Flower up at the View Point Inn on the edge of the overlook staring west down the Columbia River Gorge.
Here's the window washer! He has one of those cool handle grippy things that spies use in the movies when they cut through windows or climb down glass walls. The best part is, this guy probably goes rock climbing and repelling on weekends, both popular sports out here.
This isn't a sign you see everyday! Outside my morning Starbucks I saw this under where the window washers were working. Now they are working on my building, but haven't gotten to my floor's windows yet. Stay tuned for exciting pics of the repelling washers tomorrow!
Thinking about going to Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell like I did last weekend? Forget about it! Just go to City Hall in Portland and voila! This replica was purchased for $8,000 after the original replica, received as a gift, was lost in the 1970 bombing of City Hall.
You can find these water fountains, called the Benson Bubblers, all over downtown. Fresh water, always great after coming from a workout at the gym and waiting on my bus...Soon thereafter, Benson proudly noted that saloon sales dropped nearly 40%—a trend more likely attributed to the growing temperance movement than to free water fountains. Still, the Bubblers have remained famous, functional Portland landmarks, and on hot summer afternoons they are especially appreciated by all."
Here's the signs for the food carts on Hawthorne Blvd. I love the pies one on the bottom right. It's a dancing turnover!
Our buses all run on bio-diesel, but now some of them run on electricity, too.
A shot of the south part of downtown from the Burnside Bridge while we waited for the drawbridge to go down.
This little garden area is just a segment of the many greenhouses at the Portland Nursery on SE Stark St.
The Hollywood theater. Portland is full of little independent theaters that play both independent films and dollar theater type of films. Some play brand new films too, but they cost more. We saw Avatar at a local theater, but not the Hollywood one. I will get a better photo of the facade to put up here as you can only see the side angle.
My Mexican Mocha at our fave coffeeshop in this part of town, Common Grounds.
This eerie yet peaceful fog among the moss covered trees is the real reason I wanted to move out to the PacNW. This is the park near Cape Meares on the coast.
The view of downtown as seen from the Japanese Gardens. Mt. Hood is in the background.
I like this mural in O'Brien Park because it really embodies the initial feelings towards Oregon while pulling in the modern day. Oregon City, which is the oldest city west of the Mississippi river, is only 10 minutes drive from Portland. The phrase "Pack up your dreams" hits home for me as well because I packed up and moved from Florida last year out here. A lot of local Portlanders and Oregonians in general complain about all the new people coming into the city in the past decade, but really it's sort of like back in the covered wagon days with people heading west to try their luck.
City of Roses! :) This is a mural on a building next to the 405 painted in 1995. I'm not sure if Mary Lou Fendall is the name of the rose or who it's in honor of (or both).
This guy hangs out in a really out of the way spot in front of a Mexican restaurant in the Northwest. It's made out of recycled metal. Goose or duck? I think it's a goose, but you can decide.
Just an old advertisement on a building downtown. While not the case here, oftentimes these old ads are actually still relevant to the business inside the building they're painted on.
Well, I was bad and didn't get a photo of an open air market in Portland this weekend. Though there's more or less one every day whether a farmer's market or the Saturday market in Old Town. So I put up this photo my boyfriend took in Cape Town, South Africa.
