Winter Break

Had a wonderful break in the weather for a day so we decided to visit the South Jetty.
(Click the picture for a closer view.)

A ship approaches the entrance to the Columbia River

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse looking across the mouth of the Columbia River.

Two more ships skirting the horizon.

Watching, listening, and feeling the giant waves crash against the Jetty renews your respect for the power and beauty of the Ocean.

Reminded of just how incredibly beautiful God's Terrestrial creations are when you throw in a setting sun.

Though the sun fades to sleep, the ocean, wild yet orderly, remains restless under watch of a protective moon (directly above the camera).

Tall Order for the Columbia River

On Wednesday, I heard on the radio that an over sized ship carrying an unusually large cargo was anchored in Hammond, OR waiting to resume its journey to the Port of Portland (OR) until Thursday morning when the tide was low enough for its 185 ft. tall cargo to clear the nearly 200 ft-high Astoria-Megler Bridge. We decided to take a look:

The giant 490ft wide crane sits firm on its Post-Panamax (too big to fit through the Panama Canal) carrier and rests briefly after a month-long journey from China.

Before sunrise Thursday morning, when the tide was low, the Columbia Bar Pilots quickly outran the fog that was rolling in from Young's Bay and slipped the Zhen Hua 17 under the Astoria-Megler bridge with four feet of clearance. (Daily Astorian)

It's hard to see just how giant this structure is with the massive mouth of the Columbia River. But you can get a little reference if you look at the little dots (windows) on the sides of the ships and consider that each row of windows is about one story high.

After clearing the Astoria-Megler bridge just ahead of the fog, the Columbia River Bar Pilots turned the ship over to the Columbia River Pilots for its more difficult challenge: the 195ft Lewis and Clark Bridge at Longview, Washington...

Cool, Warm Moon

We were driving around looking at Christmas lights one evening and noticed the moon rising over the Washington State Horizon across the Columbia River. Although this 38-second video is just kind of a thrown-together thing and not very interesting, I really liked how cool the moon looked. Hopefully you can get a little taste of what it really looked like in real life. At the end of the video you can see the moon rising over a 'parked' ship. (Harry Connick's 'Heavenly' is also a fitting song.)