Forest Park and Pittock Mansion

Last month a photographer friend and I decided we need to go shooting together again. I suggested we go find this abandoned building I'd seen photo's of. We looked up the location online and head out. Turns out getting vague directions from the internet isn't a great idea. It took us a while to find the trail head, but after a slight detour through Portland, we managed to find our way. We hiked in about a mile to find this abandoned building. Built by the WPA in the 1930s it served as a restroom until the 1960s when a fire destroyed much of the building.                                    

 It was fun to explore the different aspects of the building and the details of the surrounding forest.

After exploring Forest Park, we drove up to Pittock Mansion. I've lived in Oregon for over 20 years and have never visited this popular location. It's a beautiful house, with a stunning view panoramic view of Portland. The mansion was closed for the month. So I'll have to go back to see the inside. We peered in some of the window, and it looks amazing. Since we couldn't get inside, we wandered around the building capturing some of the mansions details.

What I did on Super Bowl Sunday

I'm not really a football fan. I don't mind watching the game, but I don't get into football the way a lot of America does. On Super Bowl Sunday I decided to run up to the Columbia River Gorge to work on a Flat Stanley project for the daughter of a friend of mine. (If you don't know who Flat Stanley is check out this website). My plan was to snap some photo's of Flat Stanley at a few scenic spots then join my family for the Super Bowl. But on my way out the door I grabbed my camera. I ended up being out longer than I had planned. When I'm behind my camera I lose track of time. :) I did manage to see enough of the Super Bowl to watch the Broncos score their only points of the game. LOL!

 I ran into a couple of photographers at Wahkeena Falls. I had a great time chatting with them. I decided to pull my camera out and grab a few shots of this amazing waterfall.

On the way up I decided to check out a new lookout spot I had discovered. I has an amazing view of the gorge. I decided to stop on my way back to try and get a sunset shot. Just after I took this photo the sun when behind a cloud.

The photo below was taken with my phone. I'm not a fan of the photo, but I thought you'd like to meet Flat Stanley. :)