Dual states

A city in two states. Crossing into Washington state.

New phone, new attempt at documenting Portland in photos

I can now post directly from my phone. So I am hoping I can start putting some pictures up here again. We have passed the one year mark but now it will just be "Portland in pictures".

Day 231: Strange Window Display

Walked past this store downtown.....not sure what any of it means, but thought it was interesting

Day 230: Miso Cloud

 This fun cloud formed in my miso soup after sitting for a while.

Day 213: Spring Skateboarding

What a beautiful place to practice some skateboarding jumps. Spring flowers bring people outside!

day 212: Have oven, will travel

Food is mobile around these parts. This traveling brick oven was spotted at the weekend farmer's market. Good pizza anywhere, any time!

Day 211: So Much Love!

Many Portlanders love their bumper stickers. This particular driver loves bumper stickers and, apparently, lots of other stuff too......

Day 210: Verde Cocina

Found this amazing delicious organic, local (and with vegan/vegetarian options) stall at the Portland Farmer's Market. Ah-Maze-Ing! Just look at all those veggies .... and the tortillas were being freshly made by hand on the other side of the stall. I could eat this every day! Verde Cocina's regular location is in the Portland Pearl District.

Day 209: Stop and Smell the TULIPS!

There is just nothing like a tulip!

Day 208: Thyme to Till

With spring, a bit of sun and some slightly warmer weather comes the task of re-tilling the garden. Grocery stores, farmer's markets and nurseries around town are exploding with herbs and vegetable "starts" (small plants). Around here it is quite easy to find Organic plant. Here is an herb cart just begging to be planted and sampled!

Back in the Game!

I'm sorry that I have taken a leave of absence from this blog. I know many of you were following and I dropped the ball a bit. However, I am off the bench and going to get going again. Instead of trying to back track for all the days I missed, I will start with last weekend - when I really actively started taking photos again - and try to stay current. And, what better time to get back into it than with the arrival of Spring! So, bring on the photos!

Thanks for reading.

Day 207: Spring is Springing

Spring is here!!! Daffodils are springing up all over town. Nothing like colorful spring flowers to turn your winter frown upside-down!

Day 206: Sunshine Blessings

We've had some unusually wonderful warm sunny weather this past week! Portlanders report it is quite unusual for this time of year, but none-the-less we all ran outside and basked in the glow of that beautiful ball of fire that we've seen so little of over the past months! This couple enjoys an afternoon on a hillside in the Hoyt Arboretum.

Day 205: Goose Eggs!

 

You can find any sort of free range eggs around Portland. Just look at these gorgeous goose eggs! Perfect for next year's elaborate Easter Egg project!

Day 204: Cross of Flowers

Beautiful Easter Cross at Saint Andrew's Lutheran Church in Beaverton, Oregon.

Day 203: Father Daughter Duo

This Father-Daughter duo was entertaining a small crowd at the Portland Saturday Farmer's Market. Some musicians are hired to perform on the stages in the market, but most are like this pair who find a good spot and then make people smile as they pass.

Day 202: Yard Poem

 

Found this fun "Poetry Pole" in someone's yard in the Buckman Neighborhood of SE Portland. What fun!

Day 150: Food Cart City

Portland has the most food carts of any US City!  They are just wonderful!!! With pods of carts all over town that offer every type of food you can think of, it's a inexpensive and fun way to grab lunch...or dinner...or sometimes even breakfast! For the local "Food Carts Portland" website, click here.

Day 149: Artful tree

This found/tree art caught my attention as I walked down the sidewalk - not sure what it is, but someone was creative!

Day 148: A Fallen Crown

This crown: "The Little Prince" by Ilan Averbuch sits outside of the arena in the Rose Quarter. According to the Public Arts Search Website, "The Little Prince is a partially buried copper crown located at the south end of the arena in the Rose Quarter. It is a piece about imagination, desires and aspirations, conquests and struggles. It is the job of the viewer to create the story that goes along with the crown. Is it a victory and position of honor waiting to be claimed, or is there another story? Only the viewer can say. Ilan's inspiration for this piece was the "Little Prince" by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, in particular, the first chapter where he talks about his drawing of a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant being misunderstood as a hat."

