact on photos, which is often why photographs take pictures in the early morning or just before dusk.

These first two photos that caught my eye were taken in the town of Sremski Karlovci in Serbia.  I aimed upward to catch the church steeples around sunset and these amazing shots are what I got.

Given my camera is a simple digital 14 Mega Pixels Kodak, the kind that can fit in your pocket, I was impressed by what I was able to capture.














This next picture startled me when I saw it. While at the Romania National Museum I snapped many shots of manuscripts. Since a flash was not allowed, all the photos were taken with the lightning that the museum provided to illuminate the objects. When I looked at this particular manuscript it didn't look much different than the others, but the photo revealed something very different. See for yourself.

Hopefully you see what I do, that some of the writing is in gold and jumps off the page almost in a 3-D effect. Naturally I am curious what the gold lettering reads.

This picture, also taken at the Romania National Museum, I had help creating.  My friend Cristy posed for it per the suggestion of our friends. We took two shots, but this one really looks like he could be holding that staff. Though I do wish I had noticed the water bottle at the time and had him set it aside.

The final picture I will share I took on my flight home out the window of the plane. According to the flight plan provided on the screen the plane was just reaching Canada at this juncture. The way the window ended up angled at the bottom of the picture accented the island. This is one of the better photos I've ever taken out of an airplane window.





Though I like the benefit of being able to take photo after photo with a digital camera and being able to discard all the bad shots (which I had many), I still miss my old, heavy Nikon film camera and the days you had to wait until all the film was developed to see if you had any good shots at all. Yet, given suitcases are now weighed, it's a good thing I can get some great shots with a light pocket-sized camera.

Architecture of Bucharest, Romania

Photographing architectural features such as buildings, archways, and gates is something I enjoy doing when I travel. While in Bucharest I took over 300 photos, most of them of buildings.

Bucharest has some very old buildings and wonderful statues throughout the city. Yet, I did find it distracting that some of these glorious pieces of architecture often had advertising banners hanging off them. Those ads often kicked me from my thoughts of what the place was like in former decades to the more modern age. In addition businesses like Pizza Hut screamed America to me and not Romania. While these historical detractors exist in Bucharest, I avoided photographing them and focused on the ancient (by American standards), unique, and beautiful.

As I walked, rode a tour bus and in my friend's car, I often focused my camera, occasionaly with some nice results. Here are a few of those photos. The buildings I know the name of I labeled.

This building is across the street from the Romania National Museum

Detail from building above

Local friends called this pair of buildings the Twin Towers of Bucharest

Parliament Building or The People's House

Inside the Parliament Building

Parliament Building

Parliament Building

Bucharest as viewed from Parliament Building

Inside Parliament Building

From the roof of the Parliament Building

Return from Adventures in Serbia and Romania

My adventures in Serbia and Romania are now in the past. With the exception of a non-working air conditioning in a hotel and the delays on the flight home, the trip went smoothly with many delightful and surprising moments. I never found the Serbia mafia or the Romanian Gypsies, but I did see a hairy Serbian man and say Serbian Gypsy houses.  In fact, based on the Gypsy houses, I think there are more Gypsies in Serbia, then Romania.

Example of Gypsy House

Apparently the Gypsies in Serbia go to countries in the EU, collect money, and then come back to Serbia where it is cheaper to live and build big houses.

Another Gypsy House

The best part of my adventures where all my friends. They made my trip fun and easy. Lots of details I wouldn't have been able to take care of due to the lack of my language skills, they dealt with for me. In fact, I let them set the agenda for most places I visited, and I left impressed with what I was shown.

Milan, Ana, and Adam took me to the Millennium Tower by the Danube in Belgrade

The stocks Adam and Ana put me in at the Belgrade Fortress

Cristina, Adam, Me, and Cristy outside the Parliament Building (The People's House) in Bucharest

As with most trips, I took hundreds of photos. Many more I will share as I expand on my adventures over the next few weeks, but for now, enjoy one more of my most special friend, Crni.

Crni, My Serbian Prince

Planning a Vacation and Others' Fears

After two years or no real vacation, I have finally decided to take a trip. Thanks to several on-line friends I have met I decided on a couple of destinations I might never have picked otherwise. 

I have traveled solo before, and even took a flight to Great Britain on September 23, 2011 with my mother. She had been a afraid to go after the 9/11 attacks, but I told her I was going with or without her, so we went and had a great time.

Anyway, when I mention the places I am visiting I am getting fearful reactions, often that have no basis in reality.  I will be journeying to Belgrade and Bucharest, the capitol cities of Serbia and Romania.

One family member feared ISIS would get me. I think she is confusing Serbia with Syria.  Another also expressed concerns of terrorists (as if we aren't at risk right here in the USA).

Another family member is concerned I will get exposed to the radiation from Chernobyl.  I have been trying to explain that Chernobyl is in Russia and nowhere close, but the person doesn't believe me.

I have been told both that Serbia is in Asia and in the Middle East. For the record it is Europe, and used to be part of Yugoslavia.

Tonight I had a friend tell me that if the Serbia mafia doesn't get me, the Romanian gypsies will. She did reassure me that I am too old to be kidnapped for the slave trade. Is that a compliment or an insult?

Another friend of mine added the fact that Serbian men are hairy, but make great lovers. I never asked how she knew this.

If you check with the US Government they tell you to avoid all large crowds and political areas in both Serbia and Romania. They also add that while in Romania be careful of clubs and bars where Americans are often drugged and robbed.

Thankfully, I have an adventurous spirit, common sense, and a good sense of geography (one useful thing of being a history major).  I know I will see amazing places and make new friends and have fun. I can't think these places are any more dangerous than Oakland and Eureka, California, both of which I have lived within, and both which are listed in the ten most dangerous cities in California.

 
 

 

Animals, Our Planet, and Twitter

After speaking to a friend recently who decided to call me a "gamer" instead of a writer based on my last few blogs, I decided to write about something different.

One of my daily endeavors is to find ways to protect animals and our planet's environment. One way I do this is my signing petitions and reading a information from a variety of sources. Many of these petitions I tweet for others to see, read, and sign if the wish.  If you wish to know what I'm involved in, beyond the game world (and Ina this is especially for you), you can check out my twitter account at

 https://twitter.com/HHobsonWriter

Just as a fair warning, many of the links lead to information that describe graphic ways animals are being hurt.

Sex Change test of League of Angels Game

Another experiment was conducted among guild members of Lady Evaine and Lady Leona. As I mentioned before the game does not allow same sex marriage, but it does allow a character to have a sex change. So we started wondering what would happen if one spouse in a married couple had a sex change.

Lady Leona's husband was willing to spend the diamonds and test this theory. Our first concern was if he could change back, so the first test was to see if one could buy two sex change cards. One can.

Next Lady Leona's husband went to use one of the cards.  When he did this message popped up: "You are married. Better Talk this over." Thus, he was unable to change his sex.

Though a bit costly in diamonds (which you usually have to buy with real dollars), the mystery was solved. There is no way the game allows people of the same sex to be married.