my commute

municipal elevator in Oregon City

the historic bridge and Willamette Falls

one of the crests along the highway

same train, further north

waiting for the train

I am the luckiest person! I have the best commute to a career I love. My drive takes 12 minutes and has only four stoplights, a 6 mile stretch along the scenic Willamette River, a crossing on a beautiful, historic bridge, a tunnel, a view of a municipal elevator and Willamette Falls. I pass the bluff where John McLoughlin had a home (now moved to a different location) when he was the Chief Factor for the Hudson's Bay Company (back when Oregon Territory was basically British territory). Most days when I drive I listen to music (either KINK radio or a CD...lately the Wailing Jennys) and the miles just fly by.
I do have to drive defensively as this stretch of highway has its share of crazy accidents, lane narrowings, curves, highs and lows, steep drop offs, boulders that regularly crash onto the highway and occasional mudslides! Here are some photos I took on Friday (yesterday) as I drove in at 7:10am.
The only thing that could top this would be the guts and ability to ride my bike along this route (not recommended...way too dangerous for cyclists)

approaching the railroad tunnel

little red bike cafe

Jasper and I had never eaten breakfast at the Little Red Bike Cafe on NE Lombard until today. It was highly touted and was going to be closing in mid-June, which was fast approaching. Thus we came with high expectations and were not disappointed in the tasty fresh selections we ordered:

Huevos Rancheros, Black bean and Chorizo on ciabatta, the Alley Cat and the Messenger....in a word....YUMMMMMMMM!

We wanted to check out this little 'diner that could' because they are not for long at this current location; they have lost their lease for some unexplained reason, and have not found a new location to keep going.(latest rumors indicate it will reopen as a 'cart' somewhere)

The place was nonstop full of people, there were no seats to be found, so we ordered our food and found a '2-top' table to sit at. David and I held that down until the table next to us opened up. Dave waited in the van with sleeping Laila while our breakfast was prepared.

We each had a plate of food in front of us, but shared big bites with each other. Each plate was garnished with fresh fruit such as pineapple, raspberry, ruby grapefruit, blackberry, strawberry and orange. The Huevos also came with a few pieces of dried papaya dusted with some kind of spice.