Road Trip! Oregon! Newport! Glass Blowing!

I don't know how well these came out - but if you didn't know, glass-blowing is a pretty popular art here on the Oregon coast.  There are glass blowing shops all up and down the coast with quite a few exotic wares being sold here and there - many of them making exotic glass floats.   Anyways, I managed to get some pictures of a glass-blower doing his work at a shop on the far side of Yaquina bay.  Depending on Google's settings, previously you used to be able to get a higher resolution picture of these and click them and open them in a separate window - but I don't know if you can do that now anymore.  Anyways, these pictures are in reverse - from finished product at top to the near start at the bottom.

Anyways - you can see the glass glowing pink-hot from the kiln/forge/furnace - whatever it's called.  I've learned to do a lot of things in life - including blacksmithing and stained glass windows - but blowing glass isn't something I ever learned how to do.

Below are some pictures of the storm I wrote about in the earlier blog entry.  The camera is trained/programmed to let in more light on dark days.  And it was a DARK day - so this is about ten shades lighter than it was.  Not bad for a cell phone camera.  The winds here were about 40mph or so.   Here the waves were coming up into the river and headed up to the sidewalk under the bridge on the far side.  Normally the surf is like 500 feet to the left.

If you didn't know, something unique to Oregon Architecture is the concept of arches.  Most of the bridges going up and down our coastline and even inland have deliberately integrated the arches as part of our regional architecture.  It was strange in my travels overseas in the military how many people knew Oregon just from our scenery - and how much I could see the architecture styles when I came home - I still notice it today.  There's a quasi federalist-empire-classic style of architecture here in Oregon that's pretty unique - most notably on our bridges usually.  Speaking of bridges, Portland Oregon, in addition to being the City of Roses is the City of Bridges as well.  Sometime I might have to do a photo essay of all of them, beginning south in Oregon City there's the pioneer bridge that was originally built in the 1800's (Yes, new for you Europeans but old over here) then up to Sellwood, Ross Island, Freemont, Marqham, Steele, Broadway, Burnside, Morrison, Hawthorne, Saint John's, Abernathy, Glenn Jackson and Interstate Bridges and you can see at least one other one from any  one of them.

 

Here's a nice shot of where the sidewalk ends - or "Land's End" headed off into the Pacific - pacific.....meaning peaceful.....mmmmm no.   It doesn't look too bad in the pictures but this is after it was settling down anyways - I've seen worse - been out at sea on a Navy Fastboat in 20 foot waves or whatever picking someone up out at sea with sea spouts coming down on us - yadda yadda - it's all true - uphill both ways in the snow.....blah blah.

 

 Here's Yaquina bay - my friend Mike - when he gets his Seaplane license we're going to go get a seaplane and I want to fly under the Yaquina Bay Bridge and land in the harbor on the other side and tie up and go to dinner.  Just....something I want to do. 

Anyways, this is a picture of "trouble" camping - having way too much fun - and already filling her dad with horror as to what kind of guys shes going to attract with that pretty face some day and she's only four....hopefully someday she brings me a good son in law - not some douchebag who's ears I have to box for being a deadbeat husband.  I don't have any pictures of Matthew this trip - him and I were too busy sparring with me showing him how to knock a knife out of someone's hands with your feet and how to keep your eyes on your opponent through your roundhouse kicks.  OH!  At one point though - we're all camped out and "roughing it" and Rachel suddenly says ".....I wanna go to the mall.....can we go to the mall?"    Yeahhh....I hope not too high maintenance.