Lacking an idea for a subject, (sharing every week or two is my usual routine,) I arbitrarily looked into my archives for today’s date and ultimately came across the following – on March 27th, 1995.
This post contains eight photos.
Short on time? just scroll down and click on the images….and as usual, comments are always welcome.
From the Brooklyn side, looking back at the Woolworth Building on the left, once the tallest building in NYC.
My career had me working “on the road” that day at the NY Post Production plant in Manhattan, then located just north of the bridge. After, I took advantage of the beautiful day and walked across the iconic structure.
From this vantage among the web like cables, the Twin Towers stand to the left, doomed to fall 6 1/2 years later on 9/11/11On my Canon Rebel (film) SLR, I used a polarizing filter to bring up the contrast a bit, as these intricate patterns were awesome against the clear blue skies.There are four primary cables stretched over the two towers. I love the simple but obviously adequate design of the drop cable’s attachments, shown here.
Just imagine the forces (weight) sustained by these components!
In this close up view of a load cable and crossing “stabilizing” cable, the Manhattan Bridge is seen beyond, completed in 1909, 25 years after the Brooklyn Bridge.With the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in the background, various “working lines” of the Brooklyn Bridge steadfastly remain taut after 104 years at the time of this photo – 129 years today. Opened to the public in 1913, the Woolworth Building stands about 3 times taller, seen here with one of the bridge’s lampposts in the foreground.
After completing this walk, I explored the City Hall Building just off the Manhattan side of the bridge, finding easy access to the rotunda on top with its awesome view of lower Manhattan.
It was January 23rd, 1965, and I had driven through the night in a winter snowstorm from New Jersey to Niagara Falls in my parents 1960 Buick.
After seeing and photographing the falls, I continued north, first on the Canadian side, and then back in the U.S., to the mouth of the Niagara River where it flows into Lake Ontario. Heading home now, the first 30 miles or so on Rt. 18, along the lake’s southern edge, was magical …the road virtually deserted as the high winds whipped falling and drifting snow across its breath. I loved the adventure. (See end of first part for more “frigid”comments on this stretch)
The Niagara River (left) flows north into Lake Ontario (top.) I would take Rt. 18, thirty miles (48 km) along the edge of the lake to Rt. 63, then down to Batavia, and Rt. 5 east to Avon (right bottom on this 2015 Google map,) turning south on Rt. 15 towards Bath, NY.
The image below was taken around 4:00 PM before running out of film and daylight near Avon, The snow continued to fall, although more lightly, into this second night.
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I stayed overnight in a decent $8 motel in Bath, leaving at about 10:30 AM the next morning with frozen hands after cleaning off the snow covered car.
Continuing southeast on Rt. 15 brought me to to nearby Savona, where I turned left onto Rt. 226 with the anticipation of passing through Watkins Glen, noted for its automotive race track, and for me particularly, its famous 400 foot deep natural gorge and waterfalls. See this link. Seeing the gorge was not to happen. In fact I was lucky to get anywhere near it. Being a bit self assured, (think: cocky,) I didn’t mind the snow covered conditions of the back roads. But at Tyrone, (upper right in the first map below, left of center in the second) I was determined to take a more direct route, turning right off State Rt. 226, onto Schuylar County Rt. 23 (not labeled.)
This topographic map, dated 1968, does not include Interstate Highway 380 which didn’t exist at the time of this road-trip. Eventually It would vastly improve travel in New York State, as Rt 15 was out-dated, and one of the original 1926 US Highways.My adventure on County Road Rt. 24 started at it’s junction with State Road 226, (just above the label “Tyrone” above, left of center.) I was trying to go east (right) from this point, but could not make it up Huey Hill. Watkins Glen is in the bottom right corner.
