For Watery Wednesday, I give you Waterfront Park, which is a great place to go any day in any weather. It's at the foot of 14th Street along the River Walk. It was about 70 paces from the River Walk to this point on the narrow pier. As I said in an earlier post, "Don't picture green grass." It's a wooden pier where the public can walk out over the water and watch the river. There's not much more of the park on the left. There's a bench and one more interpretive sign about the tug and tow boats you'll see on the Columbia River. The plaque you see in the photo shows the pilots at work. One of the photos is a spectacular shot of a pilot in mid-leap between the pilot boat and the ship's ladder.Here are two views of the pier from the upriver side: Astoria, Oregon Daily Photo posts from July 24, 2009 (daytime), and a sunset photo from June 20, 2009. Above, you can see what that canopy at the end of the pier really looks like. Since the top is made of plexiglas, it provides interesting reflections or windows for photos in various light.
Today is supposed to be another of our rare (maybe 4 per year) hot days. Yesterday was about 89 degrees with humidity, and today should be in the 90s. Since most residences and businesses don't bother to air condition in this climate, there are a lot of uncomfortable people on these hot days, and you hear a lot of complaining, including from me. You find that many people live here because they either prefer cool weather or are physically intolerant of heat. I also noticed as soon as I moved here in the summer of 2001, that many businesses have little or no air flow through the building, as they are packed in along the main streets like sardines in a can - narrow buildings with attached neighbors on both sides and the back. They're usually quite charming unless it's been hot outside!
As I write this, I see low clouds and fog in the marine layer on the river. This is where our cooling trend comes from in summer, but will it come in today, or will it wait until tomorrow as predicted? If it's hot enough inland, it sometimes comes in a day early.
