Famous ship size optical illusion, Astoria, Oregon

This is typical, and yet always surprising. You're looking down the street when a ship passes town on the river, and - wow - it look like THIS time the ship is so much closer to the docks. You wonder what's up. Why is the ship nearly in your lap? Nearly on the streets of town? But no, it's actually an illusion. We get used to it, but it continues to amaze. So I'm walking down the street when I see the ship, and I think, "I'll get a photo of the illusion this time." You can see I'm crossing the street one short block from the water by the time I get my camera out of my backpack. First shot. The ship looks only a few yards from the buildings.

I step up on the curb out of the street and take a second shot. The ship still looks big and quite close. Then I begin walking fast toward the boardwalk to get another photo quickly before the ship goes too far up river, but I need to get close enough to the water so my sight line has cleared the buildings. Watch what happens. . . .

Huh? Honest. I didn't fix anything and there are no tricks here. As soon as the ship clears the buildings relative to the viewer's sight-line, everything changes. I haven't moved to a new position, and I didn't wait for the ship to move away from us. Yeah, it's turning a bit north into the river and away from us now. It makes a little difference, but not nearly as much as it appears. It's truly an optical illusion. If I had run at full speed straight onto the boardwalk when I first saw the ship, it would be the same. I'll try to get more of these on "film." They're fun. Usually I'm in my car driving when I notice them and I can't get the photo.

At the Astoria Column, Astoria, Oregon

This is Youngs River seen from ground level at the Astoria Column. I like how open the veiw is with the pastel colors. And the spelling of "Youngs" is right. I don't know why I has no apostrophe.

Here's a boat made by the local Indians. I'll have to go back and read the plaque so I can say more about it.

Turning northwest, this is the Columbia River looking toward the mouth. The Astoria-Megler bridge stretches the four-point-something miles to Washington. The column is a favorite walk from town for a lot of locals and probably for tourists as well.

A beautiful rainbow shows itself for a moment over the Columbia. Weather can come and go so quickly. Rainbows over the water are not unusual, but they're always a surprising treat.

Here's the column itself at the top of the hill where the previous pictures were taken.

And this is the top of the column. I wish I hadn't cut off the spire, but it's still a nice photo - nice colors.

The Peter Iredale lies like the bones of a monster snake

The wreck of the Peter Iredale on the beach at Warrenton, Oregon. Obviously, an incredibly beautiful day. I've got more pix of the Peter Iredale on this blog and in one of my web albums.

Wet outside, cozy inside

Nice. Coffee and breakfast on another wet day.

Sunset on the Columbia

January 31, sunset on the Columbia. Tonight was a treat. The clouds in Astoria are not often so dramatically tall. For just a moment, the river and sky were the same hue.