Things got kinda crazy during my travels, hence the blogging silence over the past couple of weeks. However, now I’m back in the UK, its time to share some more experiences of the fantastic month I’ve had. Here’s instalment number one!
My time in Portland was pretty interesting even before the excitement of Shawn and Laura’s wedding. I’d been to the city on two previous occasions, but had somehow managed to miss ‘First Thursday’, Portland’s very own evening of art, wine and music.
On the first Thursday of every month, loads of galleries in the cities arty Pearl District, open their doors late into the evening for people to wander in from the street. First Thursday has developed into a very popular event with both tourists and Portlandians alike, and it was great to wander around the streets viewing all sorts of weird and wonderful art. Portland has a very west-coast arty feel to it, and its easy to see how it must be a fantastic place to be as an artist. One of my favourite car bumper stickers in the city is ‘Keep Portland Weird’, and I don’t think they’ll have to try too hard 😉
My friends in Portland are involved in several cool church ministries, and I spent some time in the first few days out with Sheena and the ‘Can We Help’ team, providing practical help to the needy on the streets of the city. They needed a few pictures of the work they do, so I was happy to be ‘Mr Snappy’ for the evening.
In the time during the first week that my friends were at work, I was getting to know the city better by wandering around between places of interest. A lot of time was spent near a few of the cities bridges, and the pictures below were taken on the east side of the city centre near Steel Bridge. Bridges are a key part of the Portland landscape, as the city has 10 of them crossing the Willamette River, which runs right through the middle of Portland. The bridges will feature heavily in my next post!
