BELOW: There is a pedestrian bridge from the second floor of Portland's VA Medical Center slightly down hill to the Oregon Health Science University's (OHSU) seventh, eighth, and/or ground floor depending on where you stand. It is called The Skybridge. It is well named. From it you can look down at the eighth level of a parking structure way, way below you. Confused yet?
There is one pane of glass on the East side of the Skybridge that is not coated. It is the only one that does not collect grime that affects the view. This is a view from that pane looking North West. That is Mount St Helens 70 miles away in the background. It is in Washington (the state. The view isn't that good). According to Wikipedia "A 1992 pedestrian bridge connecting OHSU Hospital and the VA Medical Center is the longest suspended pedestrian skybridge in North America, with a length of 660 feet (200 m)."
There are five hospitals perched atop Pill Hill (Marquam Hill, Portland, OR 97239) and four narrow, winding two lane roads going up there. One solution to the congestion is the cable tram seen floating above the circular feature on the building in the foreground. It ferries people up from additional OHSU facilities, parking and optional public transportation accross I-5 down by the Willamette ( see LOCALISMS below) River.
The bridges you can see here are, closest, the Hawthorne, then Morrison, Burnside and off a bit to the left the towers of the Steel superimposed over the curved roof of The Rose Garden (now Moda Center). The Rose Garden is the home court of the Blazers basketball team and not a real garden. On the other hand there is no shortage of real rose gardens around "The Rose City".
There is one pane of glass on the East side of the Skybridge that is not coated. It is the only one that does not collect grime that affects the view. This is a view from that pane looking North West. That is Mount St Helens 70 miles away in the background. It is in Washington (the state. The view isn't that good). According to Wikipedia "A 1992 pedestrian bridge connecting OHSU Hospital and the VA Medical Center is the longest suspended pedestrian skybridge in North America, with a length of 660 feet (200 m)."
There are five hospitals perched atop Pill Hill (Marquam Hill, Portland, OR 97239) and four narrow, winding two lane roads going up there. One solution to the congestion is the cable tram seen floating above the circular feature on the building in the foreground. It ferries people up from additional OHSU facilities, parking and optional public transportation accross I-5 down by the Willamette ( see LOCALISMS below) River.
The bridges you can see here are, closest, the Hawthorne, then Morrison, Burnside and off a bit to the left the towers of the Steel superimposed over the curved roof of The Rose Garden (now Moda Center). The Rose Garden is the home court of the Blazers basketball team and not a real garden. On the other hand there is no shortage of real rose gardens around "The Rose City".
LOCALISMS: Out-of-regioners do not automatically know how to say the name of our river (will-AM-et, or will-AM-it). If this describes you don't panic. If you say it wrong you will suddenly be surrounded by Portlanders who have never met each other offering to help you find your way. First, don't breath in too much second hand marijuana smoke (unless you want to). Second, average all the directions together and you'll get close. Repeat as needed keeping in mind the marijuana smoke.
If you loose your sense of direction in Portland remember that East Portland is flat. West Portland very much isn't. The river runs between them.
A RANT ABOUT MOUNTAINS: When I lived in Colorado people ran around congratulating themselves on the Forteeners as if they had something to do with making them. These are the mountains that reach 14.000 feet or more in hight. They would scoff when I mentioned the Cascade Mountains that only reach 12,000 feet or so. "Our Mountains are much bigger!" they proclaim. "Fourteen thousand feet is much taller than twelve thousand." To which I would reply that if a four year old stands on a table so he can see over the head of an NBA pro basketball player, the four year old is, in fact, still shorter than the basketball player, he is just higher. Rhododendron is a town at the base of Mount Hood. Its elevation is around 1600 feet and Hood's peak is 11,300ish on the conservative estimate. 11,300 minus 1600 is 9700. Aspen, Colorado (7,890ft) is at the base of Mount Elbert (14,433ft). 14433 minus 7890 is 6543. Thus Mount Hood is over three thousand feet TALLER than Mount Elbert. So there! Nyeh!
If you loose your sense of direction in Portland remember that East Portland is flat. West Portland very much isn't. The river runs between them.
A RANT ABOUT MOUNTAINS: When I lived in Colorado people ran around congratulating themselves on the Forteeners as if they had something to do with making them. These are the mountains that reach 14.000 feet or more in hight. They would scoff when I mentioned the Cascade Mountains that only reach 12,000 feet or so. "Our Mountains are much bigger!" they proclaim. "Fourteen thousand feet is much taller than twelve thousand." To which I would reply that if a four year old stands on a table so he can see over the head of an NBA pro basketball player, the four year old is, in fact, still shorter than the basketball player, he is just higher. Rhododendron is a town at the base of Mount Hood. Its elevation is around 1600 feet and Hood's peak is 11,300ish on the conservative estimate. 11,300 minus 1600 is 9700. Aspen, Colorado (7,890ft) is at the base of Mount Elbert (14,433ft). 14433 minus 7890 is 6543. Thus Mount Hood is over three thousand feet TALLER than Mount Elbert. So there! Nyeh!