Some weeks ago I went to “America’s Largest Christmas Bazaar” at the EXPO. I had planned it for a while. I had a postcard style ad at home that I picked up at the Portland SkiFever Ski & Snowboard Show 2009 with my brother. When he heard about my trip to the Christmas Bazaar he said, “You actually went to that?” Whatever. I like seeing all sorts of things. Maybe you do too. Thanks to my down-the-street neighbor and friend, Jonna, for being willing to go with me. Also thanks for being a good sport about being in some photos, which is more than can be said for the Obama a-hole at the show.

After the show I drove under the freeway to nearby PIR to see the “Winter Wonderland” lights I always see advertised. Mostly I just wanted to drive on the track. Verdict? The lights are in disrepair, outdated, and overpriced. I was still very happy to be on the racetrack, even if it was at 3 mph following minivans. I just absolutely positively must find a way to get a car for track days and/or racing out there. Anyway, check out a whole lot of photos.

P.S. Geese? Yes, I have a difficult time not stopping for giant flocks of birds.

These thumbnails are just a preview. Click on them to see the post.
I took these on December 6th, 2009. There are 196 photos. Hey, I narrowed it down from over 250.

This is a link to the official website.
http://www.expochristmasbazaar.com/

 

I was showing Jonna around the area up there along I-5 near the river. I drove through Delta Park and there was a large flock of geese there. I could not help stopping to check them out. It was freezing cold and windy out, but worth it.

On to the Bazaar. There were tons and tons of things to look at. As usual I did not have much time and had to hurry. It was dim in there and many of my photo came out blurry. I deleted a lot of those but apologize about those remaining. I wanted to share as much as possible. It was bad enough to remove the ones I did, many of interesting booths.

I am tired right now so will have few captions and comments. At least first time through maybe just click to open the photos in slideshow and flip through.

I will stop here to say one more time what a rude jerk the guy selling Obama crap was. He was one of only two people the whole day who had a severe problem with me taking a photo. I was polite but he got all hostile and told me to buy something but NO PHOTOS! What was his problem? Maybe it is bootlegging like at concerts. More likely he is just one more a-hole who cares only about profit and not a bit about “Hope and Change”. I offer a great big SCREW YOU! to Mr. Obama stuff salesman.

I really liked the rock animals, especially the ones where the rocks had been chosen for correct shapes. The woman selling them was very nice. (unlike Mr. Obama)

Those lamps seemed very gorgeous until I realized they are made of leather. That makes them a bit grosser. Beautiful style though.

After basically rushing through a bazillion booths they were closing and it was time to move on. I headed over to PIR, paid too much money, took the Christmas music CD they loan you to listen too while driving past the displays (because it has ads in between songs), turned off my headlights (which they tell you to do), and drove onto the PIR track for the first time ever. It made me smile. I wanted to pass everyone.

Couple of things; they make you drive the wrong way on the track, (opposite race traffic direction), and the lights did not go all the way around the track. I was disappointed by that. I wanted to drive through the festival curves.

Lastly I apologize for the blurry photos. We were told not to stop (but I did anyway just like everyone else) so I had to really hurry the shots, in the dark, from a running vehicle. Most of the photos were totally unusable. I had to leave many poor ones in.

These photos are pretty dark so You really have to view them larger to see them.

That is where cars line up to get on the track during track days. As I said, minivans a a few miles per hour, not the same.

As cheesy as most of the displays were, I rather liked them better with some motion, like this.

See? Which one is more fun?

I have photos of the rumble strip because previous to that night I had not seen them closely and did not know they were so raised like that. I thought they were smoother. Not even close.

I like the second one where I purposely let the lights blur. It looks like jumping to warp speed/hyperspace in science fiction.

On the way home I stopped in front of a house here in Forest Grove to take pictures of their lights. That is when I got the idea to enjoy holiday lights and capture them to share at my site.
Misc. Photos December, 2009 and Holiday Lights in Forest Grove.

My advice? Unless you have a nagging desire to put your wheels on a racetrack surface and are willing to pay for it, save your money and look at lights where you live. Residential lights and displays are beautiful and often better, it will only cost a few dollars for gas, and nobody will be behind you wanting you to hurry up.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I worked hard on it and even got threatened by the Obama guy. I am sorry for so little commentary on the Bazaar. I am sick today and need to quit now and go home. Hopefully there will be comments. I will respond.