Snowy Pines in November

When we arrived in Cleveland late last year, I had a bag full of film in my bag - rolls of photos I'd taken over the time we were out in Portland. It was mostly 35mm film, taken on the 30-year-old Nikon I've had since college that used to be my grandpa's. When I got it developed, the film lab guy was amazed at all the places I'd been to...and I guess they were some pretty amazing places!



I never posted any of them on the blog, since I didn't scan anything until March or April of this year, but I was editing unrelated stuff the other day and thought I should post some every once in a while! I've definitely fallen into the easiness of digital photography and phone snapshots, but in my mind nothing tops film. It could just be that I can't afford a nice enough digital camera to replicate film. Or it could be that there isn't a digital camera that can replicate film. I'm not sure...all I know is that I like the pictures I take with my film camera a million more than digital. They can somehow capture the mood of a time better. Maybe there's an organic warmth that pixels can't capture and analog film can? Who knows! Enjoy some photos :)

These are from my mom's first visit to Portland, early November. A snowy, magical trip to Mirror Lake, on the slopes of Mt. Hood.











Then, a few days later, a trip to Hood River, a yarn shop with cats named Knit and Purl, and the Columbia Gorge (a slightly different season from our hike!).

Hike : Ponytail Falls

We're a little bit late getting these photos up, we know - - but we had to think of a name for our new blog before we could! (By the way, it's from a line in an old type specimen book that we liked, "Large Fires Kindled by Sparks"). So we went on this hike a few days after my mom's visit back in February. It was a strange visit because it snowed like crazy the whole time she was here (in Portland!) but then melted the day she left. We thought it would be a nice time to get out and go on a hike.

We set out from Horsetail Falls, one of the waterfalls on the historic Columbia River highway near the more famous (and crowded) Multnomah Falls. We've done this trail once before, in April of last year. This time, we were greeted with a bit of unexpected snow! Even though it had all melted in Portland, even a little bit of elevation change was enough to keep some on the ground up there.





This hike, like lots of the hikes we've done in the gorge, climbs really quickly above the starting point. It also goes behind a waterfall! The waterfall was a lot more...waterfall-y...than the last time we came, probably because of the snow melting. Hiking the trail was really nice because even though it was a weekend, there was hardly anyone else out! The gorge hikes we've done near Portland are pretty popular since most of them are easy and within 30 minutes of town, so it was a nice change.





This trail is especially nice because after a little while, you come to a really amazing overlook of the gorge! We still can't believe that this is only a half an hour away - we're hoping to take advantage of it all we can this year. It was rainy the day we did this hike, but with our rain jackets on, it didn't matter at all.





On the way back, we stopped by Vista House, an old rest stop on the historic highway, to see the pretty views one more time. I don't think I'll ever not be amazed by the gorge, even if I see it a million times! The last picture shows Vista House itself, from another viewpoint closer to Portland.






And that was a nearly perfect day of rainy hiking!