A Random Shot of Detroit from Belle Isle

As I was heading back to the car, I looked up and saw this angle of Detroit.  I don't think I ever noticed the Ren Cen from this spot.

The picture is a little cluttered but it gives you a good idea of Belle Isle.

An Evening with the Roger Blough

I like lake freighters.  They come in many different shapes and sizes.  I really like the look of the classic lake freighter though.  The ones with the pilothouse to the front and the deckhouse to the back.  There is a nice tradition to that look.  However in my books, there is one freighter that stands above the others.

My favorite freighter is the Roger Blough.  I honestly don't know why.  She is certainly one of the more unique of the classic lake freighters though.  At any rate, before I left work tonight, I saw that she would be coming upbound on the Detroit River and would hit Detroit at about the same time I would if I left work at that time.  So I beat feet out of work and headed towards Detroit.  As I got on Jefferson, I monitored her progress and saw that Riverside Park was out as she was almost under the Ambassador Bridge.  So it was the race to Belle Isle...well not much of a race as I could make a little more speed on a freighter and I had a head start.  That didn't stop me from putting one of the songs from Das Boot on though.

 So I arrived at Belle Isle to see one of my favorite views.  The almost head on shot of the Blough.  For some reason, she reminds me of a snapping turtle creeping low in the water.

 As she was getting closer.

 I decided to put the bigger lens on so that I could get a larger shot of her pilothouse.  You can almost see the folks on her bridge.

 And then I went back to my other lens to get the straight on shot.  I think I would have caught her at the "golden hour" but it started to cloud over.  I do however like the pinks in the clouds.

 A closeup of her pilothouse.

 A shot of her with almost a clean background.

 After she passed by, I went a little further down the island.  This gave her a cleaner shot for her straight on shot.  But I don't like the sky as much.

 Even cleaner yet.

 So I went back to the big lens to give a shot of her unique self unloading system.  I think it is similar to the self unloader of the Stewart Cort.

 As she is passing by.

 A shot of her deckhouse.

 A more oblique angled shot.

As she is passing the pier on the other side of Belle Isle.

And there you have it, more shots of the Blough.

Some Blossoms

I'm not sure what kind of blossoms these are, I think they may be cherry blossomes but I'm not sure.

 At any rate, I kind of liked how the light was hitting the tree.  It kind of brought the blossoms right out.

 A closeup shot.

 In one of the shaded parts of the tree.

And one last shot.

Iva's Chicken Dinners

Tucked away in a town called Sterling, Michigan is restaurant called Iva's.  Sterling is approximately 40 miles north of Bay City, Michigan.

 

 Iva's was established as a restaurant in 1938.  They serve chicken and a few other dishes but they are known for the chicken.  You can get it southern fried or stewed.  Both are pretty decent.

You can tell they've been around for a while from the sign.  When we went there last night, it wasn't terribly busy though.

The Huron and Eastern Trainyard

If you've followed this blog for a while, you know that I like trains.  They don't rank as high in my books as planes or ships but they are up there.  There is a pretty interesting railyard near my mom's.  It has a pretty decent mix of engines.

 This is an engine from the Saginaw Valley Railway.  I don't have many details on this railroad except that it ran from Saginaw to Marlette Michigan.  It was acquired by the Huron and Eastern Railway in 2004.

 I kind of like how the yellow sets off again the red.

 A couple of railcars.  The one of the left is a car from the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad.  I kind of like how they look old and used.

 A couple more railcars.  The yellow car looks almost like it could have come from the Union Pacific.

 A Rail America Car.  Rail America is a company that started to combine many Short Line Railroads in the Midwest.  I kind of like the scheme of their engines.

 Another shot of the Saginaw Valley Engine.

 An engine from the Central Michigan Railroad.  The Central Michigan went from Durand to Buena Vista Michigan.

 A pair of Engines.  One from the Huron and Eastern itself and an other from the Oregon Pacific Railroad.

One last shot of the Saginaw Valley Railway Engine.  I really like the color scheme.

And of Course the Eagles....

And of course we stopped at the eagles.

 This juvenile eagle was standing fairly close to the road when he decided that we came too close to him, so he flew off.

 But then he moved to an even nicer spot.

 But he was a bit anxious, so he moved on.  Not before he gave me a nice angle to get a nice flying shot.

 This eagle was also a little anxious but as I looked at the pictures, I could see why, he was eating dinner.

He's still looking around.

Fish Point

I went up to my mom's yesterday and then we went over to Fish Point.  It is approximately thirty miles to the east of Bay City, Michigan.  Normally there is a nice variety of waterfowl there but while we were there, I didn't see that much.

 This goose was standing on her nest and then she started to move away as we approached.  I kind of liked how she was hiding the reeds.

 The same goose but she was turned away a little bit.

 Close to Fish Point is a group of cabins.  I think they are used by hunters and fishers.  It is kind of cool.

Another goose just swimming along.