Fleet week in Portland

A highlight of the Rose Festival, which has started in the rain as usual, is the arrival of ships that dock along the river wall. Fleet week, in fact, is indirectly responsible for my living in Oregon.

In 1934 or thereabouts, my dad was a young man in the Navy and came to Portland as part of fleet week. He loved Portland. It stuck in his mind. Decades later, retired in Southern California, he decided to move to Medford in Oregon, partially driven by his fond memories of Oregon during fleet week. And because the family had moved to Oregon, I decided to do grad school at the Univ of Oregon. Etc etc etc.

I don't have it but there even was a family scrapbook newspaper photo showing my dad and other sailors in a bar during fleet week. I wish I had it.