urbpan: (Default)
urbpan ([personal profile] urbpan) wrote2011-07-10 02:55 pm

3:00 snapshot #770; Vacation recap #1


Andy consults the map to get us from Portland to Astoria.



Portland is the City of Roses. My brother and father lurking in South Park.


Later in South Park, In the Shadow of the Elm.


A kayaker on the Willamette. Nice wooden kayak!


Posing with the rental car in glamorous Beaverton.


On a whim we went to Tualatin Hills Nature Park (also in Beaverton) and really liked it.


Although one must beware of the leaves.


We didn't see any dangerous leaves, but we did see several garter snakes! This one was lighter colored than all the others, and hung around for pictures. The others were very dark with super bright stripes, and zipped away before I could photograph them.


I couldn't fault my brother for taking pictures of green stuff. He lives in Las Vegas and rarely sees that color unless it's neon or money.


It was quite dry, but I did find a few old mushrooms.


Back at the Nature Center, a mourning dove had built a nest on a light fixture.

Then we drove to Astoria, and got a hotel. Here's what I could see from my hotel room:

[identity profile] plantmom.livejournal.com 2011-07-10 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow. I don't know how you could get two cities less alike visually than Vegas and Boston.

[identity profile] shellynoir.livejournal.com 2011-07-10 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Which kind of leaves did they want you to beware of?

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 12:30 am (UTC)(link)
Stinging nettles and poison oak.

[identity profile] bosoxmom.livejournal.com 2011-07-10 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
sounds like you had fun in our fair city!! The pictures are nice.

[identity profile] yummykit.livejournal.com 2011-07-10 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
were the signs regarding leaves to warn people of stinging nettle? whenever i taught programs in seattle, it was one of the first things we talked about when we headed into the forest since it is all over!

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2011-07-13 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, and poison oak. Didn't see any PO, but there was some nettles. Far less than I wade through on an average day at work!

[identity profile] elainetyger.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
Nice pix, especially the mourning dove. I like the view from your hotel window. I was only in Portland once before, for the National Puzzlers' League convention in 1995, but I'll be there in July 2012 for the same reason, so the preview is handy.

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2011-07-13 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
Great city if you like access to very tall trees and very good beer!