November 3-6, 2015 Fort Stevens State Park to Portland to Silverton, Oregon

It was a beautiful  high 50’s sunny kind of day. The forecast said rain, so it was even a nicer surprise.

It was cooler than I thought it would be on the beach, in the sun and all. The wind was cool and I almost froze to death. Still walked a couple miles. Some ladies from Minnesota had me take their photo, then they took mine in front of the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale from the early 1900’s.  Coffenbury Lake is also here in the park. It looked pretty small on the map, I will have to remember next time that it is big enough to boat around in.

 

Nice reflections on the lake. One of a group of deer in the campground and a sand dollar.

The coach at the  Clackamette Rv Park in Oregon City, Oregon. Just south of Portland. It is at the  confluence of the Willamette and the Clackamette rivers.  It is a nice little city park.  The first Oregon City Municipal Elevator was built in 1915 for the mill workers to get from the mills by the river up to the houses on the bluff. It was to replace the 722 steps on the stairway. It was replaced with the current elevator in 1955. It is 130 feet tall with a wrap around observation deck.

Willamette falls on the Willamette river. In the foreground are the paper mills.  We walked along  McLoughlin Promenade  on the edge of the bluff. It was built in 1938.

  

The Grand Staircase was also built in 1938 to replace the old wooden stairway. Singer creek  falls are along the staircase. We stopped at the Oregon City Brewing company to taste some brews.

 

They have this crowler  (combination growler and can) machine. You choose which beer you want and they can it for you.  We couldn’t resist buying one.  How about this custom truck topper??

In downtown Portland we went to the Keen store so I could buy some new boots. Their factory and home outlet store is here in Portland, they only have 3 other stores. I made it out with only the pair of boots I went in to buy, but it was tough, they have some really nice shoes and they fit my feet better than any other brand.

 

We toured the Bullseye glass factory today. I use mostly Bullseye glass for my masterpieces. They don’t let you take photos in the actual factory. The top of the first photo is silos of glass ingredients, sand, soda and borax. They mix those with chemicals for the colors, then put them into a furnace, melt it together  at 2300 degrees  and when the glass is ready they scoop out the molten glass and roll it into sheets. They hand roll each sheet. They have 17 furnaces and they make glass 23 hours a day. It was awesome. The bottom of this photo is a picture I found on the internet of them  rolling the glass.  Next door is the Bullseye Glass Resource Center where they sell all their products.  Plus there is a ‘bull pen’ where they have all the curious glass- it does not exactly match the rest of the batch, or has some defect- sold at reduced prices.

We tasted beer and had snacks at the Hopworks Urban Brewery, recommended by our tour guide at Bullseye. The beer was good, we especially like the Pan Galactic Gargle blaster. We then visited with my sister-in-law Alison and Matt. John, Alison and I  took Max out for a walk in the fall colors in their beautiful neighborhood.

 

Then we went to dinner  with Alison and Matt  at a neighborhood restaurant, The Iron Horse. It was wonderful to see them and catch up.  The next day we headed south to Silverton, Oregon.  This is the oak trees along the way.

The coach at the Silver Spur RV park in Silverton. We went downtown to First Friday. There are a bunch of murals, this one says Silverton, City of the Falls. Tomorrow we are going to the falls.