Portland Walk: Pittock Mansion

It wasn't the best weather for a long walk this weekend, but I had the thought that tromping around mansion grounds on a kind of bleak winter day might be kind of neat. It ended up being a six mile walk that took us up about 850 ft. in elevation! Even though visibility was low, it's still neat to be up that high and have a great view of the city:

 

After hiking all that way we weren't really up for a tour, but I'm sure we will be back at some point to check out the house. It's huge, built in 1909, originally for the publisher of the Oregonian. As we hiked towards it I found myself wondering just how hard it would've been to built such a large house up in the hills that long ago. The wikipedia entry about the house also says it's a great birdwatching location so there are more than a few reasons to make this trip again. Meanwhile, my suspicions were correct and it looked great in the misty, wet weather, even if it proved especially difficult to keep drops of water off my lens:

Hiking through the Northwest neighborhood was interesting as well, with a lot of architectural styles represented, elaborate landscaping and sculptures in many of the yards. Many of the houses had a quaint cottage feel, and most of them looked deceptively small and private from the street. I'm sure the other side of most of these homes is covered in large windows to take in the views. But on the street side fences and hedges, or sometimes both:

 

When we got home it took a while to dry ourselves and warm up, but it was satisfying to explore a new part of town and see some really interesting houses.