riverfront
It rained all last night and into the morning, with gray clouds hanging low over Portland throughout the afternoon, but about an hour after getting home from work I noticed sections of blue sky opening up above, and decided to put some miles in on my bike.
I took off in the direction of the Willamette, thinking that a trip south along the Springwater Corridor before crossing the Sellwood Bridge and coming back along the west bank sounded like the right number of miles for me on this particular day.
I was nearly to the Portland Opera House on the east side when I heard a sharp report, and the distant sound of people shrieking in delight. Coming around a bend in the trail, I saw two sailing ships circling ’round each other, just north of the Ross Island Bridge, and occasionally one or the other would fire their cannon in a burst of smoke and thunder.
Not for the first time on this ride I cursed myself for not having packed my camera along. Still, it wasn’t as if I could get a good shot, anyway: I was out of sidewalk and was looking out at the dueling ships through several bushes and the gangplank for one of Portland’s river cruise ships. Grudgingly I remounted my bike and made to resume my trip around the river.
I hadn’t gotten very far before I looked over and realized that gate to a private parking lot on the edge of the river was open, and that at the edge of the lot where the ground dropped away suddenly to the river was a perfect spot to get a shot or two of the ships — I’d be close enough to get a good shot even with my cell-phone camera. I hopped off my bike and picked it up over one shoulder, carrying it with me as I jogged across the gravel lot. The security guard either didn’t notice me or consented to ignore me as he went about his rounds. I walked right up to the edge of the embankment, and snapped off a few shots with my phone as the ships circled again, firing away. I got at least one shot good enough to share.
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