(Click photo to enlarge.) When traveling through North Bend on the Oregon coast, I always look to see if there are any trains stopped along the tracks. Yesterday, yes! And the first thing I noticed was this artwork. It caught my eye because it's not the typical graffiti we usually see. This person used black and white paint to create a twilight scene of Black Butte, a lava dome in California between the towns of Mt. Shasta and Weed.
This artist made the lava dome look like a mastodon of sorts, and depicts the railroad, the trees, stars, and a sliver of a moon. On the lower left you see "To Portland" and on the right "To Roseville" (near Sacramento).
So the next time you're driving I-5, take a look to the east and envision Black Butte as a mastodon looking (somewhat forlornly) out over the railroad tracks, and give him a nod. ©Carol Leigh