Day 147: Saint Helens Over Portland

Mount Saint Helens could be seen over this great vista of downtown Portland on this beautiful clear day!  I took the photo from the Arial Tram up to OHSU - which gives one of the best views of Portland, I think!

Day 146: Winter's Bloom

Despite the cold gray weather, the abundant rain and an occasional sunny day can still convince blooms to bless us.  What a happy surprise on this cold wintery day!

Day 145: Drake Peak, carved in stone

This building in downtown Portland has these carved stones along it's outside wall that show the different peaks around Oregon. This one shows Drake Peak, which measures 8,406ft or 2,562 m.

Day 144: Parking station

 No more of those coin drop meters for Portland!  This is a parking station - they are found all around town, and especially downtown. You can use either a credit card or coins to pay for your parking time.  Many meters, like this one, have a time limit (in this case 90 minutes) - you cannot pay for more than that and you cannot park in this area for longer than an hour and a half.  Once you pay, a small ticket prints and you place it inside your car in a window that faces the curb. You can also buy a ticket in one station and then move your car within the allotted time - using the same ticket. Very convenient if you're running errands or such!

Day 143: Look at that fog!

You can't quite see how foggy it is outside because of the reflection of the lights in the window, but it was so foggy that these three siblings just had to turn and have a look at the gray skies.

Day 142: Portland is a port... whaddaya know!

Most of my photos focus on scenes on the streets of Portland. But, it's important to remember that PORTland was named as such for a reason. Ships pass under the draw bridges of the Willamette river daily and for miles along the river, the industrial side of the water trade can be seen. This appears to be some sort of loading mill for grain.

Day 141: Chug a chug a....

This giant steam engine is permanently parked outside of the World Forestry Center in Washington Park. You can walk into the conductor's room in the engine. The size is impressive!

Day 140: Costumers UNITE!

I am not sure who these ladies are - an anime club, perhaps. They were out and about, but took a moment to get a shot of all of their shoes together.  In Portland, this sight just simply isn't strange!

Day 139: World's Largest Foucault Pendulum

This Foucault Pendulum hangs from the ceiling of the Oregon Convention Center. The pendulum swings and rotates related to the angle and spin of the earth. It takes approximately 32 hours to make an entire 360 degree journey. Amazingly enough, according to Seattle Astronomy news, this is the World's Largest Foucault Pendulum (which I didn't know until I researched for this post). How very cool!!

Day 138: Subway reading

This is the Max (Portland Rail Line) stop in Washington Park near the zoo. I really love this stop because there are all sorts of interesting scientific facts carved into the walls. Waiting for the train is actually fun here! This shows a random, but interesting timeline and the glass tube holds stone from the Portland Hills (which were carved through to make the underground part of the rail line). The stone stretches the length of the subway station and has depths and age of the rock as it progresses.

Day 137: Portland Children's Museum

I love this cow outside the Portland Children's Museum. I haven't had a chance to go inside yet, but it IS enticing!

Day 136: The Latest Style

 

No, this isn't a restored photo from the 1980s.... neon shoes are back!  This guy was sitting across from me on the public rail and I just had to grab a photo of his fabulous shoes!

Day 135: Martin Luther King Jr Day

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. MLK was a key figure in the Civil Rights movement in the United States. His most famous speech was his "I Have A Dream" speech. This statue, "The Dream" is by Michael Florin Dente. It sits on MLK Blvd in front of the Oregon Convention Center. It was dedicated on August 28, 1998, thirty-five years to the day of Dr.King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

To watch a video of the speech in 1963, see below:

Day 134: Skating in Style

I love the Portland flair and style in this photo - taken at the skating rink inside the Lloyd Center.

Day 133: Chocolate festival

 

Portland's own Willy Wonka! :)  We spend a couple hours today at the Chocolate Fest at the Oregon Convention Center. This is the Pacific Northwest's premiere Chocolate festival.  A large hall in the Convention center was filled with stalls like this one with chocolates, truffles, chocolate granola, chocolate wine, vegan chocolate, single source chocolate, candy bars, organic chocolate and much more. You name it - it was there.  Many of the companies were local. Most had samples. (mmmm!)  I particularly loved this stall - and the owner. He had samples of his base chocolate (which was "everything free" ... gluten, dairy etc .... well, "everything" except for taste - it was delicious!) and then truffles of all sorts!

