Forest Park, Portland

12/30
Money is getting low which demands means its cheap(er) entertainment time.
I decided to go to the mythical Forest Park. This is a 4200 acre park. It's on big hill and if you don't know where you're going it's a bitch to get there by bike.


As I passed through downtown this caught my eye.
There was a whole series of similar work, mostly portraits, inside by a photographer of the name Stu Levy. Each photo seemed to be constructed from a grid of 4x5 photographs, each one precisely composed to fit edge to edge with the others, generating an even larger scene. Upon closer inspection you can tell they were not taken concurrently but during several different episodes, perhaps with days or weeks in between each instance.
Relevant gallery on his website


After wandering a bit I continued onward, across downtown toward the northwest side. I believe I missed the easy turn off somewhere, and ended up going the extra long, traffic congested route. I eventually made it there with about an hour or two before dusk.




one of the many bridges in Portland. I think this one is the Burnlington Railroad Bridge


looking back towards downtown


it's quite remarkable how green everything thing is around here


ferns, everywhere.


laying the bike down for a sec to get some pictures with the stereo camera






Soon I noticed that the particular elevation I'm at is a borderline area at the edge of freezing. All of the moisture in the air was frosting the trees, ferns and mosses over and you could distinguish the different layers.
You can kind of see it in this photo.




It was getting dimmer out by the minute. Should have brought a tripod.


Frost and ferns






Here you can see a trail down in the valley below. It was about 100 feet or so down.
Something I forgot to mention earlier is that the hills/mountains underlying forest park are VERY steep.
Here's a topographical map, courtesy of google, to illustrate the elevation changes.
It is centered approximately where I was.


View Larger Map


One wall of the trail was a covered with tiny ferns.


Upon closer inspection I noticed tiny icicles forming


It was really starting to get dark and the batteries in my camera were failing so I decided to head back. I'd definitely like to come back out here early one day and bring a lunch, do a bit of hiking.

PORTLAND

12/15
So we're finally in Portland. I've been itching to get since we got to Seattle.
There was hanging out and biking. This city is awesome for biking. You can get anywhere.
Later, Powells City of Books! A new/used book store that takes up an entire city block.

12/16
Coffee, crossword puzzles, Goodwill. Alas, not the bins. Those are farther south.
Went to Red Light and found a rad tiger bandanna.

Later we went to Fred Myer for some sandwiches and a beer. As we're noshing in the cafe area, drinking our beers, we are approached by an store manager looking fellow who proceeds to grill us about whether we are actually drinking beer in the store or not. Hmmm, well it does seem to be the case BUT we did purchase them here AND showed ID for them so what is the fuss? So we capped them (the beers) and left.
Biked onward to Mt.Tabor. The only volcano in city limits in the US.



The Culprits.


View from top of Mt.Tabor, looking down Hawthorne Ave towards Downtown



12/17
Making Christmas cards and writing letters.
Drove out to the Goodwill Bins, food a decent hoodie and a book.
Later we went to a show at Hungry Tiger Too and while we were there I ran into another long lost Asheville expat, Emily. Actually, Emily Stefania and I all had lived together back in Asheville in the infamous Woodfin House about 2 or 3 years ago and after she left I completely forgot that she moved out here.

Later we ended up crashing over at the phenomenal Clare's abode at a ridiculously late hour.

12/18
Something happened here, I do not recall.
It was probably cold and rainy


This is some wall mosses and ferns outside. This is everywhere here.

Belle Isle, Belial

11/29
Today's plan is to check out Belle Isle, an island that lies on the US/Canada border in the middle of the Detroit river. I was doing some research last night on urban exploring in Detroit and it was mentioned that there is an abandoned zoo on Belle Isle.
Well, that is only part of the attraction, it's also pretty bike friendly and there's some good stuff to look at.

Here's some history


Canada on left, Destroit on right


Nancy Brown Peace Carillon Clock



The Conservatory wasn't open that day but it looks to be interesting.


