The Town I Love!

 Driving home the wee hours of Monday morning from dropping mom off at PDX I passed by a sign that has been an icon for my entire life. What my parents called the "White Stag" sign, I call the "Made In Oregon" sign. Of course in 2010 the sign was altered for what should be a final time to it's current state. It was while passing this sign in the dark that I realized that I didn't have a picture of it lit up. I then thought of another landmark sign in Portland that I wanted a picture of. Then I realized that I had to come up with someone who would be willing to wander the streets of Portland in the dark with me while I took pictures. That person ended up being my dad. After a long day in the 90 degree heat my dad agreed to meet up with me! We wandered 40 blocks, 2.3 miles, and roughly 2 hours.

From the parking garaged we headed to the Schnitz to snap shots of the Portland sign. We passed through Director's Park and I got to show dad the giant chess board and there was even a private party in the park...something about Salt & Straw... apparently they're a big deal ice cream something or other... We then continued down Park to Main to the Schnitz. The biggest disappointment was that the Portland sign at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall was not lit up. I snapped some pics any way and I'm fairly happy with the way they turned out. I wish I'd known the sign wouldn't be lit, because I would have headed out during the day to get this shot!

From here dad and I headed down to the waterfront to head for Old Town. We wandered down the waterfront, stopping to read a plaque about the 1996 flood wall! It was kinda cool, realizing that I remembered the storm and the news reporting on the height of the water as it rose and endangered downtown Portland. As we

approached the area that now houses the Portland Saturday Market I asked dad if he'd been down there since it had moved from its original location and he said that he hadn't. As we got closer I was trying to tell him where the rows of stalls were on the weekends while staring at an active fountain! That's right, while the market is open the fountain is turned off and turned on when it's not there! I couldn't believe it! It was a pretty cool fountain too! Dad got a little wet walking over the tops of the jets! We continued down to the "Portland Oregon" sign and I got the pictures I was after!

Once we had the pics I was seeking we made our way towards VooDoo for delicious sweetness! Before we made it there we came upon a couple who were snapping pics of each other. I figured since I had my camera out (obviously not a person who was likely to grab their iPod mini and run) I'd see if they'd like a picture of the two of them. So we took turns snapping pictures and I'm very grateful that we did! The ones they took for me were great!

We grabbed our doughnuts and headed back towards the parking garage! It was a great way to spend an evening and I'm thankful that dad and I had that last bit of time together!