I went downtown this week when a photo safari for interested persons was announced.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was game to try.   Our fearless leader was a professional photographer and the group of about 10 amateurs was ready to take on whatever challenge was set before us.  (The first challenge was finding a place to park). Everyone else had a regular sort of camera and a couple of people were actually using film (how retro!).   I had my little point and shoot.  Our task was to take only ten pictures in half an hour, using the word “up” as our theme.  The sky was hazy from the wildfires in far away Washington, so the skies are washed out.   Here’s a few of the shots I got.

The old courthouse has this wonderful tower and is now a museum of local history.   The new courthouse is a plain box, quite dull.

This snooty sow sits across the street.

This is my interpretation of the theme.

 

This flower in a planter was glowing in the sunlight, so I had to capture it.

The blue things are parrots, part of the downtown art project.  The building on the right was an old fashioned department store when I first moved here.   It had pneumatic tubes that delivered money, elevator operators and beautiful oak tables that displayed merchandise.  Of course the store is long gone, now it has a chain restaurant on the ground floor.

In a recent renovation, they uncovered the original sign for this establishment.   Long ago it was a businessman’s hotel, then it sat empty for many years before becoming a popular brewpub.  And the beer that they brew isn’t too bad either.   The tall building behind it was built as the headquarters of a beet sugar company, it’s long gone as well.   Downtown endlessly recycles itself.