A frozen fountain


Nor was the Aquarium open...

So. More biking and exploring.

Broken stuff


Venturing down a disappearing paved path with the occasional tree crossing


hmmm, some stuff found nearby


Former Tiger cage


Other parts of the zoo
There's a raised walkway around the whole thing that would be interesting to check out

After a bit of biking through the woods on the main road we eventually came across the 'Nature Center' and took a look inside.


Gar


Snapping Turtle


Bees

Alright, moving onward a bit...


There's a golf course here too. So a bit of investigating found a weird chair...


A water slide that operates during nicer weather

Went over to the pier. Found some crab claws!


Detroit kills


James dancing on the pier

Whew! Lots of biking and exploring, so we went to find some decent groceries.
Honey Bee had been recommended as a better place to find food so we searched around for awhile and eventually found it. It's right by the Michigan Central Station, an old abandoned train station that is frequently featured as a symbol of the decay of Detroit although it is not a casualty of the recent recession.

A Vice article on it that is slightly amusing

And some more accurate history



Later there was a spelling bee at Cass Cafe and somehow I screwed up on 'appalled'
what.the.hell.

BUFFALO! NIAGARA FALLS!

11/21
So in the morning I rallied James and Malia to go to Niagara falls. Emma decided to come too, which is fortunate because after yesterdays fiasco with the GPS I didn't feel particularly inclined to trust it, and Emma knew how to get there.
After 20 minutes of driving and getting turned around once or twice we arrived at the falls. Beware! The guys with the flags at the parking lot will try to get you to go into their lots and make you pay $5 if you don't drive past them to the free parking space on the side of the street.

the flag bearing decievers

After loading up on film we stomped over to the visitor center/entrance and made our way down to the falls.




The misty bottom of the American Falls

A nice view of the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls in the distance. Taken from the observation tower.


MOAR


I really wanted to go down here but I think it's only possible during the summer months when there are tours.
There is an elevator that will take you down to the CAVE OF WINDS but you have to pay $6 to go. :(




Going over the bridge towards Horseshoe Falls


Why for? I canna fathom...


From the observation spot on Goat Island.
Speaking of rainbows


Did we already make it to Seattle?


Approaching Horseshoe Falls. The veil of mist from these falls is unreal.
I read that during the winter, when freezing temperatures become more regular, the mist will freeze on the trees and accumulate over the winter until it is fairly thick.









Wow.
Also, if you wanna see the pictures bigger, just open them in another tab/window and delete the "l" off the segment before .jpg




Ok, it is cold now and we go back to the car. I saw this bizzare visual on the side of this building. It turned out to be a casino.


In the gift shop and history of the falls section of the visitor center, I saw this picture. I thought it was kind of clever and reminded me of this photographer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that put post cards over top of photographs. Er, but I can't recall their name...



After that we went back to Emma's place, hung out for a bit, made food and then drove over to the infamous BIRD HAUS.
a good friend of mine had recommended the place and I had planned to stay here for the duration of Buffalo. Actually, this place was really the only reason I came to Buffalo. So yeah, we waited on the steps out front for awhile, drinking tall boys and playing cards. Eventually a character by the name of Darwin came outside. After some introductions and a small tour of the place we went out on an amazing bike ride around Buffalo.
We went over to Squaw Island first and on the way over the bridge we spotted some deer on the other side.


Then we biked onward for a bit, stopped at a friend of Darwin's and about 3 people joined us on the ride. More biking, some beverage-ing in a roundabout, and we met up with some more people to ride with.
This billboard artwork was out front of an art institute of sorts. It would change the orientation of the stripes every minute or so.



Then more biking, meeting people, and shenanigans. Climbing on stuff and whatnot. Hanging out on piers or something. And dumpstering beer and sandwiches.





We eventually made it back to the Bird House and by then it was about 3 or 4am so I
crashed soon after.