Blue Like Jazz

While I was on tour, I re-read Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz". There's a specific part in the book where he talks about his experience attending Reed College which is in Portland, Oregon. He spoke of how beautiful the campus is and of how one night he was hanging out with a friend and they walked across the Blue Bridge...which he describes as , "a beautiful walking bridge on the campus that stretches across a canyon, fit with blue lights, which, when you look, at them with blurred eyes, feels like stars lighting a path winding toward heaven."
Right after the tour, I was scheduled to head back to Portland for a couple of weeks. While I was there, I played at a festival, spent time with my family and friends and tied up a lot of my loose ends from my 10 year stay there. :)
One particular night, I got together with my friend (and co-producer), Todd (or Mr. T as I like to call him). We went out and had some fabulous ethiopian food at the Queen of Sheba. Afterwards, we were trying to decide what to do. It was a beautiful summer night...perfect for walking.
"What would you like to do?" He asked me.
"This is going to sound really odd." I said. "Have you ever been to Reed College before?"
"Yes. I've played there before." He said.
"I just finished reading a book called 'Blue Like Jazz' and there's one part where the author talked about his experiences at Reed College. He talked about how beautiful the campus was and about this one bridge in particular." I hastily tried to explain. "The way he described it...well, it makes me want to go there, see the campus and find the bridge for myself. Do you mind?"
"Not at all." Todd said (because he's cool like that!) "Let's do it."
So, we went to Reed College, parked and started walking around to try and find it.
Donald Miller wasn't lying when he said how beautiful the campus is. There are several bridges and walking paths there. The landscape was really pretty.
We walked in the afterglow of the sunset and went in search of the bridge.















And we found it! The sky was losing light fast, so I took a couple pics quickly.

I love reading about places and then actually going there myself to see firsthand what the writer is talking about. It's just one of those things that I get some small satisfaction out of.
We came across another bridge too:


This one was lit in a way that felt like the sun was setting behind you and the orange glow was reflecting off of the railings.


It was a fun little adventure.