Friday, June 29, 2012

Engineer's Day at the Soo

So today is the day I have been waiting for, Engineer's Day at the Soo Locks. It was pretty cool to get to the other parts of the Locks.


You should have seen my level of excitement when I found out what ship I would be about five feet away from. It was my favorite.....the Roger Blough. I will post more later and will probably redo this one when I get home.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Up at the Soo Locks

So I am up at the Soo because tomorrow is Engineer's Day at the Locks. It is where they let go to areas that are not normally open to the public.


Can't get up to the UP without the Bridge.


I only saw two ships though. The CSL Laurentien and the above ship, the Algoma Montrealais.

As always more pics when I get home.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Sault Ste Marie

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Odds and Ends Around the Detroit River

The nice thing about the Detroit River is that you don't know what you are going to see sometimes.
 Well, sometimes it's a certainty that you will see the moon there.  Or is it a space station?
 Occasionally you will see general aviation aircraft, although I don't know what kind this is.
 If the conditions are right, you will see planes from either Detroit Metro or the airport near Windsor.  I believe this is an Airbus 319 or 320.
 A couple weeks ago, I saw Yankee Lady which is the Yankee Air Force B-17.  Tonight I saw the Yankee Warrior, which is their B-25.
 The B-25 Mitchell Bomber is famous for the Doolittle Raid over Tokyo in April 1942.  The Doolittle Raiders trained to take off from aircraft carriers, which was a pretty tough task.  They didn't inflict heavy damage on Tokyo but they did strike a moral victory for a nation which was short of those.
 I believe this is a Robinson helicopter.
 I see a few of these around California.
 The Border Patrol boat.
And the Coast Guard heading somewhere.

Well, I will be heading up to the Soo Locks for Engineer's Day and I can't wait.

The Joseph H. Thompson on the Detroit River

Last time I saw the Joseph H. Thompson was on the Saginaw River.  That time was pretty cool because I had a chance to get some pretty detailed shots.  This time, not so much.
 When I first got to Milliken, she was at the Detroit docks unloading cargo (or perhaps further down, I couldn't really tell).  I didn't think I would get to see her.
 But I was wrong.  As I looked down that way, I saw that she was starting to move.  Even though I'm not a huge fan of the articulated tug...a ship is still a ship.  Even if it's technically a barge.
 At least she still retains the classic bow look.
 Even if the rest of her isn't so classic.
 Here she is approaching the Herbert C. Jackson.
 Two ships at once.
 One and a half ships?
 One and a tenth ships....
A whole ship and 5% of a ship or so.  Oh well, it is still cool to see ships passing each other.  I even got to hear one of their horns.

An Evening With Action Jackson

So I decided to head back down to the River after work.   I saw that the Herbert C. Jackson would be making her way downriver.  Since she's a classic laker, I figured I would try to get pictures of her.  She's a repeat visitor.
So here she is sneaking around Belle Isle.  It is still a shame to watch a grown ship having to sneak around but how else do they not get avoided?
She's still a ways out but probably at full steam.
She's coming a little closer.
Almost filling my frame.  Unfortunately, my big lens is not happy at some focal lengths.  I am pretty sure I will have to get it looked at some day.
Fortunately, my other lenses are just fine.
Here she is getting a little closer....
And a little closer yet....No wait.  She appears to be turning around.  That is not something I often see on the River.
Definately, turning around.  It seems that ships were backed up in the Rouge River, so she had to wait.
Which was just fine by me, since I got a chance to take some pictures of angles that I don't normally get.
I think the light was hitting her better at this angle as well.
Almost fully turned around.
A shot of her bow and pilothouse.
A closeup of her pilothouse.
Bow and anchor.
Her smokestack.  Reading the above link, she has a hometown connection because her engine was changed at Defoe Shipyard.
Even closer shot of her smokestack.
As she was waiting patiently, the Joseph Thompson was not waiting so patiently...Or she was being eaten...One of the two.
I vote for eaten.
Oops...doesn't taste so good.
A shot of her stern.
Looking at the backside of her pilothouse.
Every so often, I would see smoke coming out of the stack.  I thought that maybe she would turn around again and continue on her way.
Not to be I guess.
And one last shot of her before leaving for the evening.

Flowers at the Troy Office

While they are not high on the list of things that I like to photograph, I do like the looks of flowers.  Especially the more colorful ones.
I've been meaning to photograph these for a while.  So during lunch, I did just that.
A nice cluster of the flowers.  I think these are some sort of lily.
I love the red, yellow and green.
A pair of flowers.
A close up of the inside.
Looking down the flower.
One last shot...looking at the side.