#17 visited Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose

On the way out to the Oregon coast I stopped to see the "Spruce Goose", the largest flying boat ever built -- constructed out of wood due to the shortage of aluminum during World War II.

It is housed at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. It was hard for me to get a picture of the whole plane; that's about 130 feet of wing in the picture to the left (follow above links for photos and more info). For scale, that's an SR-71 parked under the Spruce Goose's starboard wing.

Its a pretty impressive piece of aviation history with a wingspan of 320 feet (more than the full length of a football field).

Overall I thought the museum was a little crowded exhibit-wise, and a bit pricey for what one gets to see... But I'll admit I'm probably spoiled by the Pima Air Museum in Tucson.

#16 shopped at Powell's City of Books

I've been wanting to visit this bookstore for several years now: Powell's City of Books in downtown Portland. They bill themselves as "the largest used and new bookstore in the world", combining used and new books on same shelves. 68,000 sq feet. Clean. Lots of helpful people. Impressive. Only thing lacking was no resident dog or cat, which all bookstores should have...

I had absolutely no problem spending 3 hours browsing shelves, selecting books, and having fun. AND... if you buy over $50 worth of books they will ship them home free! That plus no sales tax made it similar to amazon.com with the positive plus of being able to touch and browse the book. Very nice.


I really liked this picture of coffee drinking animals (click to enlarge) hanging in the World Cup Coffee & Tea cafe located inside Powell's.

#15 rode the Portland Streetcar

I rode the Portland Oregon Electric Streetcar system to get around downtown -- very clean, very convenient, nice to leave the car parked.

A number of southwest cities have had Portland's transit system presented as a positive model by advocates for local light rail systems. I was favorably impressed by what I saw.

Unfortunately the local Portland news was reporting increased crime on the larger MAX Light Rail system and the need to increase police presence on that system.

Over the hill(s) at 50

I flew up to Oregon last week to visit friends and celebrate turning 50 years old this month.

I had a window seat and enjoyed some really nice views of some of the prominent Oregon peaks. The four most noticeable during the flight were (in order of appearance): Crater Lake, Three Sisters, Mt Jefferson, and Mt Hood.

In reverse order, that's 5 peaks and one "O" shaped crater... "50" Thanks Oregon, better than candles!!

1 (Mt Hood) + ...














1 (Mt Jefferson) + ...













3 (Three Sisters) and ...











0 (Crater Lake) = 50!

my left hand

I sketched my left hand after learning a few things about drawing negative space (seeing things as a flat outline) -- amazing how much that helps.

Now looking at my left hand, I reflect on a few of the things it has done for me in the last 49+ years:

• held my mother
• held my father
• helped me crawl
• pushed toys around on the ground
• petted cats
• played with dogs
• caught a ball
• helped steer a bicycle
• rolled newspapers
• made model airplanes and rockets
• held books open so my other hand could freely write
• opened doors
• held button holes open
• had the trust to hold a nail when my other hand held a hammer
• played a saxophone
• climbed over rocks
• moved me through water
• pointed at a bird
• focused a camera lens
• pulled out a thorn
• paddled a canoe
• held the reigns of a horse
• held other hands
• operated the clutch on a motorcycle
• moved pieces on a Monopoly board
• steered many cars, opened many windows
• stroked a cheek
• flew a plane
• stayed up all night waiting to type a paper for me
• learned how to rest peacefully on "asdf" keys
• held a bow steady
• rested my shoulders from the weight of a pack
• picked a flower, pulled a weed
• reached into a hive of bees
• danced to the music
• rubbed the sleep from my eyes
• pushed up my glasses
• pushed a cart
• carried groceries
• kneaded bread
• shot a pistol
• slapped a mosquito
• held vegetables while they were being chopped
• gathered wood for campfires
• climbed a rope
• scratched an itch
• paddled a kayak
• washed a car
• swung an ax
• lifted a shovel
• played a native flute
• gallantly tried to save the rest of me during a fall
• endured two surgeries to recovery
• held many, many, things steady so my right hand could do the other half of the work
• blocked the sun from my eyes
• rested peacefully while my other hand was sketching something...

Keep up the great job, my left hand. Glad to have you on the team!

