I can’t remember the exact location where I took this photo, it is somewhere in northern part of Oregon coast. I think it is somewhere between Canon Beach and Rockaway Beach, but I might be mistaken. Even in the middle of the summer that water is very cold, those surfers really into surfing. Personally I have never tried any water sports in cold Pacific ocean waters, so my hat goes off to them. I’m sure wet suits help a lot, but still it is cold water in northern part of Oregon.
This is from my recent short visit to Portland. I came in late afternoon, stayed there one night and then headed back to Seattle. According to every local that I had a chance to interact on my short photo walk it is very unusual to have clear day in the middle of the winter. So a lot of them enjoyed nice weather and I guess I was lucky too. Clouds were slowly coming in and the following morning we had full overcast with rain.
Portland downtown is not as big as other nearby large cities, it has only a few tall buildings, and they are spread around the downtown area, so it does not have the same “big city” photo ops as Seattle or New York city, but it is very easy to get around it with free tram system and abundance of great restaurants to eat at.
If you ever decide to visit Mt Hood, make sure to go there via Hood River. From Portland take scenic roads to Hood River, then from there take Hood River HW (HW35) to the Mt Hood. But don’t just drive it all the way straight, take some exits and explore the Hood River Valley – it is pretty and full with farms producing pears, lavender and many other fruits. If you like one of the best huckleberry jams, then this is the place to buy some.
From many of these farms you’ll be able to see Mt Hood, just like in this photo. We stopped at the farm called “Lavender Valley” to see real growing lavender – first one for me! Real fresh lavender smells pretty nice and you can get some from the shop for your house or buy some lavender oils as well.
Thank you everyone for your comments, I appreciate it very much. btw, you can click on the photo if you like to see it in higher resolution with a lot more details.
Yesterday I posted an image from a very hot place. So in todays post it almost feels appropriate to post an image from an opposite spectrum, from somewhere really cold. Mt Hood in Oregon is perfect candidate for it and I have photo that will fit the bill. This photo was taken very recently during my short visit to pacific north west. I took a ton of photos over one day period, hopefully many will provide slightly different perspective so I can share them without too much repeat of the same scene <sigh>.
This photo was taken about 30 minutes before sunset. I was staying overnight at the Timberline Lodge and went for some hiking before sunset and then the following morning during sunrise. As you can see I’m very near the top of the Mt Hoot alpine, this was taken somewhere midway of the last lift line that takes you up the mountain. They close lifts at 4PM, with sunset at around 5:10PM I was all along up there on the mountain. Pretty cool.
Most of you know it, but here is quick reminder, if you want to see any of my images in higher resolution then all you need to do is to click on it. They will open up from my photo gallery at smugmug.com. Enjoy!
Last night I spent in Portland Oregon. According to weather reports today will be overcast with 90% chance rains. And they are right, outside is all grey with some rain already. So this morning I didn’t even bother of trying to see if there will be any type of sunrise. I woke up every 20 minutes or so and looked through my 16th floor hotel window to see how bad it is, just to see more rain. Then imagine my surprise when I saw this out of my window. Full rainbow (could not even fit it into my super wide lens). I don’t remember when I saw a full rainbow, many many years ago.
I think Portland was smiling at me, was saying good morning and tried to excuse itself for Northwest winter weather.
It lasted about 5 minutes and then it disappeared, back to the grey and dull skies with more rain. Ok time to go get some Starbucks now.
