A place I wish I never had to leave

[Turk]

WOW!! Those are spectacular... Keep em coming!!

[Peterson]

Those are phenomenal...wow. I seriously need to take a class or something.

After our engagment climb, the wife and I actually road tripped down the east side of the Oregon Cascades (after a quick trip to Vegas). Loved the Sisters/Bend area.

I can't believe you got that photo of Hood from a airplane window...

[Jim3k]

I can't believe you got that photo of Hood from a airplane window...

Yeah, I agree. Plus, it's rare that the sky over Hood is that clear.

Many years ago, on that same PDX approach (it's westbound over the Columbia River, for those unfamiliar with the area), I could see Hood intermittently through snowstorm clouds as my 727 descended. About the same distance from the Portland Airport as this photo, the plane was struck by lightning. Quite startling. A terrific boom, which shook the plane fairly hard. I saw the light, but not the bolt.

This is also the same general flightpath that DB Cooper was on when he jumped out of his 727 with his $200,000 in November 1971, never to be seen again.

[hurleyfor3]

First off, on daytime flights to the West Coast I usually choose a window seat. For ORD-PDX I prefer the port side, not only for the approach to PDX but also because you can see Yellowstone and the Tetons from port. (For ORD-SEA I prefer starboard and for ORD-SFO I'm indifferent: one side gives you Tahoe, the other Yosemite).

The sky was so clear over Oregon that I grabbed my camera for the approach, hoping for a good shot at Hood. I was surprised how closely we passed by it -- so close I didn't have to worry about camera shake or motion blur holding a zoom. I shot with my 50mm lens and a wide open f-stop to minimize exposure time. Probably f/2 and 1/2000. Because I was shooting at infinity depth of field wasn't an issue.

So yeah, I got lucky. (The secret to good photography is to take LOTS of photos and only show people your top 1%.)

I spent most of that particular trip photographing waterfalls, and it was unseasonably warm and sunny. I think one day it got into the 90s. I think I've posted my waterfall pictures from that trip before, but they're here.

I guess I could scan the entire slide in its mounting to convince you I shot it.

[Peterson]

I was speaking tongue in cheek--your other photos prove that you know what you're doing.

[hurleyfor3]

Just uploaded a panorama of Spider Meadow shot July 3, 2007 here. Now that is a place I could live out all the days of my life.

[YmoBeThere]

Great stuff, any interesting encounters with wildlife?