Portland, OR

I spent the entire day wandering around in Portland, OR. I found free wi-fi so easily that I just decided to research things to do, mostly free. The sky was looking like rain, but still had some sun, so I thought I'd start with nature in case it did start to pour.

I found a beautiful trail in Forest Park to check out. There were people from a local college collecting samples, and a lot of dog walkers and runners. Quite a nice hike!




Since I'm a fan of zen gardens and Chinese and Japanese Gardens, I decided to actually spend a little money and head to Portland Classical Chinese Garden.

I arrived just in time for one of the guided tours and stuck around for a bit until wandering off on my own. I caught up with the tour here and there, but sometimes I find beauty more interesting than information.




I went up to visit the Portland Rose Garden next, but it wasn't really in season and not much was growing.





After this, I went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). I paid admission and then wandered around, quickly realizing it was more of a museum for children than adults. I went back to the front desk to ask if there were any exhibits more suited to adults and the girl said no. She felt bad though since I had just bought the ticket and was obviously not that interested, so she got me a free ticket to the OMNIMAX theater to watch Wild Ocean. Being a huge fan of the underwater world, I was more than happy to accept.

After the movie was over it was starting to get late but my friend still hadn't gotten out of work. I took some night shots of the city until it was time to meet up. I haven't practiced with night photography so much, so it was quite fun! I'll have to go back out and do more some time.

Oregon Continued

I had a great time in Oregon. It was nice to go out in the wilderness and take pictures. I found that what I most enjoyed, was taking pictures of the chipmunks that we kept running into at Crater Lake.





I guess I'm more of an animal photographer than a landscape one.. but this is ok. I will continue to do both. Hopefully one of these days I can get over to Africa and take some nice pictures of lots of different animals. I'm still sorting through all of the pictures. Here are some below:






Transferred all of the flash card pictures over. Sorted through them, saved the ones I wanted, deleted the others..there were a lot that I saved. Started editing some of the pics, but then realized it would take too long, so I decided to just save em and edit them later. I was interrupted a few times, but now at 10:41 I've finally got the start of the website done. The pictures are all minimized because I want to show the page to modem users and I don't want it to take forever. Was thinking about putting a link to it in my photo group. Not much up yet, but will probably work on it a bit more before I go to sleep. The pictures I took at crater lake and Newport are immense. It'll take me awhile to sift through them and selectively choose which ones to put up on the site. Ah well..maybe I'll just sift through it quickly.

I have to network the laptop soon and transfer those pictures over to this computer too. It was really nice having the laptop.. I love being prepared. The only thing that I'm missing really, is the lens filter kits. When I can save up enough money to feel comfortable buying those, I will. I have to go back to work next tuesday, so I have plenty of time to go on a few more little trips around the bay area and take pictures. It's great to have a hobby, and one that I've been meaning to incorporate into my life for such a long time.

Trip to Oregon

Getting out of the bay area sucks. I hit at least 3 traffic jams which lasted for miles and miles each, got off at the wrong exit, but found my way rather quickly, and finally found my way after at least 150 miles, to highway 5. When I got onto highway 5, it was a straight road surrounded by farm land. All flat and dry and brown and yellow and hot..very hot..I was melting to my seat hot. I don't have air conditioning so I had to have my window down. Bad idea in dry land I soon found, my eyes started stinging eventually, and every time I stuck my hand out the window (as I often do) my hand was just blasted with hot air, then when I brought it back in, it was all dry and dirty. I hate desert like areas...

So as 100's of miles passed, I finally got to a city called "Weed". From there on, things were looking pretty green and mountainous. It was nice, and it started to cool down. I drove by Mt. Shasta around sunset and took some pictures going around 90 miles an hour. Must've been adrenaline or something, but I soon realized I was going that fast and slowed down.




Was happy to see the Oregon sign..only a couple more hundred miles to go heh. Stopped for gas, the attendant was nice (they WILL NOT let you pump your own gas in Oregon), he even went inside to ask some guy how long it was going to take me to get to my destination. Then I went to Burger King as it was right behind the gas station, but I forgot that I didn't have any money on me. The manager was very nice, and let me pay by check. He said he was from Santa Rosa.

Got back on the road, listened to the radio, which was constantly going out on me so I was channel surfing most of the time. As I'm getting close to Eugene, I start getting followed by some car. It goes on for miles and miles... Finally I "get away", and then as I'm driving, I see a car coming up behind me. Then beside me. Then the car drops behind me and I see the lights..damnit... So he stops me, and I make small talk (I mentioned I didn't realize he was a cop and thought I was just being followed, that's why I kept speeding up). He ends up giving me a warning ..yay. So at least an hour later I get to my destination. It's only a bit after midnight so I wasn't too late. Talked a little to my friend who was hosting my stay, then went to sleep.

Next day.. had a lovely day in Newport. Took tons of pictures. Also will be going to Crater Lake tomorrow so that should be cool. Here are some of those pictures: