First day of Summer in Portland.

We love summers in the Northwest. Every sunny day is a golden day. We love to show off our natural beauty to our visitors whenever possible. This picture is of Multnomah Falls, in the Columbia Gorge, a few miles North of Portland. If you look carefully you can see the lower part of the fall on the left side of the first picture. The upper part is way up, above the bridge where people are standing.

We also love our quirky-creative establishments. Here is the famous Powells Bookstore, a three story wonder with old and new books. Our young guests spent a couple of hours perusing, talking to Portlandians. Both of them were visiting colleges in Portland, and soaking up the atmosphere.

In this scene, the young lady in the pink shirt at the street corner across from Powells is soliciting support for her cause. I stopped and talked to her, amazed at how well she engaged her audience, most of whom were willing to talk at length with her.

This area of Portland, is an urban renewal wonder, having both residential and commercial units, easily walkable, close to public transport, accessible small eateries and coffee shops open at all hours, and green spaces with splashing fountains full of families enjoying a summer play day. Notice how everyone is wearing comfortable walking shoes, and trying to tan their bodies on this first day of summer.

Yes, this was July 5th, the official first day of summer in Portland!

We took our rests where we could, happy to impart wisdom to our captive audience of future scientist, teacher, artist. (Our granddaughter and her friend have many interests at this point.)

While we were in Portland, The Waterfront Blues Festival, a 25th anniversary concert that lasted all week, benefiting the local food banks(  www.waterfrontbluesfest.com/) was going on downtown, and we took our granddaughter and her friend to the event.  The last time we went to a blues concert was in Long Beach in 2000. In twelve years, our bones have so deteriorated that sitting on the grass was not as fun as it used to be.

The music, however, was just as good!

Last year, the concert raised a million dollars and more than 110,000 pounds of food at a time when Oregon's food banks have faced the highest level of demand. Oregon has one of the highest number of people with food scarcity.

A few days in Portland,most enjoyable, and most tiring.