The place I visit today is home to Carol and Crockett1947 from "The Star Tribune Crossword Corner." The photos are 1) a view of downtown Portland, 2) Multnomah Falls near Portland, and 3) Lake Oswego.

Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. It has an estimated population of 568,380, and has been referred to as the greenest city in the United States. Portland is Oregon's most populous city, and the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest, after Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle, Washington. Approximately two million people live in the Portland metropolitan area (MSA), the 23rd most populous in the United States as of July 2006.
Portland was incorporated in 1851 and is the seat of Multnomah County. The city extends slightly into Washington County to the west and Clackamas County to the south. It is governed by a commission-based government headed by a mayor and four other commissioners.
The city and region are noted for strong land-use planning and investment in public transit, supported by Metro, a distinctive regional-government scheme. Portland is also known for its large number of microbreweries and microdistilleries, its coffee houses, and as the home of the Trail Blazers NBA basketball team.
Portland lies in the Marine west coast climate region, marked by warm summers and rainy but temperate winters. This climate is ideal for growing roses, and for more than a century, Portland has been known as "The City of Roses" with many rose gardens — most prominently the International Rose Test Garden overlooking downtown.

Portland started as a spot known as "the clearing," which was on the banks of the Willamette about halfway between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver. In 1843, William Overton saw great commercial potential for this land but lacked the funds required to file a land claim. He struck a bargain with his partner Asa Lovejoy of Boston, Massachusetts: for 25¢, Overton would share his claim to the 640 acre (2.6 km²) site. Overton later sold his half of the claim to Francis W. Pettygrove of Portland, Maine. Pettygrove and Lovejoy each wished to name the new city after his respective home town; this was decided with a coin toss, which Pettygrove won in a series of two out of three tosses. The coin used for this decision, now known as the Portland Penny, is on display in the headquarters of the Oregon Historical Society.
At the time of its incorporation on February 8, 1851 Portland had over 800 inhabitants, a steam sawmill, a log cabin hotel, and a newspaper, the Weekly Oregonian. By 1879, the population had grown to 17,500.
Portland's location, with access both to the Pacific Ocean via the Willamette and the Columbia rivers and to the agricultural Tualatin Valley via the "Great Plank Road" through a canyon in the West Hills (the route of current-day U.S. Route 26), gave it an advantage over nearby ports, and it grew quickly. It remained the major port in the Pacific Northwest for much of the 19th century, until the 1890s, when Seattle's deepwater harbor was connected to the rest of the mainland by rail, affording an inland route without the treacherous navigation of the Columbia River.
The most common nickname for Portland is "The Rose City". The first known reference to Portland as "The City of Roses" was made by visitors to an 1888 Episcopal Church convention, the nickname growing in popularity after the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition where Mayor Harry Lane suggested that the city needed a "festival of roses." The first Portland Rose Festival was held two years later and remains the city's major annual festival a century later.
Other nicknames for Portland include "Stumptown" (because of early logging to clear land for development, and "Bridgetown" (because of its numerous bridges. City officials are promoting Portland's thriving microbrewery industry with the nicknames "Beervana" and "Brewtopia". Many Portlanders and Oregonians also refer to Portland synecdochically by the Airport code of Portland International Airport, "PDX".
"Rip City" is a nickname coined by Blazer's broadcaster Bill Schonely when referring to the basketball team and its surrounding culture.
Staffers of former US President George H. W. Bush used to refer to Portland as "Little Beirut" because of the protesters he encountered during his visits.

Today's Jumble (8/07/08):

KHYAS = SHAKY; RAOAM = AROMA; YOUCTH = TOUCHY; MEEGUL = LEGUME

CIRCLED LETTERS = SHROTUHEGE

The kind of dress worn by a ghost.

"SEE - THROUGH"

Today is 1) Sea Serpent Day and 2) Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day.

Other things on this day in history:

1220 - Sweden was defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula.
1509 - The Emperor Krishnadeva Raya is crowned, marking the beginning of the regeneration of the Vijayanagara Empire.
1576 - The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on Hven.
1585 - John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in quest for the Northwest Passage.
1588 - Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines - The naval engagement ends, thus ending the Spanish Armada's attempt to invade England.
1605 - The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden.
1647 - The Irish Confederate Wars and Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Dungans Hill - English Parliamentary forces defeat Irish forces.
1786 - Mont Blanc on the French- Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
1793 - The insurrection of Lyon occurred during the French Revolution.
1794 - Joseph Whidbey and George Vancouver lead an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage near Juneau, Alaska.
1810 - Eminent Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib married Maaroof, daughter of Nawab Ilahi Baksh, and moved to Delhi.
1839 - Beta Theta Pi is founded in Oxford, Ohio.
1844 - The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, is reaffirmed as the leading body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or Mormon Church).
1863 - American Civil War: Following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt).
1863 - American Civil War: Tennessee's "military" Gov. Andrew Johnson freed his personal slaves. During the early 20th century, the day was celebrated by blacks in Tennessee as a holiday.
1870 - The Republic of Ploieşti, a failed Radical-Liberal rising against Domnitor Carol of Romania.
1876 - Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.
1908 - Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It's the Wright Brothers' first public flight and the French public goes wild.
1910 - The US Army installs the first tricycle landing gear on the Army's Wright Flyer.
1911 - The millionth patent is filed in the United States Patent Office by Francis Holton for a tubeless vehicle tire.
1911 - Public Law 62-5 sets the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives at 435. The law would come into effect in 1913.
1918 - World War I: Battle of Amiens begins a string of almost continuous victories with a push through the German front lines.
1929 - The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.
1931 - Workers go on strike at the Hoover dam
1938 - The building of Mauthausen concentration camp begins.
1940 - "Aufbau Ost" directive was signed by Wilhelm Keitel.
1942 - World War II: In Washington, DC, six German would-be saboteurs are executed.
1942 - Quit India resolution was passed by the Bombay session of the AICC, which leads to the start of a civil disobedience movement across India
1945 - World War II - The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and commenced the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation.
1945 - The United Nations Charter is signed by the United States, which becomes the third nation to join.
1946 - First flight of the Convair B-36.
1947 - Pakistan's National Flag is approved.
1949 - Bhutan becomes independent.
1960 - South Kasai secedes from the Congo.
1963 - Great Train Robbery: In England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal 2.6 million pounds in bank notes.
1967 - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded.
1968 - Jurō Wada successfully performs Japan's first heart transplant.
1973 - U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew goes on television to denounce accusations he had taken kickbacks while governor of Maryland.
1973 - Kim Dae-Jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped.
1974 - Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his resignation, effective the next day.
1980 - The Central Hotel Fire, Bundoran occurred in Ireland.
1986 - Altaf Hussain's address at Nishtar Park Karachi, announcement of establishing political movement MQM.
1988 - The "8888 Uprising" occurs in Burma.
1988 - The lights are turned on at Wrigley Field for the first time, making it the last major league stadium to host night games. (The game, against the Philadelphia Phillies, is rained out after three-and-a-half innings.)
1989 - Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission - Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
1990 - Iraq occupies Kuwait and the state is annexed to Iraq. This would lead to the Gulf War shortly afterward.
1991 - Collapse of Warsaw radio mast, at one time the tallest construction ever built
1991 - John McCarthy, British Journalist held hostage in Lebanon for more than five years by Islamic Jihad, is released.
2000 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.
2007 - An EF2 tornado touches down in Kings County and Richmond County, New York State, the most powerful tornado in New York to date and the first in Brooklyn since 1889.
2008 - The XXIV Olympics commenced