World's Greatest Hobby, On Tour

The World's Greatest Hobby is once again on tour and this weekend the tour stopped at the Portland Metropolitan Expo Center in Portland, OR. No doubt you are thinking, "What is the World's Greatest Hobby?" Well, here's what they have to say about themselves:

The World's Greatest Hobby on Tour is a new kind of event which showcases the hobby of model railroading. Sponsored by the Model Railroad Industry Association, and also by the World's Greatest Hobby program, the show is intended to introduce the public to model railroading in an entertaining, lively, and family-friendly atmosphere. The show hopes to create new train enthusiasts by exposing the public to the very best model railroading has to offer. The hobby of model railroading has a unique ability to bring the family together in activities that teach many skills. Model railroading skills span from carpentry to artistry, from electrical engineering to historical research. Model railroading truly is the World's Greatest Hobby.

We got up bright and early, got ready, ate, packed a lunch, and were on the highway by 9:00, which is about is good as it gets when you take into account the delays that a 3 year old inevitably creates. By the time we were passing Sea-Tac Mall, Andrew was already asleep in his car seat. We called my brother and wished him a happy birthday and see what he was up to. He was being treated to breakfast at the local Chevron gas station. Yes, gas station. He says the food is pretty good there. We asked if the girls wanted to join us on our trip and Kerissa said yes. We jumped off the interstate in Chehalis, grabbed Kerissa and a Pepsi, and were back on the road. At the next road side rest, we broke out the cooler and made sandwiches. As we passed through Vancouver, WA, traffic ground to a halt on the Columbia River bridge. We inched along for a half mile before realizing that the wide open lane to our right was actually the exit to the Expo Center. Cool!

The Expo Center is actually four large building sitting next to each other and the parking lot was packed! We drove around the back, paid for parking, then began the long hike to the train show - which just happened to be in the building at the opposite corner of the lot. No problem; the sun was shining and it was 60 degrees outside. This convention hall was enormous. All the big names in model railroading were represented, but I was instantly drawn to the Woodland Scenics display. Here, the demo guy was applying stains to a white piece of plaster shaped like a rock. There was absolutely nothing artistic in his application. He just dumped on a little bit of yellow and orange stain and let it run down the rock. Then he dumped on some black stuff and let it run down the rock. As this dried, he sprayed on something and started sprinkling "grass" onto the surrounding hill from a big shaker can. Then he grabbed a glue bottle and shot three lines of glue in various spots around the rock and squished some "bush" texture stuff into the glue. In the timespan of less than two minutes, the while rock and hill sculpture miraculously transformed into a totally believable scale rock outcropping. Wow!

Further in, we found the Thomas toys spread out on the floor. Andrew did not need to be asked twice if he wanted to play. He dove into the fray and forgot we were even there. Meanwhile, I set my timer for 10 minutes and went on a quick exploration of the rest of the show floor. Unfortunately, I was disappointed, or at least underwhelmed, by what I saw. After seeing how fabulous the Woodland Scenics scenery looks, everything else looked like it was straight out of the 70's - very two dimensional and dull. Maybe that's the look they were aiming for, but it just doesn't grab my attention like the three dimensional world of foam and plaster. Eventually, we convinced Andrew that it was time to move on so we walked along a few more displays. That's when we discovered Andrew's favorite display. This layout included two tracks running very large G Scale trains (1 inch = 2 feet, or a 60 foot long locomotive that is 30 inches long). Andrew scooted right up to the rope and stood in awe as the Union Pacific intermodal train rolled by, again and again and again. I think he may have just lost interest in my tiny N scale trains.

After the show, we jumped onto the Max train and rode it into Portland to grab something to eat. The ride was nice, but a little crowded. We had to stand most of the trip. In Portland, we went into Pioneer Mall, rode the escalators, ate burritos, then jumped back on the north bound train. Back at the Expo Center, we jumped into the Honda and raced the sun back to Chehalis - we lost. We finally made it home at 11:50 PM. What a long fun day that was.