It should be mentioned that the ‘few miles wide’ ridges between New York’s Finger Lakes rise from a few hundred feet to about 1000 feet (3050 m) above the lakes. Watkins Glen was on Seneca Lake over one of these ridges, and Huey Hill was in my way. Starting from the intersection at the bottom, I was able to reach about 40 mph (64 kmh) before losing traction on the hill. But I just couldn’t make it to the top. I backed the Buick down and tried again, gaining only a few more feet. The third time, with more initial speed, ended in similiar defeat as the tires just could not maintain their grip on the snowy surface. I felt I was in control, but the “slide-o-matic” Buick just couldn’t maintain any further, upward-forward traction! (Of course, 4 wheel drive, good tires and posi-traction would have helped.) Today (2015) I know it was 1.8 miles (2.9 km) from the intersection to the top with a vertical gain of about 600 feet (1830 m.)
Sulking a bit, it took me a while more to get to Watkins Glen by a much longer, gradually climbing (and descending) state road. And then, upon arrival, the Watkins Glen State Park was closed! I think I was a little relieved.
After 7 more hours, at 7:30 PM, I was back in New Jersey after nearly 1000 miles over about 47 hours, and expenses of about $46.
Immediatly after, my Dad and I had a “conversation!”
Just another interesting week-end.
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The camera: a 1960 Exacta (EXA) 35 mm manual SLR, f2.8 50 mm lens. Body composition: finger-freezing metal!
As usual, thanks for viewing, and comments are always welcome.M 🙂
March 7th, 1970: Jeanne and I, now engaged, traveled to Virginia Beach, Va., to see a rare total eclipse of the sun,
We chose to drive down the Jersey Shore; across the Delaware Bay by ferry; through the sparsly populated Del-Mar-Va Peninsula; across the recently opened 17 mile Chesepeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to Norfolk, and then over to Virginia Beach to be in the center of the several-mile wide “path of totality,” or shadow of the moon.
As the the partial phase began, hundreds of spectators were already in place with telescopes, cameras, and blankets! (The cold Atlantic Ocean is to the left.)
Below: Using eye protection, viewers carefully watched as the moon slid across the sun, casting an eerie pale on the beach, which just a while earlier was bathed in brilliant sunshine. Note the twilight-like coloring near the horizon. This was about 1:00 PM
Below: The moments before totality were enhanced by silence from usually gabby shorebirds.
My equipment was laughable, and getting “text book” images was not to happen. But except for a slight double image, this was what appeared a second before totality – a pheneomena called Baily’s Beads, where the last rays of the sun pass through the mountain valleys and topography of the moon.
The Corona, not ordinarily visible, is the plasma atmosphere of the sun. It is seen here with the sun totally blocked by the moon.
Jeanne, tolerant of my varied and questionable interests, would put that to the test in the next few hours as restauranteurs did not anticipate the overwhelming flow of hungry travelers up the Eastern Shore later that afternoon. Finding a place to EAT was an unanticipated challenge.
A 10x “finder scope” with Neutral Density filter strapped to an EXA SLR – on a flimsy tripod proved interesting, but inadequate. It was only matched by my lack of experience in better capturing this event.
The filter needed to be removed for the total phase, which lasted an unusually long 3 minutes.
In a little under 24 hours, Jeanne and I drove about 800 miles in our 1967 MGB-GT to see the eclipse. Couldn’t get much better!
Final Note: There are usually several total solar eclipses visible somewhere on earth every year, but the next one passing along the Eastern US would be 54 years later, in…2024. A MAJOR correction here: 8/21/17 will see a TSE stretching across the US exiting off the South Carolina coast.
Thanks for viewing, and comments are always welcomed. M 🙂
NOTE: This publishing was pre-mature! The complete post has now been published, found at http://wp.me/p37YEI-1t3 Hasty fingers on keyboard makes waste…er mistakes! M
The last total solar eclipse visible from the US East Coast was March 7th, 1970. My “wife to be” and I took the MGB-GT 800 miles round trip to see this awesone phenomena from the sands of Virgina Beach, Va.
Short on time, Just browse the photos below.
Our route followed the Jersey shore, across the Delaware Bay by ferry, down the sparsly populated Del-Mar-Va Peninsula. across the recently completed 17 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to Norfolk and then Virginia Beach.
