August 15th, 2008
There are a number of cool things to do in Portland that locals don’t often get to. You know how it is, you drive past it every now and again and think “I really should go see that.” But inevitably you never do. There’s a museum in Milford that has the flag that cradled Lincoln’s head after he was shot. We all knew that. Everyone in Milford knows that. But it wasn’t until the end of High School, having taken the bus past it daily, that I finally decided to visit. It’s just how these things go.
At any rate, the Pittock Mansion is, I would wager, one of those places. Every Portlander knows about it. The ones who have lived her longer may have even visited it back in the day. But it’s not a place one just goes to out of the blue. And then we forget how cool it is.
Last night was Open Door night at the Pittock. While I’m still shakey (read: know almost nothing) on its history, suffice it to say that it’s a big ole’ mansion on top a great big hill. Kinda like Grey Towers. Except with a better view. And yesterday was one of those “hot” days in Portland. I put quotes around it because it’s like summer in the east coast, minus the humidity and condensed into four days spread throughout the warmer months. So it’s tolerable. Except Portlanders are wusses when it comes to weather 
Anyway, being that the mansion is high up in the West Hills, it was significantly cooler. So my friend Kimmet, her boyfriend Bryan and I decided to stop at Whole Foods on the way up and grab some delicious food for a picnic dinner on the lawn. It was a gorgeous night, and so much better than sweating in our respective apartments. As it got darker, the somewhat-full moon rose over the city and Mt Hood was on fire from the setting sun. It was excellent.
The jPhone is good for a great many things, but its camera is sometimes lacking. Even still, the photos didn’t turn out too poorly. I do wish I could crop some of them in magnify what’s left, but the resolution isn’t that great. Okay, enough rambling. The five or six pictures that I actually kept in all their technological glory:
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| Pittock Mansion |