The Oregon coast near Portland is rugged and cold in August, at least by Florida standards. It is separated from inland Oregon by a low mountain range that looks much like the temperate rain forest ranges of the Olympic Peninsula to the north, only smaller. Walking the beaches there today felt like Florida after a … Continue reading Cannon Beach, Oregon
Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, is one of the buildings used by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco. It is the oldest federal building in the Pacific Northwest. By local standards it is old. Construction started in 1869 and was completed in 1875. A recent renovation finished in 2005 has … Continue reading Pioneer Courthouse
Oregon's International Rose Test Garden sits well above the City of Portland at Washington Park. It is home to more than 10,000 rose bushes from about 650 different types of plants. Its roots date to World War I. An international movement began at that time to preserve ancient rose plant stocks threatened by the mechanized … Continue reading A Haven for Flowers in Times of War
While in the Portland Japanese Garden in Oregon today, Jim and I ate at a small restaurant called Umami. I always have found the Japanese word "umami" fascinating. It has no exact translation into English, although "savory" comes very close. It refers to one of the five basic tastes the human tongue can detect -- sweet, sour, … Continue reading Umami
Many waterfalls tumble off Mount Hood. One of the most beautiful is Latourell Falls along the old Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway east of Portland, Oregon. The falls plunge 224 feet over a wall of column-shaped volcanic basalt. Part of the rock face is covered with a light green lichen that catches light and can make … Continue reading Latourell Falls at Mount Hood
The Portland Japanese Garden looks out over the city and Mount Hood. It sits on the West Hills in the Washington Park area amid some of the city's earliest hillside mansions and the nearby Rose Garden. It is a tranquil place full of simple beauty. Jim and I enjoyed strolling through the gardens this afternoon on a … Continue reading Portland’s Japanese Gardens
Portland's aerial tram is part of a culture of public transportation in Oregon's biggest city. It connects a growing residential neighborhood along the city's south waterfront with Oregon's largest hospital complex located on a nearby mountain. The tram's gondolas travel 3,300 feet west from the Willamette River shoreline while also rising 500 feet to the … Continue reading The Tram to Marquam Hill
The Bonneville Dam is one of the major power generation facilities in the Northwest. It straddles and mostly covers river rapids formed by ancient volcanic flows and includes locks to make the Columbia River navigable far inland. One of the dam's most striking features is its fish ladders. These are terraces of water cascading downward … Continue reading Bonneville Dam
The Columbia River Gorge is a deep canyon near Portland, Oregon, formed by unimaginable violence. In the last ice age, geologists believe mountains of ice blocked the natural drainage of meltwater from the region, creating a now-vanished inland sea called Lake Missoula. Geologists today believe the 2,000-foot-high ice dam failed suddenly, releasing a torrent of … Continue reading The Columbia River Gorge
One corner of the Portland Art Museum looks like a small shrine for the nation's first president, George Washington. The reverential quality is part of the artist's purpose. The American painter Rembrandt Peale virtually made an industry out of his much-copied paintings of Washington. It was both a commercial success for him and an important … Continue reading Rembrandt Peale in Portland
Robert Craig Waters 