#14 Tried my hand at sketching

I've enjoyed looking at a number of sketches in other folks blogs -- its interesting how their sketches capture a different feel than the same image in a photo (check out the blog paintedcats for some great examples).

I decided to try it out myself, starting with a moleskine notebook and the book The Creative License by Danny Gregory for motivation and hopefully some technique.

Very early in the book, without any instructions, he says to: "draw a chair, draw a mug, draw a table, draw a person ... do not erase any of your lines (ink), date your drawings, don't read ahead, go for it!". Kind of a jump in the water and see if you can swim exercise.

So the drawings above are my results with an ink pen. I was expecting worse, but then I wasn't expecting much! Very interesting... We'll see where this heads off to... I guess the point of doing this is to be able to look back on them... I'll only count the new thing this once, but I'll (hopefully) come up with more sketches to post from time to time.

#13 John McEuen concert at Javalina's

On my way home this evening I stopped by Javalina's coffee shop to enjoy a great outdoor concert by John McEuen (of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fame) and one of his sons, Nathan. Nathan's band had apparently stopped by Javalina's sometime in the past, liked their experience, and talked his dad into coming out to Tucson for a concert. I'd been meaning to check out what the Javalina's concert set up was like for sometime and tonight just worked out.

Great concert with John playing guitar, fiddle, banjo, and mandolin; Nathan playing guitar; and a local (?) fiddle player (Danny?) sitting in on few songs. A lot of music history tonight!

Now that I've tried out this informal parking lot venue, I'm sure I'll be back to check out other musicians on the Javalina's calendar. Its nice to see a small coffee house doing so much to provide a venue for musicians and music lovers.

when is a saguaro not a saguaro?

When is a saguaro not a saguaro? When its a cell phone tower. The two tall saguaros in the top left are actually disguised cell phone towers located at Mcgraw's Cantina. There are a number of fake saguaros around Arizona, some of them quite realistic looking from a distance.

Here is a view of our metallic friends from the top of the hill.

... and a real saguaro outside the main entrance to Mcgraw's. Mcgraw's Cantina is a local watering hole / steakhouse / burger place. Nice views from here looking down on the Pantano River (usually just sand, sometimes flows strong after a lot of rain).

#11 environmental art creation, #12 timelapse

One of the artists that fascinates me is Andy Goldsworthy -- he creates really interesting works of art using only natural materials found at the site of production. Some of his art is intended to last for hundreds of years; some to last only a few hours...

I'm getting ready to turn the big 50 next month, so I thought I should go outside and play in the dirt like a kid today... I tried my first attempt at "environmental art" and made two artificial flower pieces using only parts of plants and flowers found elsewhere in my yard.

It was a fun way to spend a few minutes. I have a new appreciation for the amount of time and patience Goldsworthy spends on his art!



I really didn't have an advance plan of attack for these, just cut some plants and played in the dirt. The flower to the left is made from parts of four plants, the one above from two.

There is a very cool documentary on Andy Goldsworthy worth renting that shows him creating his art. One of my favorite segments shows him creating a "thread" of icicles that appears to be threaded back and forth through a vertical slab of rock -- completed just before dawn to take a few pictures at sunrise, all gone a few hours later. He also does some impressive stone work, dynamic art in streams, etc.

Check out some of the pictures of his work on the web and if you like what you see, go rent the DVD "Rivers and Tides" to see him and his art in action (literally).

And in keeping with the "new things" theme, I tried making a short time lapse video of the above. Maybe I should stick to Hot Wheels and dump trucks! Don't ask what I was trying to do with the line of flowers, I don't have a clue...

#10 set up a photo slide show

I took above snaps on a hike in Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah) back in 2006. Visitors drive to the rim of the canyon and then stop at scenic overlooks on the road along the rim or take one of the many descending trails for a hike.

I arrived early to catch the morning light -- really truly amazing colors and formations! This was one of those neat hikes where every few steps and every turn in the trail presented a new view worth stopping for and admiring. A nice day.

So for the new thing for me tonight... I uploaded a few of my Bryce Canyon pictures and figured out how to set up the above slideshow using Slide.com (very easy).