Friday, February 4, 2011

Portland Walks: Around the Waterfront

We've taken a few walks right on the waterfront of the Willamette River the last few weeks. Last week we saw a Sea Lion. It surfaced right near the shore very close to where were standing. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it. I was playing with my camera and I sort of saw something coming to the surface, it was brown, so without thinking I just assumed it was a log and did nothing. As a consolation prize, when we went out for a walk this week were very close to a very cold looking heron. I like the little wisp of black feathers coming off the back of his head, very cute. I wonder if it serves a special purpose? 

Heron Heron

We walked along both sides of the river last week. After seeing a sea lion I was in the mood for more exploring. There's a waterfront walk that takes you across the river at a low level, along the lower tracks of the North Steel Bridge:

Bridges Walk on the Steel Bridge

We crossed over there and came back on the Hawthorne Bridge. While the West shore is raised from the water, the East side is pretty close to the water level. There's a few small, nicely designed park areas, lots of public art, and lots of people walking, running, skating, etc. We stopped in one of the parks to sit and watch the sun go down behind the downtown buildings. But my favorite picture from the last few weeks is this one of the underside of the Morrison Bridge, with the Hawthorne Bridge beyond:

Sun & Haze

Next time I'll try to have my camera ready for sea lions, though I wouldn't be surprised if that actually just results in pictures of logs. They can be interesting too.

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