Freezing with the Philip R. Clarke

I decided to head down to Detroit today but it was pretty cold.  So I didn't stay quite as long as I had planed.

 I did however stay around long enough to catch the Philip R. Clarke.  She's a ship that has appeared on this blog several times in the past, so I'm not going to go into her details.

 I believe she was heading back from Toledo to Stoneport by Rogers City.  But I'm not sure on her destination as AIS does not list it.  I do know she spent  part of last night anchored because of the weather on Lake Erie.

 For this shot, I decided to pull back a little bit to get the Ambassador Bridge in the picture.  Despite who owns it, the Ambassador is still a beautiful bridge.

 Then I decided to get a shot of the Ren Cen.  If you look closely enough, you can see the Clarke in there.

 But enough with shots of other things, here she is in her glory.  Occasionally, the sun would peak through the clouds giving me some illumination but not really enough heat.

 I've heard rumors that the Clarke is going into layup for the next season.  Given that she has the smoke I saw on the Munson, I have no reason to doubt that.

 But for now, I'll bask in the beauty of one of the older vessels on the Lakes.  I just hope she doesn't meet the same fate as the St Marys Challenger anytime soon.

 A shot with the Windsor Casino in the background.

 And then a cleaner shot.

 Then I decided to head up to Belle Isle for more shots.  This time from the fishing dock.

 That's actually not too bad of a spot to grab ship pictures because you're relatively close to them.

 And the background is relatively uncluttered.

 A shot of her pilothouse.  She kind of reminds me of the Anderson and probably with good reason.

 A pulled back shot.

 Another shot of her pilothouse.

 And then a shot of her straight out.

 Another one of those because I like them so much.

 A shot of her pilothouse almost straight out.

 And then her deckhouse.

 And a shot of her stern.  They just don't make them like this anymore.

 And slowly she makes her way out of the Detroit River and into Lake St. Clair.

 She passes the Coast Guard Station.

 And nearly gets eaten by the Coast Guard station.

 And she works her way to Lake St. Clair.

 And then she meets our next visitor.

And one more parting shot before moving on.