It is a beautiful, blustery, sunny day in Portland today. With a few hours to spare between dropping Rynn at a friend's house to play and Jason getting to work on evening worship and his sermon, we took a Sunday morning stroll on the Riverfront. Dodging bikers and runners we were able to capture a few pictures of POrtland's downtown bridges connecting the West and East sides of the city over the Willamette (rhymes with 'd-mit') River. These bridges have captured my eyes for a year with their stark industrial, urban, and functional beauty contrasted with the green hills and working river which cut around POrtland's landscape.
The crazy part of the morning happened right after I took this photo. I was watching the crew regatta below on the river when I noticed a man swimming in the river. This is not a common sight as the river is quite cold. At first I thought he was one of Portland's many triatheletes doing some extreme swim training. But upon further observation I noticed he was wearing black socks and boxer shorts. He was screaming to a woman in a one man boat, "I'm drowning! I can't make it! I can't do it!." To which she was screaming back, "Turn on your back!!!! Turn on your back and float, you crazy A-&&%$#!!!." A few other pedestrians were as dumb struck as we, and it seemed like slow motion until someone said, "Can someone call 911?." We stood there helpless. The river is far below, very cold, and he was a flailing man who was probably hypothermic. Minutes later the POrtland fire department arrived by boat just as the woman in the little boat had coaxed him to the dock of the Oregon Maritime Museum. It was all a bit surreal in the middle of a normal sunny fall morning downtown. Later down the esplanade we saw a pair of new Adidas sneakers and a very fancy backpack. It appeared he must have willingly tried an "into the wild" sort of adventure by climbing down a docking cable into the cold waters below. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Crazy.a crew regatta team paddles on with concentration oblivious to the action on the other side of the river
I'm convinced we need to visit Portland. Your pictures paint a very enticing picture. And, yes, you are right. Once winter rolls around, I'll post some pictures of our beautiful, lush winter green in Santa Barbara. Have a good week!
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