Portland Visit

Last weekend I made a quick trip to Portland, OR to visit some friends and do some riding. It was an 11 hour drive from Salt lake City to Portland, lengthened and made a bit more exciting by a flat tire on my car followed by a stop in The Dalles to buy a whole new set :rolleyes:

I hadn't been to Portland since 1999 and hadn't ever really looked around much. I made a visit to the main park with the rose gardens, as well as a Holocaust Memorial. It really is a very beautiful town. I was blessed with perfect, perfect weather. I didn't actually take many pictures because I was really lazy. But here are a few from the park.

I visited my old boss, Scott, while I was in Portland. I worked at a custom photo lab for about 6 years, before we built this Web site. Scott was my boss for a good chunk of that time. He moved to Portland a few years ago and runs a cabinetry shop out of his garage now.

This was one of the laziest trips I've taken in a long time. I dind't want to do much of anything and I wasn't motivated to take many pictures. Of course, that's really bumming me out now. But that's the way ot goes sometimes. However, on the way back to Utah I did stop in Hood River for a ride. Hood River is in the Columbia River Gorge, about an hour east of Portland and an hour north of Mt. Hood. It's beautiful and very much an outdoor town. It's well-known to windsurfers, kayakers, mountain bikers, hikers, and road cyclists. I stopped and got a ride recommendation from a local shop and it was worth the effort. Mt. Hood (and all the other volcanos in the Pacific Northwest) is a powerful presence. And the trail was beautiful, fun, and got me pumped back up for the drive. I just wish I'd had someone to ride with and take pictures of.

Can't wait to go back and spend some more time in Hood River!

The main travel route from Salt Lake to Portland goes north into Idaho and then travels generally northwest through Boise, across the Snake River into Oregon, and then continues northwest up to the Columbia River. From there it follows the river west all the way into Portland. The Snake River meanders back and forth across Idaho and the highway crosses it a whole bunch of times. I stopped in Idaho Falls, Idaho to check out the canyon.

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Originally Posted by Photo-John

I visited my old boss, Scott

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Tabasco sauce on the table, good sign. For a guy who didn't take any pictures I'd say you did a really nice job of visually telling the story. I'd like to get to Portland some day...

Nice. Love the third in the first set. And the second to the last.

I've found that some of our best trips have few photos

John it looks like you had a good trip but you must have been road weary, thats Twin Falls, Id. in the last set. I have watched base jumpers jump off that bridge! Next time you make it out that way it's worth a trip to Shoshone Falls.
Jimmy B

Hey, you weren't too far from my old stomping grounds. You got some great shots of the Snake. I've been told that that bridge is the only place in the US that you can legally base jump. It could definitely make for some great shots.