May 2015 – Page 2 – Willem's Planet

May 10, 2015

Saturday/ tranquil weather

There are reports of heavy downpours and tornadoes in the central parts of the USA this weekend – but here in the Pacific Northwest we are enjoying mild and tranquil weather.

IMG_7797 sm — A scene at dusk in Volunteer Park on Friday night. The Asian Art Museum is on the right.

May 9, 2015May 9, 2015

Friday/ the Relativity Express

Check out the pages from my Time-Life Science Library book that I bought for $7 from Amazon. I remember the book from when I was growing up, and I wanted it especially for the explanation of the effects of relativity, illustrated by a fantastical train called the Relativity Express and the doings of the evil Agent X. The Relativity Express will get you there in a flash : it travels at ¾ the speed of light !

May 7, 2015

Thursday/ time to go

It’s Thursday again, and at 1.30 pm sharp it was time for me to pack up for the drive to San Francisco International airport.

IMG_7786 sm2 — Here’s the part of the Bay Bridge complex that is closest to downtown San Francisco.

IMG_7793 sm — This Air New Zealand Boeing 777 is scheduled for a 9.45 pm departure southwest across the Pacific to Aukland. It’s a 14 hr flight.

May 6, 2015

Tuesday/ a Jimmy lunch

What’s a Jimmy lunch? Why, it’s a lunchbox from the sandwich franchise Jimmy Johns. I would say my lunch made for a classic American lunch : a turkey sandwich (with a pickle), a bag of chips and a cookie. No soda pop for me, though. Too much sugar and therefore verboten.

May 5, 2015

Monday/ back to the salt mine

Weekend’s over! .. it was back to the ‘salt mine’ for me on Monday.

I finally made it to SFO airport by 11.00 am on Monday morning, a little later than usual .. morning fog made for an air traffic control hold for our flight.

May 3, 2015

Sunday/ back to Seattle

So .. our long weekend getaway came to an end, the way it always does. We had some time to spare between checking out at the hotel and leaving from Portland’s Union Station, so we walked over to the Pearl District nearby.

IMG_3807 sm — This is in the Pearl District, just north of downtown Portland. It has many apartment buildings and shady trees further up .. and street cars to hop on to, to go downtown with.

IMG_3831 sm — Some grain silos and train cars on the track. The brown colors and the thin semi-circular line shadows made me take the picture.

IMG_3833 sm — The cone shaped construction houses Tacoma’s (art) Museum of Glass.

May 3, 2015May 10, 2015

Saturday/ more Portland

These pictures are from Saturday night. The neon rose is from a bike repair shop on the waterfront on the Willamette river.

IMG_3734 sm — Here’s the Willamette river by downtown Portland at night time. That’s an almost-full moon in the sky.

IMG_3767 sm — We did not make it into the Portland Outdoor Store even though it was just a block away from the hotel.

May 2, 2015May 2, 2015

Friday/ downtown Portland

Here are some pictures from Friday. We found lots to look at, and things to do, close to the hotel in downtown Portland. The weather was sunny and mild and we just went on a walkabout, stopping at different places.

IMG_7670 sm — We’re on the banks of the Willamette river, and just in time to see the drawbridge open up for a barge that needs to pass through underneath.

5-2-2015 4-02-19 PM — Here is a street car that stopped at a plaza close to the University of Portland. I could not fit the street car in one frame and so I clicked three times instead !

IMG_7675 sm — Here is Starbucks’s mug for the city of Portland, also called the City of Roses.

IMG_7694 sm — This was our lunch spot, called Huber’s. It is billed as the city’s oldest restaurant, some 178 years old. Check out the cool lead and glass skylights.

IMG_3643 sm — This is the famous Voodoo Doughnut Store. Most mornings the line of patrons stretches around the corner.

IMG_7702 sm — This offering from Voodoo Doughnut has chocolate, crushed Oreo cookie and caramel on.

IMG_3626 sm — We found this happy group of Portland dancers in one of the plazas in the city. They look Polish or East Euopean to me, but the sign just called them ‘The Portland dancers’.

IMG_7704 sm — This is the chalkboard from Powell’s bookstore. (It is a very large and unique bookstore. If it ever closes, civilization as we know it will have come to an end).

IMG_3664 sm — Friday was May 1, International Workers’ Day,and this small group made a go of it to protest working conditions, wages and the USA’s immigration policies. There was no serious confrontations or violence. (Not so in Seattle, where cars were damages and protesters and police were injured).

May 1, 2015May 1, 2015

Thursday/ to Portland by train

Amtrak cascades — Here is the Amtrak Cascades route down to Portland. It takes 3 hrs 40 mins.

IMG_3547 sm — Approaching the Tacoma Narrows bridge – two bridges actually : the old one and the new one right next to each other. The old one dates from 1950 and the new one opened in 2007. The original bridge from 1940 collapsed when winds amplified the natural frequency of the bridge movement. We were shown a clip of this when I was an engineering student in the 1980s !

IMG_7644 sm — This is just a beautiful brick-red truss bridge right at Portland Station after our arrival.

IMG_7647 sm — Our train was the Mt. Jefferson. The train is still south-bound and the passengers for Eugene, Oregon are already boarding.

IMG_7658 sm — And here is Portland Station. Our hotel is walking distance from the station, so we did not even need to get a cab.

Five of us are making a long weekend of it a going to Portland by train, and stay in a hotel in downtown Portland and walk around and just relax. The Amtrak Cascades train gets one there in just under 4 hours. Yes, one can drive down in slightly less time, but the train is relaxing and there is no traffic to deal with.