Good luck crossing the river – Rose Festival Fleet week begins today

UPDATE: click HERE for 2010 Rose Festival Fleet Week Information!

The Rose Festival is blooming.

The Rose Festival excitement today and tomorrow is the arrival of boats from the United States Navy and Coast Guard, and the Canadian Maritime Forces – it’s Fleet Week, though I prefer to call it the Raising and Lowering of the Bridges since the fun part is waiting for the bridges (Broadway, Steel, Burnside and Morrison) to be raised and lowered so you can cross the river. Fun! Here are the arrival times:

• Wednesday, June 3, 3-4 p.m.
• Thursday, June 4, 3-6:30 p.m.

If you’re lucky you’ll be on the bus or MAX when this favorite Rose Festival event begins. Trimet has the details.

And check out the Oregonlive commuting blog, Hard Drive. Joseph Rose shares The secrets to getting around the Rose Fleet traffic jams.

The best option, in my opinion, is to get out of town during this whole mess known as the Rose Festival.

But, alas, that is not an option for everyone (myself included). For additional sage advice check out last year’s post: A savvy Portlander’s Rose Festival Tips.