"Ships at Sunet" by Amy Ryding

Astoria, Oregon ~ Photo by Amy Ryding
Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Old Young's Bay Bridge by Linda Fenton-Mendenhall

Astoria, Oregon ~ Photo by Linda Fenton-Mendenhall

Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Astoria Column by Linda Fenton-Mendenhall

Astoria, Oregon ~ Photo by Linda Fenton-Mendenhall

Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Astoria Bridge by Linda Fenton-Mendenhall

Astoria, Oregon ~ Photo by Linda Fenton-Mendenhall

Today starts a week of guest photos by Linda Fenton-Mendenhall. I love the red river as much as the salmon clouds.

Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Pilot Boat Arrow No. 2 on the Columbia River

Astoria, Oregon ~ February 15, 2011

Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Ship, Rain, Sky

Astoria, Oregon ~ March 27, 2011

Hi Everyone, I apologize for the sporadic postings lately. It seems that the past few weeks I've been able to either work or blog, but haven't had much success doing both. Work usually wins  :)  I'm hoping to get back to regular postings before long.

Here in Oregon, we've been breaking records for number of days with rain in March. I'm not sure if Astoria has a new record or not, but Portland (with weather that's sometimes similar and sometimes very different from Astoria) broke its March rain record a few days ago. If we haven't broken ours, it's only because it rains a lot ALL THE TIME.

I love the way the light changes on the river whether it's raining or not. Here's a scene I really enjoyed. 

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Clouds of Winter

Warrenton, Oregon ~ November 2, 2010

I liked the sky over the highway and shopping center just on the other side of the Young's Bay Bridge. I also liked the seasonal banners hanging beside the parking lot. Whoever designs and chooses these does a nice job, I think. As Cieldequimper reminded me, November is still the fall season, but our November this year was so cold, I've been thinking of it already as winter.

Here's a better view of the banner.

I love the clouds, although looking at this photo makes me dizzy.

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Photo Contest: "Net Shed"

Astoria, Oregon ~ September 5, 2010

Guest Photographer: Kim Taylor

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Going Home

September 19, 2010

It's not unusual to see Coast Guard helicopters all around the area both working and training. Among other things, Astoria is home to a Coast Guard Group/Air Station. This helicopter is headed home to its pad, which is nearby behind the wild trees and bushes at the edge of Young's Bay, which you see in the foreground. Click the second link fora nice photo of the air station from above. 

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Marine Layer on the River

August 14, 2010

The patterns that occur where the river meets the ocean create their own weather. One reason Astoria, Oregon, never stays hot for very long is that the heat draws the marine layer from the ocean (left in this photo) inland and chills the air.

As I understand it, the marine layer is not actually the visible cloud, but the cloud is often held underneath the marine layer, which is an invisible pressure zone. Later in the afternoon of the Regatta Parade with its 90 degree temperature, I opened my door near the river and felt positively cold. As I drove past town and stopped at the riverfront park, I discovered a finger of fog reaching upriver, a clear indication that change is coming rather quickly.

Crossing the Young's Bay Bridge to Warrenton a few minutes later, I could see the fog bank growing taller as it rolled in from the ocean. I wish I'd been able to take the next photo as the bank grew and darkened, but I thought I'd better keep both hands on the wheel, as traffic had begun to move. It was a mixed blessing. Who likes to sit in traffic, but then again, it was nice watching the atmosphere change.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Real Clouds

Warrenton, Oregon ~ August 27, 2010

I took this photo from the parking lot of the Columbia Fitness Center just across the bridge in Warrenton. I've been enjoying the huge, billowing clouds for the past few days. So often lately, it seems we have either no clouds at all or gray overcast days. No, I was not at the gym at the crack of dawn. This was taken at sunset across the marshy field next to the shopping center. Since, in some circles, Fridays are for watching the sky, check out more "skies from all over the planet" at Skywatch Friday.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Room with a View

July 5, 2010

This has to be one of the best views from any hotel in the U.S. We took a mini vacation without leaving town, and stayed the night at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites in Astoria. It was pleasant and comfortable, and if you don't have young kids with you who are likely to fall out, you can open the windows, even on the 4th floor. As you can imagine, this afforded a number of interesting photo ops. Stay tuned! The windows are not open in this photo because, although the next few days are expected to be hot, we hit a record low last night. It was actually cold with the windows open.

That's the Astoria-Megler Bridge, shown many times on this blog already. The river is the Columbia, and the hills four-point-something miles away are in Washington.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Pink, Orange, Gray

May 27, 2010

I've posted several faces of the Astoria Hotel in downtown Astoria, and I'm sure I'll post it again. I never get tired of looking at its interesting design and the way the light loves to play with it. On the right, the sign for the Commodore Hotel is now brightened, too. Has it been that way for long? I don't remember. The Commodore is breathing again, with a hotel and a new cafe inside, although the photo at the end of the link was taken before the cafe came along.

For beautiful sky photos from around the world, check out SkyWatch Friday.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Railroad Crossing at Pier 11

April 24, 2010

The only railroad that crosses Pier 11's wooden pier these days is the Riverfront Trolley. I love the remnants of the industrial district here, although remnants is mostly what they are. On a typical day, you'll find tourists or locals out for a walk, bike ride, run, walking the dog(s), or wandering around with a camera.

