Bridges, railroad cars and the Portland Trail Blazers

Seen from the Steel Bridge, the Broadway Bridge and, in the distance, the Fremont Bridge. The train snakes along slowly and keeps all of that freight on the tracks. To the right of this sight and across a couple of streets stands the Moda Center where the Portland Trail Blazers play their home games. I'm off on my Trafalgar tour, missing a couple of pre-season games, but I will be back in plenty of time for the first game of the regular season at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder on October 29. When I took this photo on October 25, 2008, the arena was still known as the Rose Garden. A lot of us still miss that name for the building.

Along the west bank of the Willamette River, No. 9

Not everyone at Tom McCall Waterfront Park took photos while I was there. A few minutes after I took this photo, he stood up from what looked to have been a comfortable nap, picked up his bag and walked away. I took this photo at 6:36 p.m. on Friday, March 21, looking northeast towards the Steel Bridge. You can see part of it over the tops of the trees. Notice that gray roof with the shadow beneath it, above the blooming cherry trees, top right corner of the photo? That's the Moda Center where the Portland Trail Blazers play their home games. It is on the east side of the Willamette River. The other roofline is on a grain elevator along the east bank of the Willamette River. I have a season ticket to the Blazers' games and am looking forward to the rest of the season, then the playoffs. Go, Blazers!

Along the west bank of the Willamette River, No. 8

Looking north, toward the Steel Bridge over the Willamette, in a photo that I took at 5:52 p.m. on Friday, March 21, 2014. The fly over across the river is involved with I-5. I haven't driven on it enough to remember for sure, but I think it is where you can exit I-5 and get onto I-84. Y'all correct me, Portlanders, please. I like the three checking a photograph, no doubt. And their shadows stretching to the river.



Looking south, toward the Burnside Bridge, in a photo that I took at 5:57 p.m. on Friday, March 21, 2014. The supports you see on the left are on the section of the bridge that crossed the Willamette. I like the little girl dancing in pink chiffon on the green grass, as well as the number of folks visible in this particular shot.

Along the west bank of the Willamette River, No. 3

I heard the lady in the maroon jacket say, as they approached the single bubbler while I leaned over and took the photograph, "What's she doing?" The man in the jacket with the green stripes answered, "She taking a photo of the water fountain."



Little did they know that I'd also taken a photo with them in focus. I stood up as they came abreast and asked, "Do you want to see the photo of the water fountain?" They stopped and looked and gave their approval. We agreed that it was a beautiful early evening to be out for a walk, enjoying the sunshine and the cherry blossoms. I chickened out and only showed them the top photo where the two of them are not in focus. One of these days, I'll be brave enough when I make eye contact with the subject of a photograph to say something along the lines of, "I've taken this great photo of you and plan to put it on my blog soon. Here's my card with the blog's address so that you can check it out, if you'd like." What do you other photo bloggers think about my plan? OK? Pitiful? Unnecessary? What would you do? What do you do?

By the way, how about that man with the purposeful stride, balancing his brimmed, cloth hat on his right fingertips? I caught him there in the center of the photo in mid-step, the entire sole of his left shoe visible. I love it! And I love that tiny bit of the sky visible between parts of the Steel Bridge, there in the distance. The tiny bit I'm talking about touches the top of the striding man's hat and looks as if it's a feather coming out of the hat, practically the exact color!

Along the west bank of the Willamette River, No. 2

Here's the jumping girl from yesterday's post, with her dad, mom, and little sister. Sweet to see a family out making memories in the sunshine on the first weekend that the cherry trees bloomed. The way the weather changes around here, sometimes these flowers depart quickly, so it is imperative to get on out there and take advantage of the best conditions, as soon as they occur. That's why I went over between the Burnside and the Steel Bridges Friday, March, 21, after work. I had no idea if I could get back to Tom McCall Waterfront Park on Saturday or Sunday, so I put a reminder on my iPhone 5 and made it happen. The reminder's necessary because on Friday I tend to be on autopilot for home, unless the Blazers are playing.

Steel Bridge, MAX coming and going on a blue sky day.

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.



September 20, 2011, a Tuesday. 1:50 p.m. I rode the MAX Yellow Line to the clinic at Kaiser Interstate to get my eyes checked. There was a giant floater in the right one, sort of like a black fern, but it didn't get in the way of my seeing this opportunity to take a photo of the MAX Green Line heading towards us on the Steel Bridge as we crossed the Willamette River heading northeast. There's a gentle curve in the tracks here that allows this exciting view from one train to the other. By the way, the floater eventually disappeared, thank goodness. And, once again, I have found a bit of blue sky day to share with you.

Sky-writing jets, #2

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.



Once I got on the MAX Yellow Line, I sat in the sunny light rail car enjoying the view. In this photo the train is on the Steel Bridge just about to cross over the Willamette River. The two sets of tracks you see are for the MAX Red Line and the MAX Blue Line. The MAX Green Line approaches the bridge on the same tracks as the MAX Yellow Line. All four cross the river on the Steel Bridge, then branch out to serve various places in the greater metropolitan area on both the east and west sides of the river. It wasn't until I uploaded the photos to iPhone that I noticed a bit of jet trail in the photo. For more serendipity, there's the Big Pink on the skyline.
 

I like the blue sky reflected in the Willamette River. And look at all the jet trails!