A Stop at Barton Dam

I went to a family celebration for my mom's 70th birthday yesterday (her birthday was three weeks ago).  It was up in Saginaw.  I had to go through Ann Arbor to pick up a desert tray that we had ordered.  As I was passing through, I decided to make a stop at Barton Dam.

 It has been a while since I've been here.  I was kind of disappointed in the colors though.

 The colors were pretty nice as I looked down the Huron River though.

 They were okay near the dam.  The water was mostly flowing.

 It was a little chilly yesterday, so it was a little hazy.

 Another angle.

 A pair of waterfalls with the shutter speed slowed down.

 Another angle of the dam.

And one more.

It was a pretty nice day to head up to Saginaw.  Getting home was a different story though.

Thursdays at the Aviary Getting Dusky

So I decided to head over to the aluminum aviary on Thursday as has been my tradition for a while.  Sadly with the waning sunlight I'm not going to have too many more opportunities to do this.  It was a little chilly but it was a nice night for planes.

 First up was a Delta Airlines A330 coming from Amsterdam.

 It was followed by N357NB, the magnum plane which is an A319.

 It was arriving from Mexico City.

 A Spirit Airlines A320 showing off it's beacon as it arrives from Myrtle Beach.

 An A321 arriving from Las Vegas.

 When you see those wingtip lights, you know that you are going to see Mad Dog of some sort.

 This is the 717 arriving from Raleigh-Durham.  I call it a Mad Dog because while it is sold under the Boeing name, it is just an update of the DC-9/MD-80 from years ago.

 A 737 arriving from Minneapolis.

 It was followed by a CRJ-700 coming from Bay City.

 One of the planes I was waiting for.

 In this case Fed Ex Flight 505 from Memphis.

 An A320 from Atlanta.

 The timing worked out so that I could get a shot that is rare in Detroit.  Namely a pair of 787s on approach.

 First up was Royal Jordanian Flight 267 which originated in Amman, Jordan and had a stop in Montreal before continuing to Detroit.

Another angle of that plane.

 I put this one in because I got a beacon shot out of it.

 It was followed by Air France Flight 378 originating from Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France.

 A becaon shot.

 And one more shot because I like this plane.

 An A321 arriving from Atlanta.

 A Southwest Airlines 737 coming in from Midway Airport in Chicago.

 I kind of like this shot.

 It is the 757-300 arriving from Orlando.

 I also kind of like this shot.

 A Spirit Airlines A320 arriving from LaGuardia.

 And my last of the evening.

 In this case a 757 belonging to Fed Ex.

 I kind of liked the background of this shot.

And I like this angle.

And the Frontenac

The next ship is the one I was really interested in.

 The Frontenac was following the Algoma Discovery fairly closely, so I didn't take long for her to appear either.

 Unfortunately, I don't remember where she was heading from.  I think she might have been heading from Thunder Bay.

 And I think she was heading to Hamilton but I'm not sure what she would have been carrying.

 Anyway, she was a ship I wanted to catch because I think she's another one that's not long for this world.

 As I checked Marine Traffic tonight to try to figure out where she might have been, she was in Goderich.

 That means she was picking up salt and given the corrosiveness of salt, it's typically a cargo carried near the end of a ship's lifespan.

 And that's kind of a shame because she is one of the last Canadian built classic lakers left.  She is also one of the more beautiful.

 The almost beam shot.

 And the beamshot.

She continues on her way.  If it was in fact Hamilton, that's another day at least.

The Algoma Discovery Passes Port Huron

It didn't take long for the next ship to appear.

 The Algoma Discovery was coming down from Thunder Bay.

 I think she had a load of grain as she was on her way to Quebec City.

 Typically the load of grain will be taken there and it will be picked up by another ship which will take it to an overseas port.

 As I write this post, she is in Quebec City, so a journey there from here is about four days.

 She is a pretty nice looking ship, except I don't think she is long for this world.

 She passes under the Blue Water Bridge.

 Another angle.

 Her pilothouse.

And I really like this shot.