Although these photos were taken on our anniversary several years ago, they are nice shots to show off our beautiful city. Portland is a clean, green city of waterways and bridges. We enjoyed a lovely lunchtime "cruise" up the river to Lake Oswego and back again. The large Portland Spirit boat was out of commission for the day due to a blown head gasket, so we were escorted through the dining area of it and onto it's smaller version, The Willamette Star.
We are blessed to have many special friends. In this case, Linda Banks, a lovely woman with whom Joe works, gave us a gift certificate for the Portland Spirit which covered most of the expense of a fine luncheon cruise for our special day.
The Bosun on board was a fine, friendly, and very informative man who willingly took "specially posed-post card quality" portraits of anyone who had a camera and was willing to ask! He also gave us a running dialogue of history and facts pertaining to the sites and landmarks along the river.
There were many fine homes and a variety of eclectic houseboats along the river front on both sides. Unfortunately, we failed to take any pictures of the many rows of houseboats, or of the piper pontoon plane and boat docks seen along the way. There were parks and a golf course, a gravel yard, and a huge old barge. Many sites of interest, but we mostly just enjoyed them and the unexpectedly pleasant weather.
The Willamette River was named by the early Indians of the area and means, literally, Green Water. The Island known as Elk Island was so named due to the discovery of heaps of Elk antlers and bones found there. Apparently when the early Indians lived in the area and the herds were plentiful, they would round up Elk and drive them over the cliff where they met their deaths upon the Island Rock. There the Indians would remove the tongue and meat and leave the bones behind believing that there was a never ending supply of Elk provided for their benefit.
The Sellwood Bridge, above, marks the beginning of the end of the journey and the turning around point. As the Willamette River shrinks to smaller tributaries here, our boat can go no further. The City of Lake Oswego was settled by a man from New York who built a smeltering foundry there, and later his town was incorporated with that of another.
The Morrison Bridge is a much used and well -
known landmark in Portland. It is a bridge that can be raised to let through the taller masts of some of the river traffic.
