Actually, another reason I haven't posted on my blog lately is that I was too busy having fun on my travels out west. I went on my usual summer trip to Oregon, with a couple of side trips into Washington state. I attended my 30th reunion at Reed College, did some work on the infant feeding monitor project I'm involved with, and in general caught up with many dear old friends. I took many pictures with my iPhone camera, but here I will avoid trying the patience of my readers by sharing only three somewhat-randomly-chosen shots.
First is a picture I took near Mount St. Helens on a day trip I went on with certain old friends from my planetarium days. This is roughly half a dozen miles north of the volcano. The volcano was partly clouded in, but we got some wonderful views. This picture shows a downed tree (one of many left from the eruption 31 years ago) and the vast expanse of the zone of devastation. About 200 square miles were pretty much nuked by the volcano; this zone is starting to get green again, but there are few if any trees growing there. This shot was taken at about the 4000-ft level.
Second is a picture of the childhood home of the chemist Linus Pauling. This is in a southeast neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. I never knew that Pauling grew up in Portland; my dear friend Ken pointed this out to me as we drove past the house. The striking red sculpture was installed in 2004; it is called "Alpha Helix for Linus Pauling," and is by Julian Voss-Andreae.
And finally, here is a picture I took in Portland's International Rose Test Garden. Portland's climate favors roses, and although the locals were complaining that the cold, wet spring delayed the roses this year, they were gorgeous late last month before I headed home.
