Fall Colors on Exchange Street

Astoria, Oregon ~ Photo by Sheryl Todd
I've interrupted our guest blogger today because I wanted to share the amazing colors I found this morning near Exchange and 18th Streets.
Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

With This Lot You Get Color in November

Astoria, Oregon ~ November 8, 2011

It's true - the colors are gorgeous on 11th Street and around Astoria. You also get one thing with this lot that I removed from the picture. I don't usually Photoshop out the power lines, but today I couldn't help showing the blue sky crystal clear. As I type this, the clouds are moving in.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Screaming scarlet bushes

This is what I meant in the last post about "screaming scarlet" fall leaves. I've noticed these bushes a lot around this area and in Portland. It's not like you can miss them. I'm sure they're chosen exactly for the color they turn in fall. I took this photo at the edge of the Safeway parking lot not far from this old shed. The river looks white on this drizzly day. The hills in the distance are on the Washington side of the Columbia River. Of course, that's the River Walk beyond the tracks.

One of the rail lines you see in both photos is for the much-used Astoria Riverfront Trolley. The other line hasn't been used for awhile. They resurrected it a couple of years ago for several Amtrak passenger cars that ran between Astoria and Portland (2 hours by car). It was a great idea if you wanted to come from Portland to Astoria for the day or a couple of days, but the sceduling and logistics were a mess if you wanted to go from Astoria and spend the day in Portland. The timing was all wrong, and it made for an expensive proposition since you would almost have to stay overnight in Portland if you lived in Astoria. Daytripping was virtually ruled out unless you wanted to ride the train, turn around and come right back. Maybe they'll plan it better next time. We all loved the idea.