It is Not A Balloon

After the Falls, I thought I was going to head up to Wendy Park to see if there were any ships that I could catch.  As I was approaching Cleveland, I saw that there was a blimp in the sky, so I decided to get some pictures of that.

 When Goodyear retired the Spirit of Innovation in 2017, they retired their last blimp.  In 2011, they decided they were going to replace their fleet of non-rigid airships built in the United States with semi-rigid airships built by the Zeppelin Company in Germany.

 Wingfoot One is the first of these airships and is 246 feet long.  It has a top speed of 70 miles per hour versus 50 miles per hour for the older airships.  It can carry 12 passengers instead of 7 and the gondola is equipped with a restroom.

 Goodyear has three airships in their fleet.  One is based in Pompano Beach, Florida.  Another is based in Carson, California and the third is based in Suffield, Ohio.

 As I was taking a picture of the blimp, this 737 was taking off from Hopkins International Airport.

 I believe it was heading for Atlanta.

 More of a side shot of the blimp.  Unfortunately, this was the best I could do.

 And one of those once in a lifetime pictures.  I'll call it a bifecta because it has a "ship" and a plane.  I just wish I would have had a better angle on the blimp but I'm afraid I would have liked the angle on the plane.  Oh well.

 A closeup of the 737.

 What I think is a better shot of the blimp.

One more shot.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything coming in the harbor, so I didn't get any pictures of ships.  Oh well, this was pretty cool.