The Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railroad

The RS & P Railroad, located in west Texas in the far southern section of the Texas Panhandle, opened in 1908, and soon established itself as one of the most profitable short railroad lines in the nation by becoming a " bridge route", linking the major lines of the Santa Fe and Texas & Pacific, enabling California fruits and vegetables to be now available in 5 days to the booming new markets of the southeatern United States, including New Orleans and Memphis. View its rich history here and here .

Pontotoc , Texas

Settled in the early 1850s by 5 families moving from the similarly named town in Mississippi, Pontotoc Texas was a promising new town town in the 5 year old new state of Texas , but fate intervened only 30 years later: typhoid fever brokeout and decimated the rising population and then the railroad decided to locate in the neighboring town. The population slowly declined over 120 years and now only a lucky 100 or so residents can claim to be residents. See pictures at:

Pontotoc

Portlandia and the Portland Building

Portland Oregon held a worldwide competition to design a building to house city government offices in the early 1980's. The design competition winner was Michael Graves, a NY City renowned architect who came up with the Portland Building, one of the earliest examples of post-modern design.

On the back side of the building rests the 2nd largest copper statue in the U.S., after the Statue of Liberty, the 35 foot Portlandia, the new symbol of Portand.

Portland outdoor store

Run by the same family since 1929, this Portland institution is a western wear and saddle shop with over 3000 boots to choose from. While shopping from their large selection of vintage western shirts, you might bump into customers ZZ Topp or Madonna.

Union Station

Opened in 1896, Union Station, Portland Oregon's historic train station, is one of the oldest continuously-operated railroad stations in the United States. The red brick Italian Renaissance Style building features a 150' clock tower.

Duckapalooza

Silhoutte ( as all pictures posted here, click on picture to see larger image)
A male Hooded Merganser skedaddling with a piece of bread, about to be cut off at the pass by the meaner hombre at the top.
The 4 smaller ducks are m&f Hooded Mergansers, cousins of Buffleheads; also divers.
3 male Buffleheads, one of the smallest ducks at only 13"- 15" . Is of the less frequent diving duck species.


4 foot tall Great Blue Heron, Portland's official city bird . Mostly feed on fish and turtle.

Laurelhurst Park

The 30 acre Laurelhurst Park in southeast Portland was created in 1912, based on a design by the Olmsted Brothers ( who designed NY City's Central Park ). The focal point of the park is a spring-fed 3 acre pond. It was the first city park to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.