Event, TravelMorgan Stone Grethertigard, oregon, pacific northwest, travel, hot air balloon, Tigard Festival of Balloons, balloon

Tigard Festival of Balloons

Event, TravelMorgan Stone Grethertigard, oregon, pacific northwest, travel, hot air balloon, Tigard Festival of Balloons, balloon
Tigard Festival of Balloons

Each June, the city of Tigard, Oregon, is host to a wonderful hot air festival, appropriately named the Tigard Festival of Balloons. There is not much more visually fun out there than a whole bunch of balloons firing up their burner engines and floating up into the clear blue skies. I only wish that it didn’t have to start at 5am! And that it could last longer. “Nothing gold can stay,” as Frost wrote. Nevertheless, I had a blast! It’s like flowers blooming in the air.

I just found these photos in a backup archive; I shot them in June 2015.

Nice person in Portland, Oregon, and beyond.

TravelMorgan Stone Grethertimber linn parkhot air balloon, festival, Northwest Art & Air Festival, Albany, oregon, pacific northwest, Linn County, travel

Hot Air Balloons at Northwest Art & Air Festival in Albany, Oregon

In August 2017, we visited the Northwest Art & Air Festival in Albany, Oregon. The event started at Timber Linn Park with 35 hot air balloons slowly taking to the sky at 6:45am. The colors and the sounds were amazing fun. The sky was a hazy brown due to forest fires in the Cascade Mountains nearby (here's hoping no one gets hurt or loses their home!), but it made for a lovely sunrise at least. 

TravelMorgan Stone Grethertimber linn parkhot air balloon, festival, Northwest Art & Air Festival, Albany, oregon, pacific northwest, Linn County, travel
Hot Air Balloons at Northwest Art & Air Festival in Albany, Oregon
TravelMorgan Stone Gretherrocky butte, sunset, portland, pacific northwest, travel, oregon

Sunset at Rocky Butte

In northeast Portland, there is a nice viewpoint at Rocky Butte Natural Area. The park covers the remains of an extinct volcano and gives you — on clear days — a nice view of several more volcanoes, both extinct (e.g., Mount Tabor, Pilot Butte, etc.) and active (e.g., Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens).

TravelMorgan Stone Gretherrocky butte, sunset, portland, pacific northwest, travel, oregon
Sunset at Rocky Butte
TravelMorgan Stone GretherPeter Iredale, shipwreck, beach, oregon, pacific northwest, travel

Wreck of the Peter Iredale (post 1 of 2: daytime)

West of Astoria, Oregon, on the wide and well-preserved historic beaches along Fort Stevens State Park, a visitor may be surprised to find the remains of a shipwreck from 1906. The Peter Iredale, once a 300-foot-long wooden sailing ship with four tall masts, is now only the skeletal remains of its iron hull sticking out of the sand.

TravelMorgan Stone GretherPeter Iredale, shipwreck, beach, oregon, pacific northwest, travel
Wreck of the Peter Iredale (post 1 of 2: daytime)
TravelMorgan Stone Gretheroregon, Astoria, beach, peter iredale, pacific northwest, ocean, travel

Wreck of the Peter Iredale (post 2 of 2: Sunset)

West of Astoria, Oregon, on the wide and well-preserved historic beaches along Fort Stevens State Park, a visitor may be surprised to find the remains of a shipwreck from 1906. The Peter Iredale, once a 300-foot-long wooden sailing ship with four tall masts, is now only the skeletal remains of its iron hull sticking out of the sand.

TravelMorgan Stone Gretheroregon, Astoria, beach, peter iredale, pacific northwest, ocean, travel
Wreck of the Peter Iredale (post 2 of 2: Sunset)