We've been having a lot of this changeable weather lately: gray skies, blue skies, towering white clouds, pouring rain, and those in-between moments when the sun breaks through the clouds and lights up the land or water.


Notes from The (Weather) Underground for Portland: ...Record number of rainy days for April...A passing shower in the past two hours has now tipped April into the record books. In April 2010... Portland Airport has recorded 25 days with at least 0.01 inch of rain. The previous record was 24 days... set in 2003. Normally... Portland can expect 15 such days for April.

I don't know how the statistics look for Astoria, and we are on the coast and a distance from Portland, but I'd been thinking that April seemed extremely wet this year. One of my fellow bloggers in Florida says their dry season has been extremely wet, and now everyone is wondering what they're going to do with the water now that the wet season is at hand. At least here, it runs into the river and ocean. I'm not sure what the cumulative effect is.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

River Walk near Safeway

February 7, 2010

River Walk near the Safeway Store

46°11'34.37"N 123°48'29.58"W

It seems we're in for some clear weather Saturday, and in case we've forgotten, here's a reminder of what a blue-sky day looks like - this one with strikingly pretty clouds. For non-Astorians, this is the track used by the Astoria Riverfront Trolley. The bench is a nice place to sit just next to the trolley stop, although soon much of the view will be obscured by leaves. Green is just around the corner.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

After A Storm

April 14, 2009

I still remember how I felt when I noticed this cloud over the trees in Warrenton almost a year ago. I'd gone to the gym in the shopping center, and next to pavement is a large expanse of marsh with a few trees in it. I hadn't expected to see much other than gray that day, so I was surprised when the sun burst through, and that's when I took the photo. We've had a few beautiful days, or parts of days, this year, but not so many. I'm not really REALLY complaining about the rain and cold, but I do love colors, and I'm waiting to dig in the small garden patch until it stops pouring and warms up.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

A Glorious Moment . . .

. . . and that's about all it was, too. The weather has been oscillating rapidly between "too gorgeous to believe," and "gray like so many other gray days." Two days ago, I pulled off of Marine Drive and parked for a minute in a "No Parking At Any Time" zone. It was safe enough and off the street; it seems they didn't want to block the way for a bus or larger vehicle in the space behind some buildings. I usually mind the signs, but today I took the chance to snap a photo of the bridge from the southwest side with the sun on it and the clouds billowing overhead. Within a couple of minutes, the sky was again dark and there was no more sun on the beautiful, green span.

I have posted a number of photos of the bridge, and here is one from the other side. The hills in the distance are in Washington, on the other side of the Columbia River.

For a change of view, you can see pictures of the sky from around the world on the Skywatch Friday web site.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Ship Pirouette

Four times each day, the ships on the Columbia River at Astoria pivot on their anchor chains. I wasn't thinking about that, I was taking a photo of the clouds on one of the few really gorgeous days we've had in a long time, and watching the pilot ship (off the stern) and the tender (alongside) the Laurel Island anchored in the river outside my office. (I especially like the name of this ship (which visits often) because it reminds me of Laurel Sullivan.)

At 9:39 a.m., I watched the pilot boat leave, and the tender stay alongside. For the purpose of this photo essay, the thing to notice is that the ship is exactly perpendicular to us. We cannot see the writing on the stern.

At 10:07 a.m., I took another photo, not thinking about it, but you can now see the writing on the stern, as the ship begins to turn with the incoming tide. Even though we're about 10 miles from the mouth of the river, the tide turns a ship around amazingly fast, as you'll see here. I was surprised when I timed it.

10:15 a.m.: I hadn't been thinking about tides, but when I looked out the window above my desk, I saw this dramatic change in the position of the ship, so I went out to take photos. Was it really turning as fast as it seemed? I thought I'd check the times with my camera. The tender is still sitting alongside, and no it is not pushing the ship!

10:16 a.m.: Look at the change in position in the space of about one minute (more or less)!

10:17 a.m.: Two minutes later, the change is again dramatic. I have not moved, it's all the ship's turning.

By 10:19, there is a whole new aspect, and we can see the anchor chain on the downriver side.

Oops! A distraction. Nice seagull! This is a juvenile. It's mostly brown.

Post-seagull, at 10:21 a.m.

10:23 a.m.

By 10:24, the ship was not completely turned, but I decided to go out and look at the river from another location on this beautiful day (see next photo).

Less than a block away along the River Walk, I could see five more ships at various angles. They are upriver from the Laurel Island. The tidal bore and currents are also different in different locations across the width of the river.

10:31 a.m.: The STX Crocus is turning - in the opposite direction from the Laurel Island. I'm about one block further up the river, and the ship is further yet up the river, so my viewpoint and the angle are both a bit different than they were for the Laurel Island.

10:39 a.m.: I haven't moved, but the ship has.

10:43 a.m.: The bow is facing us, and now it's time for me to get back to work.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Currents in the Sky

February 22, 2010

See other entries for Skywatch Friday

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Enchanting Atmosphere on a Rainy Day

January 12, 2010

A rainy day in Astoria, Oregon. So what else is new? I thought this view from the white building on Pier 11 was especially nice, and the colors were muted and interesting. You might want to click on the photo to enlarge it. The building you see is Doc's on 12th, with Baked Alaska on the "ground" floor. The hill in the background is Tongue Point. We're looking east, up the Columbia River.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.