My 12 Favorite Pictures of the Year

 I haven't done a year end post in a while.  I decided to do one here.  Instead of doing a summary of what I did this year, I figured I would go through my pictures and post what I thought was my best.  Or at least my favorites.

Air Force One as she comes into Detroit.

The Red Bull stunt plane at Battle Creek.

the Alpena passes the Ambassador Bridge.

The Arthur M. Anderson downbound at Port Huron.

A new ship to the blog, the NACC Antiqua unloading in Essexville.

The Calumet passes the Ambassador Bridge in the dusk.

An F-22 fires off a flare.

The Maxima downbound at Detroit.

A fox.

The Heritage Flight at Thunder Over Michigan.

A 787 comes in for a landing at Detroit.

The Yankee Lady returns to Willow Run.

The Prentiss Brown/St Marys Challenger Makes an Appearance

 The next vessel was actually moving.

As I was about to take pictures of the Frontenac from another spot, I saw this vessel moving by.  The vessel in question was the Prentiss Brown pushing the St Marys Challenger.  The barge used to be the ship St Marys Challenger (amongst others), she was the oldest self powered freighter on the Lake at 106 years old.  I think her owners tried to save her as a freighter but found it to be economically unfeasible (I suspect she needed work in the engine room).  She was then converted to a barge and soldiers on as such.  She's not nearly as pretty as she was as a freighter but she's doing what she was built to do, so that's good I guess.

The Algoberta Tied Up in Sarnia

 The Algoberta was also in a spot where I could see her.

Unfortunately, focusing or keeping the camera steady was another issue.  This was the only picture I took of her, so I'll post it even thought it's not the greatest.

The Frontenac in Sarnia Today

 I thought that I was going to catch a ship heading up the Rouge River today but sadly that ship had to go to anchorage by Belle Isle.  I'm not sure if that was because the River was busy or foggy or both.  Either way, I didn't go there.  Then I saw that the Frontenac was heading upbound, so I headed up to Port Huron so that I could catch her.

Sadly, she ended up stopping Sarnia for some reason.  I can only assume that it was to fuel up.

I guess I was fortunate she stopped because I might have missed her anyway.

But this isn't quite the way I wanted to catch her.  Oh well.

It was a little on the foggy and misty side today as it there was a light rain on the way up there.  Fortunately, the rain stopped as I was up there.

I was able to get to a couple of different spots to catch her.

Sadly, I was losing my light.

After I left, she continued on her way to Thunder Bay.

Fog Shrouded Detroit

 Another overcast day but it was still fairly warm, so I can't complain too much.

The rain was threatening but it had the courtesy to wait until I was heading home to start.

And a shot of the skyline before heading home.

Progress on the Bridge

 Since I didn't have much of anything else to take pictures of, I decided to do a progress shot of the Gordie Howe Bridge.

They are moving along.  More of the suspension wires have been hung and it seems like the span almost crosses the river.  One of these days, I should take my drone down to get a picture of the approaches because I think they are starting to look cool too.

The Onego Duero Heads to Anchorage

 I thought that I was going to be able to catch a ship passing today.  I would have had that ship not decided to stop for fuel.

The Onego Duero was heading down from Duluth (I think).  I'm not sure what she was carrying nor am I sure where she is heading.  Despite that, I'm pretty sure that she is heading out of the Great Lakes.

The Onego Duero belongs to the Onego Shipping Company out of the Netherlands.  She was built in 2012.

She is a little over 400 feet long and can carry a little over 6000 tons of cargo.

Based on looking at Marine Traffic a little bit ago, she was stopping here to get fuel.  I think salties are typically fueled by the barge instead of the docks.  Maybe it's easier for them.