Where to find great photos from around Oregon

For great photos of Oregon, like the one below, and travel information go to National Geographic Travel

Cape Arago State Park

pink martini and the decemberists

Portland has a great music scene with everything you could want and then there are the eclectic and unique groups that manage to make it big like the two that I post below.

The first track is the first song put out by Pink Martini that went to the top of the charts in France. If you couldn't guess, it is in French. Not all of their music is in French. Sometimes it's in English, sometimes, Spanish, Italian, and even Russian. Needless to say, they have an international following.

The second track is from a group called The Decemberists. They first made it big with troubadour style ballads—like songs from another century but put to modern instruments and sounds. On their latest album, they changed to more standard pop songs but but still have their unique way with words. This is one of their more recent songs. I preferred to just stream the soundtrack but could only find videos to embed.

mount hood

Mount Hood Sunset by Sean Haselden

Mount Hood lies east of Portland and it doesn't matter how long you have lived there, you look for it every day and get excited when you see a glimpse on those rainy, cloudy winter days that can be so dreary. It would take me an hour and half to get there by car. In the winter, you have to put chains on the tires if you don't have all-wheel drive and snow tires. That is quite an experience, pulling over to put on chains while the snow falls endlessly. My children loved it from the comfort of the car while I laid down the chains, moved the car into position and put the chains on afterwards. I would have to do the reverse when we came back down. And of course, they couldn't wait to go skiing while their flatlander mother relaxed at Timberline Lodge, built by the WPA during the Great Depression. The lodge is the highest point you can drive to on Mount Hood and they have great skiing there even when no other ski resort on the mountain has snow. Because of the glacier on Mount Hood, you can ski all year round.

I found both of these photos on the Timberline Lodge website. They have a strong community and encourage their clients to share with each other through their website. They can post photos and videos. There are some amazing shots. It's a great example of using Web 2.0 tools as both a community builder and marketing tool. This view is from up the slope and behind the lodge looking south at the Cascade Range.

Early Blue Hour by Janice L

portlandia: something for everyone

My previous blog showed the idealistic, serious, earth-loving type of Portlander that can be found everywhere. However, what I love about the city is the variety of quirky, crazy people who congregate there. You can find something for every fringe group. I once went back to visit and planned to meet some friends of mine at a local bar. I called an hour ahead to reserve a table for 12 of us and was told that there might not be room because the "Pirates were in town." I had no idea what they were talking about. My friend told me that yes the pirates of Seattle and Oregon gather once a month in Portland and take over the town, acting raucous and piratey. Supposedly the Seattle pirates sail down (although I bet a few of them cruise down IH 5 on 4 wheels) and meet their Portland comrades and they proceed to drink and party all weekend in their pirate get-up. We saw plenty of pirates that night.

The show Portlandia creates hilarious caricatures of the different types of people who live in Portland. The first show started with this song which captures it well. Enjoy.

reason to be here

While the name of this blog is purely sentimental, I have created it really as an exercise to learn to use this tool both for adult learning and to explore how to work with blogs in my profession. While I may muse about what I love in the Northwest, this is an opportunity to explore the most effective way to communicate with this medium. I am not someone who likes to put her thoughts out in the world. I much prefer reading what others have to say.

That said, I will experiment here and post a video of a really cool community farm located in Portland, Oregon. It's called Tryon Life Community Farm. I hope you enjoy the video.