And here we are on our way to Seattle. We decided to detour down some random Washington highways that aimed towards Mt. St. Helens.
This is a typical Washington highway view - tones of pine trees, big blue sky, and of course a nice shot of St. Helens. It used to be 14,000+ feet, now 9000+ feet. Especially in the last picture, imagine it ascending up to that next cloud line, and that's about where the peak used to be. I can't imagine what kind of force it takes to blow up that much of a mountain.

These kinds of trips are always fun, especially with folks like Kurt. We have no problem turning down a random road that points in the general direction of an interesting place that we never intended to go, and then following that for a few hours for the heck of it. I can't do that with too many friends.

 

....and a few more... The Chinese Gardens are pretty cool. I think these are really gonna turn out well once I finish them.

Some thoughts on Portland... You can walk everywhere important in the city within 30-45 minutes if you want, or you can just ride the lightrail, which is free. There's also no sales tax, which is a lot of fun if you don't live there (they've got a state income tax - a shocker for us Texans). I went out to Beaverton last night and ate some great Indian food. Very spicy - I'm paying for it today.

The first descriptive I have for Portland so far is 'grey'. I haven't seen a really blue sky since my airplane began its descent into Oregon. Constantly overcast and usually sprinkling, Portland's colors are typically neutral; their neutrality is only hightened by the weather. Combine that with the simple fact that Portland is an incredibly artistic place in general, and what you then get is a very beautiful and very somber place, and it almost creates this poetic tragedy - as if neutrality were preferred. Very good for walking and thinking.

I went to Kurt's church today, a young, small church in a suburb of Portland called Scappoose. I'm actually at their pastor's house as I'm writing this. They're a good church - still developing in a lot of areas, but the pastor, Mike, is a kind and insightful man.

Tomorrow Kurt and I head out to Seattle. I'm sure plenty of pictures will follow from that. Till then.


 

And here's a few more, cause I care.





 

Here are a few pictures from Oregon so far. I will update these after I get back and Photoshop these things, but so far, there's a few pics of this huge bronze statue in downtown Portland, plus some landscape shots and some pics from the Portland Chinese Gardens. Enjoy.