Saint Cupcake, I love you more than you will ever know.

I have had some things on my mind lately that have made me complacent yet somber. These deer with their camouflage painted over graffiti make me feel like they understand.

Portland would be a very nice place to live if you'd like to be in a place that caters to the actual people that live in a city.

The downtown is separated from the people that live in the city and rightfully so. Visitors and business persons from the outlying towns should be here. Like Indianapolis' downtown, it is a place to network and not to live.

The city as a whole is terrible to drive in, which is great. Pedestrians have the right of way, as in all other cities, but this has a greater meaning in Portland. There are people everywhere, crossing at all intersections regardless of a stoplight.

This intersection with an elk statue is where an elk was standing for a century waiting to hit by a car, he was so amazed that the cars would all go around him that he commissioned this statue of himself. No, but really, this city STOPS for pedestrians.

The reason I went downtown was to check out the art museum. It looked lackluster, small, and uninviting. An art museum with out a modern wing has some issues with me. From what I hear, I did not miss anything.

The area of Portland where the people live is great. Keep Portland weird bumperstickers always confused me. Apparently it is just a testament to the local businesses in the city. Some national chains are there of course, but a great variety of businesses are nowhere else to be found. Indy on the other hand has quite few local places, so KEEP GOING to local places! Bikes are everywhere to be found.

Anna Ardizzone was the first person I had gotten in touch with that I knew. Good for her and other non-flakey people. It is a lot nicer to have some insight on the place you are visiting.

A lot of coffee shops everywhere. So at this point I have been technically homeless for a month. That is, in Indy I lose my house at the end of the month. Living out of my car isn't terrible, but it is cold outside. Having a computer lets me have an excuse to frequent place that have wifi. For having wifi, businesses sure can be rude to people that stay for longer than an hour.

The streets are lined with local businesses and are very close to homes. If you omved here you may not need a car at all.

Most of the people I have seen are rather young. Anna says she isn't hip enough for the city and thinks I am. I DID have a fixed gear bicycle....that gets me into the club. So Portland is the second greenest city in the world. There recycling bins are larger than there trash bins, and they have compost bins along side the trash. How great.

People just look relaxed and happy with this city. The homes look nice, but not unaffordable nice. hiring a contractor to fix up your home once a decade does make it a nice home, Carmel.

A rainbow of reflection shows the end of the night for me. I hadn't done that much today, but I have had a lot on my mind. Finally having closure on a relationship that lasted four years takes its toll on ones mind. It closes one door and opens a new one. I had wished this door was to be remained unopened, but to be happy, the person you love has to be happy. At least I can no longer cause anymore pain or sadness. I'm chasing the rainbow.

Boring, ol Reagan.

The middle of Oregon where the highway lies is similar to Indiana it seemed. Except for mountains in your view, the landscape was farmland and businesses.

This area is the "grass seed capitol of the world". Ha, they grow grass.

A lot of grass. Cows sometimes showed up, but mostly grassy patches.

I guess since sheep and cows eat grass it makes sense.

Loggers making their way towards Portland.

Another wine country. This time in central Oregon. Did not know they made wine pretty much everywhere.

Mount Hood snuck its way up. It looked huge and tiny at the same time. You could see it alone above everything else, but it made it look small. But it is a hundred miles away almost. It's a pretty tall volcano.

Instead of rushing through Portland I decided to investigate this volcano. The views from the roadside were glorious.

There is so much snow up there, and skiiers too. The trails through the national forest were few and far between for just hikers in the winter. If I had damn skiis it would be great.

Being near the tree line made it feel like I wasn't so high. This trip has been terrible on my ears, they are always popping.

Well if I had skiis I'd be yelling at my broken leg somewhere. The slopes were ripe for skiing.

I hate not getting out of the car to view areas. So the first vista I could pull over on I did. Most of the pullouts were snowed over.

This rocky creekbed was a wonder. The light was so blue.

i was unsure of what was rock or water, but I managed. The flow was great, iced over and then beaten back through with water.

The blue light was over everything including me and trees.

Look at these tiny cones. They were on a deciduous tree but looked like really tiny pine cones.

Swingin back around to Portland I caught many glimpses of Mt. St. Helens. From behind it doesn't have the familiar blown out side.

It's so great being able to see both humongous volcanoes in the same area.

The river between Washington and Oregon was great. It is so wide and the sunset beamed off the walls of the river quite nicely. This island in the middle has a home on it. It'd be a pain to deal with but wouldn't it be nice.

The river winded around and caught the sun making the mountains purple. This purple was great. It's sad how purple gets the shaft when it comes to how much there is to see in both nature and the human world. Crayons don't even represent it well.

Back to Portland. I went downtown and I am wondering what makes Portland so wierd. ya they have trollies and stuff, but so do a lot of the western cities. And they prided themselves on not wanting the interstate, but I got around fine on just that. Tomorrow I'll check out the museums and hopefully meet an acquaintance. So far meeting up with people without a cellphone is quite difficult.

The Bigfoot Capitol, by that I don't mean a town hall, or chamber of commerce.

The pacific northwest is making me at ease. the scenery is gorgeous and the areas are just nice to be in.

The redwoods kept on comin, though not as large as they could have been.

I went to the Bigfoot capitol of the world.

For one, I was upset to not see Bigfoot. I was surprised that the town of Willow creek wasn't as Bigfooty as I would have hoped. The museum was closed, there wasn't a bigfoot crossing sign like I imagined. I mean they have bear, elk, deer, cougar, ducks...why not a bigfoot crossing?

this is what bigfoot habitat looks like. The famous footage of the female bigfoot walking in the stream bed was taken a mile away.

So that was a bust. On my way out of the town there were some good sights like this one. Not sure if this persons yard was supposed to be sprayed with a pipe all night or not. the water was on everything in their yard and froze over night to make it look like ice sculptures. The sun was in just the right spot to illuminate everything wonderfully.

The riverbed was full of fish and fishermen. I finally got to see not one, but a few, Bald Eagles. i hear they are in Indiana sometimes, but I've not seen one up close. he got scared and flew off, making other eagles fly towards me. They are so color by numbers it's wonderful.

The road was travelled by logging trucks, though I saw few patches of cleared forest. There was a huge area near a town that was completely burnt though. It must have happened a years ago, and I suspect that the new buildings that were in the town had been burned down. i did see quite a few controlled burns on the way. They were small and pitiful.

I saw a humongous pile of logs awaiting to become lumber. they spray water over them to keep them moist, and the drips were frozen really cool.

The lakes in this part of the country are so blue.

An old town that was abandoned and made into a museum near the roadside. It was prime realestate, Don't know why they hadn't restored them and made them into Yankey Candle Company shops, and Thomas Kinkaide dealers.

Shasta lake was really odd. The water line was tremendously low. The rim was overgrown, and boat ramps went down a hundred feet and then stopped before they even got to water. i wonder if the water is ever where it's supposed to be.

Trees! A lot of trees.

Volcano! That stood out so much. It is the only snow capped peak anywhere around.

Perhaps two volcanoes? It got really cold the further north I came.

And a totally different looking volcano. This one wasn't too high, was really gritty with no trees.

A peak with its top blown off. reminded me of Mount St. Helens. Which I may see by the way.

Wonderful sledding hill if it had a big snow fall.

Such a lonely mountain. Reminded me of myself. Surrounded by trees.

I entered Oregon! I'm on my way to see Crater Lake, which most roads will be closed for the winter so it shouldn't take too long to enjoy. In Oregon you are not allowed to pump you own gas. Huh.