Setting sun sparks KOIN Tower windows as I wait for the 4th of July fireworks

From my friends' boat on the Willamette River, I noticed the KOIN Tower windows, glowing wondrously. I clicked the D50 a few times, hoping to get at least one photo that would do justice to the sight. I like this one best because it not only shows the windows but also give you a good idea of the size of the crowd at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival there in Tom McCall Waterfront Park as well as the number of boats visible in the narrow space captured by the camera.

The building is 509 feet tall, Oregon's third tallest building. The building was originally named Fountain Plaza, but it quickly came to be known as the KOIN Center, or KOIN Tower, reflecting the name of its highest-profile occupant, KOIN television. The building was controversial while being constructed because its location blocked the view of Mount Hood that had long been seen by drivers emerging from the Vista Ridge Tunnel under Portland's West Hills going eastbound on U.S. Route 26. The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is the largest blues fest west of the Mississippi and the second largest on in the USA.

Fog on the Willamette

On the morning of Nov. 21, after I got off the bus and crossed the street, I overheard a couple of people in front of the building talking about something they'd seen. It didn't come through to me just what they were talking about, but I did hear, "KOIN Tower," so I knew it must have been either on the east side of the river or at least in an eastward direction. When I got upstairs and looked out the window, I saw immediately what had caught their eye--the fog sitting on the Willamette River. In my almost two and a half years here in Portland, I've never seen fog like this.

I went to the sixth floor to take some quick photos. You can really tell that the fog is on the east side of I-5 in this shot. I like how the fog follows the curve in the river, shorter at each side of the photo, taller in the middle.

This shot is directly south of the one above; you can see the upper and lower decks of the Marquam Bridge which carries I-5 across the Willamette River.

Look how the bridge disappears into the fog.

That's the KOIN Tower, the one with the point.KOIN is Channel 6, the local CBS affiliate.

This photo is to the north of the first one. The tall building is nicknamed The Big Pink.