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 →

One of several exhibitions at the Portland Art Museum consists of cars. -- Really, really wild cars. -- Cars that will make you yearn for the days of extravagant tailfins and jet-blast brake lights. Here are some of the photos Jimand I took when we visited the "Shape of Speed" this afternoon on our tour of … Continue reading Shape of Speed →

The Lan Su Chinese Garden is a beautifully designed classical Chinese garden. It is built on a city block in the Chinatown district of downtown Portland, Oregon, near the riverfront. The garden is a symbol of the strong ties that exist between Portland and its sister city, Suzhou, China. Both the garden's designer Kuang Zhen … Continue reading Lan Su Chinese Garden →

Today a young woman politely asked me why I was taking so many photos inside the small neighborhood delicatessen where she works here in Portland, Oregon. -- The deli is called Flying Elephants and is near the condo Jim and I have rented for our vacation. It was a fair question. I was in fact taking a … Continue reading Flying Elephants →

Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen is nothing short of outrageous. Outrageously fresh and vibrant food. Outrageously reasonable prices. Outrageously wild decor and music. And an outrageously original way of seating and serving the mobs of folks who come to eat here. The restaurant itself seems to be the very distillation of the ethnic and social patchwork … Continue reading Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen →