Flugtag!!!

Four years ago, Red Bull’s Flugtag (Flying Day) blew into town, and Portlanders have been hooked since. Teams of five build dangerous looking (but quite fun and ingenious) contraptions to launch off of a 30-foot drop into the Willamette. Whoever “flies” the farthest wins the competition. This year, we found good seats on a “hill” that had views of who was “on deck,” the skits, the launch, and eventually the crane hauling the spent crafts out of the water. From our view, we couldn’t see the actual landings, but we could see everything on the big screen. There were great flying machines like the shoe, the banana boat (replete with banana suits), a butterfly, a Chinese takeout box, various planes, including one that looked like it was made of Legos...and more. The guy in the picture climbed up on a signpost for a better view. I thought he was going to hurt himself on the sign coming back down. People also climbed up into the trees. First it was the kids, and as the day progressed, the climbers got bigger and bigger. I kind of hoped that a branch would break (I am not the Mean Girl in Portland).