I Could Live in Portland

Tweet

Except it's not where my peeps are.  Those are all on the East coast, between Boston and Philadelphia.  It's not a bad place to live, admit it.  Except the people have no time for one another, they are so busy texting and speaking to someone in some other place.  If you do catch someone's eye in New York City and ask for directions, they give them as if there were a time limit on their reply, like on Jeopardy.  "Broadway is two blocks that way" and off they go to some other person, some other meeting, anywhere but you, forlorn on a corner.

Anyway, here's a few shots of Portland to give you the character, the feel of the place:

What else but a fountain, and a touch of rain?

A beautiful historic building in the waterfront district.

A memorial to the descendants of Japanese immigrants to Washington, Oregon and California, who were rounded up and interred during Japan-phobia in World War II.  The memorial also affirms the Bill of Rights, which was resoundingly broken during this national tragedy.  Many families lost everything they had built.  The memorial's purpose is to keep the memory fresh so it doesn't happen again.

A fountain, marred by the sign for the visitors' center.

A whimsical fountain.

Proof that there are palm trees in Portland.

Critique of Seattle's Fountains

Tweet

Seattle was fun.  The ferry to Bainbridge Island was great.  Space Needle -- terrific.  Monorail to the Space Needle, terrific.  Pike Place artists' and farmers' market -- terrific.  Walking around, great.  I did all that in one day, somehow.

Lots of homeless in Seattle because of the milder winters.  They left me alone, but it was heartwrenching to see these people whose lives are so messed up.

On a lighter note, I'll be in Portland, Oregon by noon tomorrow.

The Space Needle, as I left Seattle on the Bainbridge Island ferry.

These brontosauruses load ships at the Port of Seattle.

The cafe where I had an Americano on Bainbridge Island.

Going back to Seattle.

Space Needle from the ferry.

St. Louis loves fountains and played with the Mississippi River.   Chicago drew on Lake Michigan for a tremendous fountain in Grant Park.  With all of the Pacific Ocean to draw on, this is the fountain outside the ferry terminal in Seattle.  It's interesting, but...

Here's Chicago's fountain.  See what I mean?

A golden Darth Vader outside the first Starbuck's on Pike Place.

Inside the legendary Starbucks.

Gorgeous, huge bouquets in Pike Place Market, only $10!

The mascot of the Pike Place market, a piggy bank.  Dozens of artists sell their wares here year-round, except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

"Capitalism is organized crime."  I thought it was Occupy Seattle, but it turned out to be a demonstration against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

The harbor from 520 feet up in the Space Needle.

Earth, sea and sky blend as the Bainbridge Island ferry sails into the mystic.

The Space Needle from below.

A fountain near the Needle.  Come on, Seattle, you have plenty of water!

That's better!  Outside the Seattle Aquarium.

A statue of Christopher Columbus with streaks of blood.  A well educated Native American told me Columbus was far more brutal than any Indian.  He chopped off natives' hands if they didn't bring him enough gold.

Public art outside a gift shop.  "Pirate's Plunder: enter if you dare" it says.

Come on, folks, do you agree with me Seattle has wimpy fountains?

Occupy Missoula

Tweet

Back to Missoula, Montana for a moment.  Occupy Wall Street became Occupy Missoula this past week.  People are camping in tents on the grounds of the County Courthouse in Missoula. 

Mike and Victoria are two self-admitted former hippies who are participating in Occupy Missoula.

Part of the protest on the County Courthouse grounds in Missoula.

I started seeing these little coffee places in Montana.  They're all over that state.  This particular one was in Spokane this morning, in the same block as a big Starbuck's.  Love to see the little Davids take on the Goliaths.

I'm Having No Fun at All

Tweet

The Bainbridge Island ferry coming in to the dock on the Seattle waterfront.

I just had salmon & chips down at the waterfront of Seattle.  Tomorrow I plan to go to the main library (with laptop, do some transcribing of notes of interviews), then take the ferry to Bainbridge Island, disappoint shopkeepers there by not buying anything, maybe eat a salad for lunch, come back across early afternoon and see Pike Place Market (including a coffee at the original Starbuck's) and Seattle Center (highly recommended must-see's, including the space needle), then have dinner on the waterfront again.  Thursday it's bus to Portland. 

I'm happy on the bus.  I write in my favorite notebook with my favorite pen, work on my manuscript on my laptop, look out the window, see Mt. Rainier in all its glory.

I could live like this.

Don't Tell Anyone How Great Helena, MT Is

Tweet

I enjoyed one of the most amazing days of my life in Helena, Montana on Saturday, and Sunday wasn't half bad either.  My new friends, Zoe Ann Stoltz, historian at the Montana Historical Society, and Heather (whoops, don't know her last name and won't hold up posting while I find out), librarian at Carroll College, took me on a whirlwind of interviews and museum tours, a Mansion District drive-through, estate sales, and, naturally, bakeries.

Here are just a few momentos of fabulous Helena (but sssshhhhh, Zoe says, don't tell anyone how friendly, open, polite, helpful, generous, kind and fabulous 99% of the population is.  If Helena gets crowded, it won't be this great anymore.)

This iron horse was in someone's front yard, a selling feature.

One of many interesting historic homes in Helena.

Me with my toes on one side of the continental divide and my heels on the other while I try to control Dory and Deuce, the dogs of historian Zoe Ann Stoltz.

A scene from near the continental divide, facing east (I think).

Helena Cathedral.

Public art outside the Holter Museum.

Another iron horse, in the Mansion District.  During Montana's Gold Rush, there were more millionaires per capital in Helena than anywhere else in the nation.

In case I come back...

The Capitol of Montana

A mountain ash outside the Capitol.  The red berries ferment on the trees over the winter and in the spring, the birds eat them and get tipsy and flop on the grass in front of the Capitol.

Jeannette Rankin of Montana, the first woman ever democratically elected to any national legislative body.  Two years after Montana gave women the right to vote, in 1914, she was elected to U.S. Congress.  Her first vote was cast against the U.S. joining World War I, and when she returned to Congress in 1940, she cast the lone vote against joining World War II.  Her vote ruined her political career.  Would that current politicians were that courageous in voting their consciences.

The interior, below the dome.

A shot of the dome itself.

The grand staircase.

Artwork and poetry of students from all over Montana, displayed in the Capitol.

Look how my camera distorts scenes that, I assure you, are perfectly straight.

The stained glass at the top of the grand staircase.

A buffalo skull sculpture at the Montana Historical Society, near the Capitol.

A man named Meagher, from Ireland, fought in the U.S. Civil War, distinguished himself in Montana and then fell off a steamboat on the Missouri River. His body was never found.

Self-explanatory.

A bullwhacker, the kind of man who drove oxen across the Rockies by cracking a whip over their heads.

A statue of a newsboy on Last Chance Gulch, a street named after a gold mine.  The street has as much character as the name suggests.