May, 23

One afternoon in May we decided to grab the camera and go for a drive somewhere where I could get a scenic shot, and have some dinner with a view. We headed over to Gresham, Oregon, and swung by Abby’s Pizza, got a pizza to go, and then continued on to the Portland Women’s Forum Overlook – a beautiful viewpoint on the Historic Columbia River Highway. It has a lovely view of the Gorge all the way to Beacon Rock, and particularly nearby Crown Point, with it’s little gem the Vista House.

It was relatively busy at the overlook. Other picnicers and photographers were hanging around to see the view. I set up my camera and tripod pointed at the view, and waited for the sun to break out of the clouds and light things up. Things were pretty dull at first.

However, by the time we’d finished our pizza, things started to jazz up a little.

That’s more like it. The light on the wall of Crown Point really makes it pop out of the background.

Next we headed over to Crown Point ourselves to check out the Vista House. The sunset was pretty, but I couldn’t get the sunset and Vista House at the same time, and there were a ton of people around. Dave walked around to the other side to check out the view from there.

While I was waiting for him to come back, I realized the battery in the camera had died! That’s annoying. My Sony A7II DSLR really eats batteries compared to the little a6000 I used to shoot with, so I hadn’t stuck any extra in my pocket before we left.

Right about then the light got low enough to shine through the art-deco stained glass windows of the Vista House, so I grabbed my cell phone to get the shot.

It actually did a nice job! This is why on vacations I just use my phone instead of dragging a DSLR around anymore.

So I went home feeling accomplished, with a couple nice pictures, and a dinner our favorite pizza, eaten in one of the prettiest spots in the area.