When I was here, I went a little snap-happy and took way too many shots of the sky. But that's a known hazard of watching the sunset in San Fran. As I look at this, I think if not for the photos, I would've forgotten all about it. These are not the kinds of things that stick in my memory very well. However, the picture brings back many details of that night, now nearly five years later. It may sound conceded, but I like looking at my own photos. In part, that's because they bring back memories of the experience. Maybe it's a sense of nostalgia because often the memory exceeds reality. I think we reconstruct memories to build a better story. I'm not sure that makes sense, but those are my thoughts.
No trip to the Portland area is complete without visiting Multnomah Falls. Here is a lie; there was nobody here when I took this shot. In fact, to get this, I had to elbow my way through layers of Instagrammers holding phones aloft with their backs to the falls. I should have known better, it was July 4th, but I went anyway. I Photoshoped all the people off the bridge except for one. In the end, this edit is not far from the scene I imagined in my head. If I did have the place to myself, I would have taken more shots, but I like this shot, so maybe that would have been a waste. Anyhow, when I go back, even if it's winter, I'll come early to try my luck again. But it's all good; I ended up hiking to the top to see even more waterfalls and a lot fewer people. It ended up being an excellent day, for Instagram and me.
I took this about five years ago on one of my visits back to where I grew up. But as they say, home is where the heart is. Never in a million years would I have imagined I'd end up in Florida. But here I am, and the longer I'm out here, the more I need to go back to the Pacific for little trips to recharge. Maybe I miss the mountains and evergreens which we don't have in the sunshine state. This image is my favorite from that trip, but I waited until now to process it. For whatever reason, it needed to age like a good California wine.
