If you are looking to do something this weekend other than eating and watching football, consider a visit to the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club. For most of the year, the facility located at the corner of N. Russell and N. Vancouver looks like a decrepit building. Inside club members continue their20+ year model railroad project, modeling Portland, the Gorge, lumber camps and other Oregon landmarks. The building is open to the public only on the weekends surrounding Thanksgiving, so go now (or Dec 1-2) or you are waiting until the election.
There are a number of fun features. The lights dim and brighten to simulate night and day. As the “sun” goes down, lights dot the diorama. It has a working drive-in movie theater. There is a scavenger hunt for BigFoot, hikers and other details. To give you a sense of the size, here is a plan of about a third of the track. The club that runs this is dedicated to detail and constant improvement. They will hand you a list of what they have done since the last public showing.
If you have kids this is an great (and cheap…$5 adults/$2 kids) way to spend an afternoon. There are some Lego trains that the kids can run in the back of the building as well.
