In the midst of the very busiest week of the summer we headed to Portland, met up with the art group members and mates, jumped onto Dayna and Howard’s boat “Rapture”, and headed out onto the Columbia River, heading west. When we first arrived at the slip though, I thought it might be the nightmare cruise for me, one who doesn’t like to be photographed…
and there were plenty of photo ops…here our hostess Dayna snapping Katy and Jim…
and here the agile Leo getting a group shot…
but things calmed and once we got out onto the River the cameras turned outward…
the day was perfect, there was not much wind, the temperature was neither hot nor cold…Howard was at the wheel and we proceeded from the Columbia into the Willamette and decided to go see some of Portland’s bridges. Most of us had never been on the river and were pretty much amazed every minute of our four hours on the water. Howard was at the helm the whole time…but he did get some dinner…
a LITTLE hi-jinks (the female members of the group are all artists and recognized the interesting shadow possibilities…)
We headed west under the Interstate bridge across the Columbia…
then under the St John’s Bridge…
the Fremont bridge…
the Broadway bridge…delightfully red…
and then headed for the Steel bridge…the end of the line for us…
It’s just a little too low and the boat is a little too tall…it can just squeak under but it takes a slow half hour to do it…
Before we turned around we saw the Burnside bridge in the distance and noticed that as the river turns the bridges open out like a fan. By now it was rush hour but the river was serene and quiet…time to eat…
…hey, what’s Katy doing?
“writing” in the guest book…Jim memorialized…
R contemplating…bridges I think…
and on the way back to the dock we headed east…toward the airport…and watched one plane after another take off up over the river…
And then the truly amazing part to me…how was Howard EVER going to put this huge boat into that little slip???
YAY! We burst into spontaneous applause…(Nancy, Kathy, Howard and Calvin on the bridge) 
We jumped into our cars and headed home…with a more standard view of the Burnside bridge…
Thanks Dayna and Howard for a fantastic and memorable voyage…
On The Way 
bon, may be my iphone, but i get black when i try to comment or to see all comments and i only want to say WOW! you lucky ducks!
nicholsloystudio sent from iphone
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What a lovely blog post and what a treat to experience the cruise through your eyes.
What a treat to see so much of Portland from the river.
…it was a revelation, a different world down there…
Oh what fun! Enjoyed the post!
What a joyous day. thanks for sharing!