We heard a lecture on ECOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHOCOLATE TREE with Dr. Gary Hartshorn, President and CEO World Forestry Center, which was very interesting. And were interested to stay to hear the talk on preparing Mole sauce, but had eaten ourselves into a chocolate coma by that point.

Yum!

Day 132: Fire escapes

Beautiful day with fire escapes climbing high towards the sky.  This reminds me a little of New York.

Day 131: Gate to Chinatown

Chinatown is in the NW part of downtown, in the old town, bordering the river.  This is the grand entrance gate located on W Burnside Road. The traditional male and female lions stand guard (female on left - with her foot on a pup and male on rt with his foot on a ball.)

Day 130: Recycled stairs

I love this staircase of recycled tires.

Day 129: Takin' a break

It's cold work for city workers who work outside in these winter months. This fellow stepped inside a starbucks to take a short break.

Day 128: Pay to Park

Most of downtown Portland is "Pay to Park". After finding a parking spot, you put money (or credit card) into a payment machine and receive a small ticket to place in the curb-side window. The ticket lists the date and the time at which your parking expires.  You do not have to stay in the same parking spot for the entirety of that time - as long as your time has not expired, you can park anywhere (street parking) downtown. Most curb-side parking has a limit as to how many hours you can stay parked in that one area ranging from 15 minutes to 5 hours. Parking used to be free on Sundays, but as you can see here, you now must pay from 1pm-5pm.  City life....

Day 127: Here comes the sun

I love the sun! I didn't look through my viewfinder to take this one - even on the computer screen I want to squint looking at that great ball of fire!

Day 126: Ankeny Square

Another (half) beautiful day today. This new year is proving simply wonderful !! Ankeny Square (pictured here) is one part of Ankeny Plaza, which "was once the heart of Portland's entertainment and commerce. The first true public space in the Skidmore-Old Town District, it is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built on vacated Vine St. and Block 35 on the site of the Bank of British Columbia"(Portland Parks and Recreation website). This is one part of the area where the weekend crafts market is held in the summer and fall months.

Day 125: A Different Type of Rose Garden

The Portland "Rose Garden" is actually not a garden at all - as I found when I went to check it out. It is an impressive arena that houses Portland's basketball team, the Trailblazers, as well as many large concerts that come through the city.

Day 124: A Light Dusting

We had another small snow "up on the hill" where we live. This antique car, belonging to a neighbor down the street, is always parked in this exact spot - I think at least one of the tires is flat. But, I thought it looked quite regal dusted in snow.

Day 123: Benson Bubbler

This is no ordinary drinking fountain. There are 52 of these special, 4-bowl drinking fountains found in the downtown Portland area. They are Benson Bubblers - named after an entrepreneur in the early 1900s who donated money to the city to set up drinking fountains to keep workers from getting so intoxicated (as going for a beer was the only way to quench one's thirst at that time)

Day 122: America's Bicycle Capital!

Self explanatory: people bike here. Seriously!

Day 121: Cork Window

I couldn't help but notice this entire window wall full of wine corks at Porto Terra Italian restaurant. That is a LOT of corks!!

Day 120: Recycling Everywhere

Even on the streets of downtown, there are plenty of opportunities to recycle. This trash can stands next to a "regular" trashcan. With compartments for paper, plastic and glass, there is not much need for the other can!

Day 119: Umbrella Man

 This statue "Allow Me" by J. Seward Johnson was gifted to the City of Portland by a New York artist. You can tell this man is a New Yorker and not a Portlander because 1.he's wearing a suit and tie (Portland is generally much more casual) and 2.he's carrying an umbrella.... here, a hoodie or hat is the choice item to fend off the constant rain!  Still, it's a fun statue!

Day 118: Which VooDoo do You Do?

VooDoo doughnuts is a landmark in Portland. This is no ordinary doughnut shop - with outrageous names for each, they have doughnuts filled with maple and topped with bacon, doughnuts covered in fruitloops, vegan doughnuts and doughnuts int he shape of voodoo dolls (of course!) complete with a pretzel "pin" in the heart. Check out their menu HERE.  Talk about sugar rush!!! When I took this photo, the shop was closed, but typically, there is a line about a block long just to get in the door!