what about the plastic animals?

On Top of a Goose

Goose Rock is at the tip of Whidbey Island at Deception Pass.  There were a bunch of people taking photos of the bridge so I stopped and took a few photos.  There were also hiking trails so I hiked up to the top of Goose Rock, which is about 400 feet above sea level.

The top of the rock could have been on the coast of Maine.  There were patches of low bush blueberry plants in bloom!  There were also grooves in the bedrock created by glaciers.  I was not expecting to see that.

Double Bonus:  High speed photographs of liquids and bubbles.

To the Sea

Back to Oregon.  A few sights on the drive from Portland to Lincoln City.  The old Dairy Queen sign is in Newberg.  The smoke, I don't know what that was about, was near McMinnville.  Nearby is the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, home of Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose and a vineyard.  I didn't have time to stop there.  Not too far from Lincoln City I saw a sign that said "covered bridge" so I took a quick detour to see the Drift Creek bridge, which was built in 1914, rebuilt in 1933, dismantled in 1997 and rebuilt on private property in 2001.

Some Bridges of Madison County

Cutler-Donahoe Bridge

Interior of Holliwell Bridge

Cedar Bridge

Interior of Hogback Bridge

Hogback Bridge

In addition to being the birthplace of John Wayne, Winterset is the seat of Madison County, that county in Iowa with the famous covered bridges.  Madison County covered its bridges back in the 19th century to protect the expensive timbers that were used to construct the bridge.  At one time there were nineteen bridges; now there are six.  I managed to see two-thirds of them!  Of the four I saw, only the Cedar Bridge can be driven over.

Most of the bridges appear to have been renovated after the movie came out.  I found that interesting, as it was very apparent when walking around Winterset that they took every opportunity to sell the city and county as a tourist destination.  A quirk of county government in the 1860s that required bridges to be covered led to an appreciation of the bridges a century later with the first Madison County Covered Bridge Festival (October 9th and 10th this year).  The terrible novel and good movie a quarter-century later only served to enhance the county's tourism potential.  That's largely why I like visiting the out-of-the-way places.  With a little digging you often find out that many little towns all over the country have an interesting cultural DNA.

In 2002 someone burned down the Cedar Bridge.  It was rebuilt in 2004 from original plans.  This summer all the bridges were scanned by laser so they could be reconstructed should something happen to them.

Guess what?  A big rock in the city park claims Winterset has one more notable native.  A native better known than all the bridges and John Wayne combined!  What could it be?

Trenton Makes Night and Day

If you've ever taken the train through Trenton or driven across the Delaware on US-1 you've probably seen the Trenton Makes - The World Takes sign on the Lower Trenton Bridge.  The original sign, in giant metal letters, went up in 1911, a year after the Chamber of Commerce adopted the slogan to represent the city as a manufacturing powerhouse.  Although it is short and rhymes, to my ear there's more than a hint of bitterness in the slogan.  The sign went neon in 1935 and the most recent improvements were made in 2005.

Crossing the Bridge

Ooh, this promises to be the funnest 55 seconds ever!  Click through to watch in its full-screen, high-definition goodness.

On to Wheeling

Time to leave Ohio and enter West Virginia for the second time on this trip.  That's the Wheeling Suspension Bridge and the back of the legendary Capitol Music Hall in Wheeling.

"S" Bridges

Fox Creek "S" Bridge

Salt Fork "S" Bridge

They sure do love their "S" bridges along the National Road in Muskingum and Guernsey Counties.  And why shouldn't they, as they are lovely bridges built around 1828.  Every town along the National Road doubled in population within a decade of the road's completion.  It took ninety years, and the need for better highways in World War I, to pave the National Road (pdf link to the excellent Guernsey County National Road attractions brochure)  The last portion to be paved with bricks was the The Fox Creek Bridge at top.

The Salt Fork Bridge is one of the few that you can still drive over.  I threw caution to the wind and took advantage of that opportunity.  I've also probably driven over the Bridgewater "S" Bridge but didn't know it as the bridge is buried under I-70.

We've got an "S" Bridge here in New York that I've driven over many times.  The Tappan Zee Bridge is a lot longer than the National Road bridges but it is not going to last 200 years.

Walkway Over the Hudson

I finally got a chance to go up to the Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie.  When it opened in 1888 the Great Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge was one of the longest bridges in the world and the first bridge crossing the Hudson south of Albany.  The bridge was closed in 1974.  In 1998, after nearly a quarter century of sordid dealings, the bridge was deeded to Walkway Over the Hudson a non-profit that has spent the last ten years raising money and renovating the bridge.  Last month the pedestrian bridge was finally opened to the public.

It was cool yesterday, 212 feet above the Hudson.  Despite the chill the pedestrian bridge had plenty of pedestrians.  The bridge is still a work in progress.  Eventually it will connect to trails on either side of the river.  For now all you can do is walk, or ride if you have a penny-farthing, back and forth.  It's worth it.  Look at those views!

Speaking of walking, the Times has a great narrated slide show of a woman who walks up to 90 miles a week around the city.

Grandparents and the Y Bridge

The insane slide was an unexpected bonus on my way into Putnam Park.  My reason for going was to get a view of the Y Bridge.  Zanesville's Y Bridge is the only three-way vehicular bridge in the country.  The bridge crosses both the Muskingum and Licking Rivers.  Depending on how you turn you can cross the bridge yet remain on the same side of the river.  The current bridge is the fifth in a series of Y bridges that goes back to 1814.

If you've never heard of the Y Bridge you've never been to Zanesville.  Zanevillians (Zanesvillites?) are very proud of the bridge.  As they should be!  It is featured on every piece of tourist literature for the city, county and surrounding region and there is a mural of the bridge downtown, not far from the bridge itself.

I've now driven over the Y Bridge, walked across the Tridge, the three-way pedestrian bridge in Midland, Michigan, and driven over the bridge formerly known as the Triborough Bridge in New York (which looks like a three-way bridge but is actually three separate bridges).  Now I feel motivated to visit Ypsilanti so I can walk over the only other three-way bridge in the U.S.  I wonder if there is an authority that issues certificates of completion for such things?

Also a source of pride is Zanesville native and current NBA star Kevin Martin.  His grandparents live across the street from Putnam Park.  Now that he's hit the big time Kevin really ought to spring for repairs to the crumbling front steps before grandma takes a nasty spill. 

Habits a Flyin'

Riding up the bike trail along the Hudson you come across this pavilion (or is it a pergola?) a little ways north of the George Washington Bridge.  I think it was a viewing/waiting area for a train station that used to be down by the river back when upper Manhattan was a weekend getaway destination for people in lower Manhattan.

The weather was a little drizzly when I visited on Sunday.  You can tell I was riding my bike because the pictures are fatter, meaning I was using the cranky point-and-shoot camera.

The greenway runs along the river until it meets the bridge.  There it shoots up a steep incline and over the railroad tracks, where the trail levels out alongside the northbound Henry Hudson Parkway.  I stopped under the bridge to catch my breath and check out the little red lighthouse.  As I started up the hill I was startled by three nuns speeding down the hill, habits and wimples flying in the breeze.  It was not a sight I was expecting!

Random:  Happy Birthday Buck and Porter!