Less than 24 hours to go!

Made it to downtown Portland today without getting rained on. Actually it was nice for most of the day though it seemed to be ten degrees warmer in Beaverton (where I live) and considerably less windy than it was in Portland. This is a photo of the Portlandia statue gracing the art-deco building on 5th street. This thing is huge! At a distance you can't appreciate the size or the details, you need to walk right up under the statue, then it just seems to jump out at you.

2007 is almost over

It's December 28, 2007. The year is almost over and I am slowly starting to take notice that practically none of the goals I set for myself were realized this year. What the hell? It's true, I've allowed myself to be a bit more spontaneous than I normally am and that apparently has gotten in the way of focusing on goals. While I don't make the annual, fad-induced "new year resolutions" the way lots of people do I do eventually set goals. I've already set some for 2008. One goal is to acquire a motorcycle this year. I have my eye on a Kawasaki. Another goal is to spend a good deal of time at the Oregon and Washington coast (on the bike, of course). Christmas 2007 is finally over. This photo is a shot of the Pioneer Place mall on 12/23/07. I expected to find huge crowds but the place was almost empty. Not good news for the retailers. Saw the movie National Treasure while I was at the mall. After the movie it occurred to me that Nicolas Cage seems to be basically a wholesome, patriotic, all-American kind of person and then this other weird thought popped into my head. I wondered if, say, German folks have the same kind of thoughts about other Germans, but instead of saying "all-American" would they say "he's an all-German kind of guy"? Then I thought, no it just doesn't have the same "ring" to it. Then I had one last thought before I switched subjects - have I been brainwashed?

Stops along the way in Portland

Hi,

I'm new to Portland so I'm still playing tourist. As long as I don't get tired of this it will be an ongoing diary of my travels, people I meet, shops, restaurants or maybe an art gallery I happen to visit and of course the occasional flower I take a picture of. Mostly I'll be traveling by public transit (bus and train) so I'll provide info on which line I took and the name or number of the closest stop in case you want to follow in my footsteps (so to speak). If you do happen to run into someone you recognize from one of my photos feel free to tell them you saw them on my blog - I hope it will help them feel a bit less self-conscious about being a part of my online world. Eventually I'll figure out how to link to the Google maps gadget and that will make this even more useful and fun. This photo is Pioneer Square in downtown Portland, pretty much at the center of things. Max lines (light rail) border the square to the north and south and Tri-Met bus routes are just 2-3 blocks east of the square. This is practically grand central station for public transportation in Portland. (on a much smaller scale, of course) With lots of fun outdoor activities going on year-round the square has been called "Portland's living room". Located at the corner of 6th and Yamhill in downtown Portland. All Max lines pass by here and most buses make a stop just 2 blocks east on 4th (northbound) or 3 blocks east on 3rd (southbound). Sure wish I could tell you what was going on this particular day but I was just passing through and happened to stop and grab a couple of shots since this amazing display of flowers was set out for everyone to enjoy!