Roses

I enjoy going to a rose garden, even if it is only through photos. These pictures of roses were taken by my son Bryan in Salem and Portland and are posted with his permission. As you view them image yourself in a garden with the scent of roses all around.

Sunset

This evening I sent my son out to get a couple shots of the sunset. I am still recovering from surgery and can't get around very fast. I love the beautiful colors and watching the sky change. It speaks to me of God's love and care. Sure, the colors are a result of natural laws, but where did those laws come from? Personally I believe a God who loves each of us and wants to be personally involved in our lives created it.

Enough of the soapbox. Here are the pictures.

From a pedestrian overpass at the north end of Brooklyn Yard in Portland, OR we see a Albina to Brooklyn Transfer arriving at Brooklyn. A little different angle shows a northbound manifest waiting for the transfer to clear so it can continue on to Albina Yard.

On July 8 I headed to Biggs to pick up my wife and to spend a day railfanning. At Sandy just east of the Sandy River and Troutdale I caught up with an eastbound manifest.

I got ahead of it and pulled off and took this picture at Corbett. There is a place to park on the south side of the tracks. I got back on the freeway and beat the train to the park at the base of Crown Point. However the sun was wrong and the picture didn't turn out. Next stop was Multnohmah Falls.

I ruined my shot there by triggering the camer too soon but I did get this old Ford in the parking lot for the Scenic Highway. Anyone know what model it is? Next it was on to Eagle Creek Fish Hatchery and a bridge I had wanted to photograph for quit awhile.

I think it turned out pretty well. This location has several possibilities. I passed the train again somewhere around Cascade Locks and continued on west. Just before Crates (where the double track at The Dalles starts) I caught up with an eastbound garbage train.


During GorgeRail I had spotted a great location to photograph an S-curve in The Dalles. So I headed there and set up. The westbound manifest was a bonus.
The bridge in the background is I-84. There is a parking lot for easy access behind me.After picking up my wife we decided to stop at Celilo Park and let my grandson play in the river. While we were there several trains went by but the shots didn't turn out very well. This Tidewater Tug was headed upriver. When we left here we crossed the river at The Dalles and went back toward Portland on Highway 14.
This shot is from where Highway 14 crosses over the tracks a couple of miles east of Cooks Siding.

In Vancouver we stopped at the Amtak Station for a couple of hours. Here an eastbound garbage train leaves the Seattle Sub and enters the Fallbridge Sub. Hope you enjoyed the little tour.

Freedom Train

At the Oregon State Fair in 2002.

A White Ghost

That's what railfans call this Kansas City Southern SD40-2. There aren't very many left this this paint scheme. I caught this one on July 1 in a southbound manifest at Moody, OR.

Along the Deschutes River

On July 1 I took my wife to Biggs, OR to meet her sister and then headed south. It was a great day and there were lots of rafters on the river. I caught this one at Twin Bridges on the Oregon Trunk Railroad.
I stayed overnight at my parents place near Redmond and on Sunday morning went down to the Deschutes River near Crooked River Ranch to do some birding. Above is looking down from the rim into the well watered canyon. Below is a Mariposa Lily on the dry rim.
Back at my parent's place I caught this Northern Flicker at their feeder.

Roses and Zoo Trains

Last June I went to the Portland Rose Garden near the Oregon Zoo just to enjoy the outdoors and some beautiful scenery. Here is a picture of a rose at the garden. I don't know much about varieties, I just enjoy looking at them and smelling them.

The Oregon Zoo's railroad has a station at the Rose Garden. They were running the steam locomotive and this one. Here the Zooliner heads back for the zoo after a station stop.

B-24

Back in June a B-24 bomber made a stop in Salem so I went down to the airport and got a shot.

The B-24 was used mostly in the European Theatre of WWII and is probably best known for the raid on the Rumanian oil refineries at Ploesti.

Bird Photography

A Mallard preens on a rock in Pringle Creek in Yakima, WA. Mallards are some of the easiest birds to photograph due to there familiarity with people in cities. In fact sometimes they are almost as obnoxious as rats although a lot more beautiful.