Jack, that was me and no, I'm not on anything. It was real although my wife is getting tired of hearing about it. Maybe it was our walk back to the spot so I could show her the exact angles involved. Apparently, meteors get a little boring if you don't happen to see them and are just hearing about it second-hand.
It wasn't one of those ones that cross the Northwest but it did look better than some of the ones on the Internet videos. Not to say there aren't some awesome ones on the Internet. Damn, I wish I had it on film. It was short in duration but it was bright and beautiful. I sent the information to the fireball tracking website and I estimated it lasted around 3 or 4 seconds. What a thrill. I now want to get a better camera and just take pictures of meteors. If I had gotten that with my high-def Canon they would have played it on the news for the beauty alone. I also told a couple of people in Fred Meyers about it right after it happened. They looked at me a little weird, but that's normal. I was really excited about it, and even called my friend up in Washington to tell him about it. It definitely made me take a step back - partly because it appeared right where I was looking while I waited for the cross walk light to change. Meteor fireballs rule!

I do believe that at the same time your gentle reader was recoiling from "a big space object," the Discovery shuttle was also returning to earth. No aliens...unless the astronauts brought some back with them.

heavens-above.com might be useful for determining what it was.

"I do believe that at the same time your gentle reader was recoiling from "a big space object," the Discovery shuttle was also returning to earth. No aliens...unless the astronauts brought some back with them".

The gentle reader fixes this at 6:30 PM. The shuttle landed around 10AM Pacific.

perhaps a comet--it's been all over the news for a while.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/11/05/brighter.comet.ap/index.html

Ask Dennis Kucinich.

I had a similar experience a few years ago while hiking. It was a gigantic ball of light that streaked across the sky and disappeared behind a mountain. It was amazing, and it's frustrating that I don't know anyone else who saw it. I've several times since then made a point of going to extremely remote locations during the big meteor showers that go by overhead, and I've seen similar sights. From what I've read, even seemingly large meteors almost always burn up before they reach the earth. I guess these things are much more common than most of us realize.

Thanks, Courtney. I filled out the American Meteor Society Fireball Reporting Form - isn't that a great title - then I looked at some of the other recent reports.
The comments bring up an interesting point: The space shuttle. I have seen it go over Portland twice when it landed at Edwards. At night it left a huge glowing trail that crossed the sky. In the day it was a white speck. Each time it was on the ground 15 minutes later in California. Several times when the weather has been bad in Florida, I have checked the orbits, hoping it will come over Portland again. For some reason, I only read about the potential Monday morning pass - later shifted to a Wednesday landing - after the fact.
This thing I saw last night burned up after entering the atmosphere. It didn't break up into chunks or explode the way some of them do on the Internet videos. It just flamed for a brief time and went out. The reason I think it was a meteor was that it came in at a steep angle. I think of space junk as slowly losing orbit and coming in at a low angle.
As far as Dennis Kucinich and his UFO sighting, I should say I have researched that subject way too much not to believe there's something to it. I think people are blinded to the truth sometimes out of fear of ridicule, and the implications. Plus there's the regulation human arrogance that it's all about us, and the need to keep our own belief systems intact. For me the cute part is when these same people turn around and tell you their beliefs and they are off-the-charts farfetched - except for one little detail: They're accepted by society. Interesting. Disappointing but interesting. It's sort of a hindrance to our advancement in the knowledge department.
I even feel a little ridiculous about this, like I just bought a day pass to crazy town, but that is part of the deal.
I saw a fireball entering the atmosphere in the Northwest sky last night. If I was the only one, then I'm sorry because it was amazing.
Maybe more people would have seen it but for all these damn new condos blocking the view.

I saw it, too. It was very big and bright, white with tints of red/orange to it. I looked online last night and today trying to find someone else who saw it, or some news report of it. I don't think I've ever seen something so big and bright before.
Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one, but does anyone know definitively what it was?

Thanks so much, Rachel.

Wasn't it spectacular? I mean if you were watching 4th of July fireworks and this thing showed up, you'd still be amazed by it.

To have it arrive as a surprise was a little shocking. I kept looking around for more.

I do regret telling the people in Fred's to look for it on the late news. That didn't happen. Perhaps my "Breaking News" email to Jack was a little overstated as well, but I tell you what - it was big news in my world and I was looking at Internet videos of meteors late into the night.

You should report it to the American Meteor Society. They like multiple reports so they can get a triangulation.

Re: For me the cute part is when these same people turn around and tell you their beliefs and they are off-the-charts farfetched - except for one little detail: They're accepted by society.

Yeah, believing in UFOs makes you crazy but believing a bearded man in the sky will give you ultimate forgiveness is okay.

You should report it to the American Meteor Society. They like multiple reports so they can get a triangulation.

I thought that was referred to as a "threesome"...

...or maybe I'm thinking of some other Society.

I love seeing the occasional shooting star or meteor enter the atmosphere. While the prospect of an alien seems exciting, I have never worried about abduction. Why would an otherwise intelligent being want to bring one of us home?

I saw it too! I was standing on the corner of SW 50th & Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy waiting for the bus when I see this fireball flying across the sky. I think it was heading NW... because it appeared to be moving toward the West Hills. It was pretty awesome...