Catching a Defiant Ashtabula

It wasn't too long before the next ship appeared.

Well it wasn't a ship but it was an articulated tug barge.

She is being visited by the pilot boat.

A nice bow shot of her.

Another shot of her with the Renaissance Building in the background.

I think she was heading down to Toledo but I'm not 100% sure.

She could have been heading down to Sandusky thought.  She would typically carry stone there.

I thought this picture kind of looked like the pilot boat was pushing her.  Even tried to make a joke of it but it went over a few heads.

She looked pretty nice in the light.  Normally she doesn't look so nice.

Another shot of her.

And she's framed by the Ambassador Bridge.

One more shot of her with the Ambassador Bridge.

A shot of her tug, the Defiance.

Another shot of her tug.

A stern shot of her tug.

One more shot before she moves on.

Catching Up With the Angry Goose

So I'm still catching up on my posting.  I am now up to July 26, 2020.  I decided to head down to Riverside Park to catch a couple of ships.  This was the first of them.

First up was the CSL St. Laurent.  I think she was coming down from Thunder Bay with a load of grain for either Montreal or Quebec.  If there is one aspect of the shipping industry that has been up this year, it's been the grain shipping portion.

She passes by the Renaissance Center.  This view is one of the reasons why I like catching ships down at Riverside Park.  I can't really get this view from Belle Isle.  I can get a similar view in Canada but with COVID-19, we can't go to Canada at the moment.

Riverside is one of the other spots where I can get an almost clean bow shot.

Almost the straight on shot except that my timing was a little bit off.

The goose was a mural commissioned by the Canada Steamship Lines in commemoration of Canada's 150th anniversary.  I think it's pretty cool and was hoping that it would lead to murals on other ships but that hasn't happened.  Granted, shipping companies are in the shipping business and not the looking cool business but it would be nice to see.

Another view with some pleasure boats in the background.

Another relatively clean view with Belle Isle in the background.

A shot with Windsor in the background.

She continues on her way down the Detroit River.

She approaches the Ambassador Bridge.  You can see the shadow on her hull.

She starts to pass under the Ambassador Bridge.  She might even be under it at this point but I'm not sure.

I kind of like this shot.

I'm not sure if I like it with the bridge more centered though.

I think she is clear of the bridge at this point.  I didn't get to see a Westcott run though.

She continues down the river.

If she is heading to Montreal, I think she has two more days at this point.

And one more before the next ship.

A So So Shot of Neowise

So Neowise was heading close to Earth.  Evidently it was discovered on March 27, 2020 by astronomers during the Neowise mission of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer space telescope.  It was located 2 astronomical units (190 million miles) from the sun.

It will be the brightest comet in the northern hemisphere since Hale-Bopp in 1997.  it was bright enough to be seen in areas where you can't normally see comets.  It was just below the Big Dipper.  I'm not sure if you can still see it and it will not reappear for another 6,800 years.

Back to the Airport

I was back to the airport on the next day.  Another 757 brought me back,

First up was a Spirit A320 coming in from Richmond.

And this one let me know, I needed to go to the other side of the airport.  It was a Spirit A319 heading to Los Angeles.

A Delta A321 coming in from Minneapolis.  I suspect it was a repositioning flight.

And the plane I was looking for.

A Delta 757 coming in from Los Angeles.

It is nice to see 757s in passenger livery.

And one more shot, just because.

Catching Two Princesses

I'm still catching up with my pictures.  These are 7/23/2020.  I went to the airport.  I had a chance to catch one plane in Delta colors.

First up was an ERJ-175 operating for United Airlines coming in from Houston.

It was followed by a Delta 737 coming in from San Francisco.

One of the deciding factors was that I could catch a special livery.

In this case the Southwest Florida livery and it was coming in from Baltimore.

I think this is an A320 but I don't remember where it was coming in from.

This was my clue that I had to switch sides and go to the other side of the airport.  This was a Delta A321 heading for Tampa.

So I headed to the other side, this CRJ-200 was coming in from Escanaba.

Because I liked the clouds behind it.

the plane I was waiting for.

A 757 coming in from Los Angeles.

Apparently this 757 is a special one.

it has the tail number of N832DX.  Originally it was bought by a Chinese airline who later sold it and Delta picked it up.

But that isn't what made it special.  Apparently, it was the last 757 to roll of the line.

After dinner, I decided to head back to the airport.

I thought I had a chance to catch the Fed Ex 757 and either the DC-10 or MD-11.

As it turns out, the DC-10 was delayed.

So I only caught this 757.

But the clouds looked pretty cool behind it.

And I really like this shot.

A Night Shot of the Airport

So I thought I would head over to the airport to catch the comet.  I thought it would give me a clear view of the sky near the Big Dipper.

Unfortunately, it clouded over as I got to the airport.  I could see parts of the Big Dipper but I couldn't see much below it.  As I was waiting, I figured I would get a night shot of the airport.  At any rate, I thought this was a pretty cool shot.

Just a Shot of the Detroit Skyline

I liked the way the clouds looked behind the Detroit skyline, so I took a picture of them.

From left to right, The Penobscott Building, the Guardian Tower, The Comerica Tower, the Renaissance Building.  You can see Joe Louis in its final stages of demolition.