Portland OR

Portland Oregon. I must say, this was my fourth trip, I think, to the area, and I do just love it. Green green country. Water and mountains. There is a fair amount of rain, but it's just a lovely place. People here are real--it's not an affected environmentalism, but it's integrated into everything people do. I like it.

I was there to attend the George Wright Society Conference. They're mostly folks from the National Park Service, but are really focused on preserving parks and places, using both research and education. I and one of my group presented on the community web project I (used to) manage. It went pretty well--we're definitely advocates of a paradigm that isn't yet accepted, neither in the museum world, nor in the park or federal world. People are coming to it more, but it's still relatively renegade. (This is actually the topic of a paper I'm working on with a colleague in Australia, that we'll be presenting at a conference in July.) It was also a great chance to meet new people--particularly some amazing Native Hawaiians who are doing great work--and to connect with folks I'd worked with on the detail to Park Service some years ago now. In fact, my old NPS supervisor was there, and it was great to catch-up. Looks like we might have some good collaborations coming too.


We also had a computer demo of the site during the conference, in the exhibit hall. I took this before all of Sunnie's great Hawaiian goodies made it to the table. (Sunnie was the host for the Hawaiian community on the site, and we brought her in to discuss why the community did the project.) Sadly, I STILL have no photos of me and Sunnie!

After the conference ended, I took off Friday and spent a long weekend with Kati. We promptly made the pilgrimage to Powell's, the world's largest independent bookstore. I just love Powell's. Between the two locations, we spent about four hours that weekend. They have EVERYTHING! And they sell a lot used, too, so you can get some great deals. Yes, my bookshelf is already full of books waiting for my attention. Yes, I was just handed three more today by a colleague who wants to collaborate on a paper. Yes, I'm trying to start that pesky PhD which will mean more books. Yes, I have a box en route from Powell's. I can't help it.

On Friday we also had a wonderful lunch at a Peruvian restaurant downtown--YUM! And we made it to Jazzercise. That was Kati's first experience with the program, and she seemed to like it. I don't know if she'll sign up, but now she knows. I didn't care for the music selection of this particular instructor, and her class was no where near as challenging as my normal class, but it was so good to get in a workout. Too bad that she also didn't really teach well, and I pulled a bicep muscle during one of the weight routines, and so we didn't get back again that weekend. Bummer.

On Saturday we crossed the river to Vancouver, Washington, to go to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. This was not a military fort, but a trade fort. They were the biggest outpost in the west of the Hudson's Bay Company, dealing mostly with furs, from both the region's Indians and trappers. It was quite important in its day. We also did a four-mile walking tour around Vancouver, and found a fabulous Hawaiian place for lunch. It rained on us as we crossed the land bridge and hailed on us while we were in the fort. But it was a great day trip.


One of the National Park entry signs.


We wandered down Officers' Row, then kept going into downtown. On the way, we saw this train moving military equipment. I know it has to move somehow, but was still surprised to see it. And it went on and on and on and on.... The barracks that were used in the 20th century still now house national guard personnel.


Downtown has this wonderful little park, with a glockenspiel dedicated to the salmon. Salmon was and remains a staple for many of the region's people, particularly the Indians. We spent quite some time here.


Each wall of the tower was a different image related to salmon swimming up stream. Below, a quote on one of the surrounding rock tables, which tells of the importance of salmon to the region's people.



So a close-up of this is now my profile on my Facebook page. At my suggestion, Kati did it, and got her image up first. But as Greg said, 'Of course it was YOUR idea, it's so very YOU." I just don't understand why this doesn't occur to everyone naturally.


The bridge across the Columbia River, linking Fort Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon.


The Indians used to dock along the river, then carried their goods over to the fort. Today there's a highway in the way. So they've built a land bridge to commemorate the route. It's designed by Maya Lin, who did the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, and by Johnpaul Jones, who is the architect of record for our museum. I think you can clearly see elements of both works in this bridge, and I like it.



View of the fort from the land bridge, and a view of the inside of the fort from the bastion tower that you can see on the left. Not a huge place.


On Sunday, we generally wandered and ran some errands. We did some shopping, probably spending more than we should have. Of course, we'll both be fashionable now, and everything was on sale....


Wandering downtown we caught this crab hanging out, waiting to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at Jake's Bar. McCormick and Schmick's in DC used to do something like this too....

Then, a long but nicely uneventful trip home, and back to work. Today is my AWS day (alternate work schedule--work nine longer days, get the tenth off), so I spent two hours at the gym, had a nice long lunch with a friend, and am now blogging. I'll Facebook for a while, meet Greg somewhere, and probably do some Spanish lessons this evening, since I didn't get to them this afternoon. My PhD application is in, and I have grants to review for the Park Service. Then I'm off to NY for our film and video festival, March 26-29. Maybe I'll actually get my assignment before I arrive this year!