I was born here, and I take this rainy outpost for granted.  I must ask myself though – in what other city can you go for a run on your lunch hour and see a submarine, a pirate ship and a bald eagle?

It was a beautiful day in June and I was out for a run.  This was odd, because the Rose Festival was in full swing. The waterfront was crowded with tourists and rose spirit when I arrived for a lunch hour jog.  I headed south from the Salmon Springs fountain, full of the day, tunes loaded.

I covered ground quickly and passed the Willamette River marina. I noted the familiar sight of the OMSI submarine, lurking on the east bank, eternally half submerged.  Always cool.  My eyes followed the river upstream, where a vintage pirate ship made its way sedately toward the Marquam Bridge.  A pirate ship, at high noon.  It was one of two in town for the Rose Festival, but I didn’t know that when I spotted it.  What a surprise. There’s nothing like a pirate ship under sail.   It is a majestic anachronism indeed. Five minutes later I saw a bald eagle flying soaring across the river, as if keeping a wary eye on the pirate ship.

Can a lunch hour run in an American city get much better?  The day is seared in my memory, and returns to me in full detail on beautiful days like today.