Take a break. Go easy on yourself. It's summer, after all. An innocent and perhaps even productive way to indulge yourself is to take the Street of Dreams house tour. It's not quite a Hollywood red carpet, or the yellow brick road, but it's a chance to imagine life that's perhaps a wee bit more idyllic than your own.

The Street of Dreams is an annual event showcasing new homes and local builders, contractors and designers. The tour is organized by the Home Builders Association (for which our current mayor, Charlie Hales, was a metro area vice president before becoming a politician nicknamed "Streetcar Charlie"). Local corporations including NW Natural sponsor the tour.

The annual Street of Dreams is also a chance to see what's going on in the home design and construction world in Portland today. Eight Northwest custom builders are presenting a total of nine homes for the tour. The location is a series of beautiful acre-sized view lots in West Linn, and the homes are open from July 27 through August 25, 2013.

In Portland, we're never at a loss for housing choices, but can sometimes forget that there's more being built than condos in the Pearl or new four story apartments on Division Street without any parking. Large, traditional single-family homes on suburban greenfield lots are being built in Portland, despite our Urban Growth Boundary, light-rail and eco-friendly policies. 

The new street is at “Stonehenge in West Linn,” which is an interesting name for a group of homes that purport to be the latest and greatest. When was Stonehenge built? Perhaps the developers are hoping these houses will be around as long as Stonehenge has been.

A nice lineup of local musicians (Michelle Van Kleef, Tyler Stenson, Jason Okamoto, the Squabble and others) will be performing on certain nights, and tastings of wine, BBQ and other goodies will be offered on other days. Tour hours are 10 am to 9 pm daily. Tickets for adults are $15  (children 10 and under get in free).