A Personal Amateur Photography Blog
A day in Cincinnati for a couple of tours (other posts) resulted in some ‘scenes of the city’ shots…
The view from the Incline Pub on the west side of Cincinnati.
With a major bridge under construction causing massive traffic jams, we took the Anderson Ferry to Kentucky.
The Pride Parade had just ended as we arrived downtown.
The Cincinnati Bengals are celebrating their 50th season (still without a Super Bowl win!)
Findlay Market.
Cincinnati Streetcar barn
Rookwood Pottery Mural
With a weekend in the Detroit area it was decided to spend the night in Windsor, which is just a mile away through the tunnel.
The Windsor Riverfront offers excellent views of downtown Detroit (other post) as well as the scenes on the Canadian side.
The Ambassador Bridge
Riverfront Park
A carnival was being held in the riverfront park
Some random views of Detroit (most were taken from the Canadian side, which ironically is where you get the best views from).
With a few days in Chicago there was time to be a tourist wandering around downtown and beyond.
Some of the highlights;
The merchandisers/retailers hall of fame. Woolworth, Penney and more.
The Chicago River
Water Taxi and the impressive Merchandise Mart
Harold Washington Library
A mix of old and new
Tourist boat going past the touristy Navy Pier
Chicago Cultural Center
Adler Planetarium
Harbor
Maxwell Street Market – not on Maxwell Street anymore
Chess Records – 2120 South Michigan Avenue (also a great song)
For fans of the movie The Blues Brothers – The East 95th Street Bridge – where they jump the Bluesmobile.
Buffalo is an old industrial city that has had a declining population for 50 years. As a result of being a major city prior to 1950 they have a lot of interesting older architecture. As with many rust belt cities, they have also worked to reinvent themselves, sometimes in creative ways.
Buffalo had more grain silos than any city in the world, as a result of their position on the Great Lakes. Many are now abandoned.
Some have been partially torn down and now serve as a restaurant setting, albeit a very unusual one complete with rebar. Next door on one of the standing silos is one of the largest climbing walls in the country.
Some have been repainted as giant beer cans.
The harbor has a mix of old and new, complete with lift bridges.
Built in 1900, and serving Buffalo ever since the Edward Cotter is the worlds oldest active fireboat, and it serves as an ice breaker in the winter.
Buffalo & Erie County Military Park
Federal Courthouse – old and new.
Grover Cleveland – Buffalo native
Art deco Buffalo City Hall. Note the Canadian flag alongside the American flag. With Canada a mile away across the Niagara River nearly every place that had a U.S. flag had a Canadian flag.
McKinley Monument at the location of his assassination.
A cool old bank building.
Amazingly for such a small city Buffalo has a train system.
A great theater district.
Finally the Liberty Building has twin Statues of Liberty.
The Cuyahoga River wanders for almost 90 miles around northeast Ohio, ending up (in a straight line) less than 20 from where it starts. While mostly known for it’s industrial portion in Cleveland, much of the path it is a small wild river.
The town of Cuyahoga Falls, near Akron, is the site of a waterfalls (hence the name) that had been rendered non existent for 100 years from dams. Those dams were recently removed, returning the river to it’s natural state, including an impressive waterfalls.
For the second year this portion of the river featured kayak racing. A Sheraton Hotel is situated at the falls, and the view from the balconies of the falls and action was spectacular.
The entire event seemed well organized, with safety being foremost. The local fire department rescue team provided support, as well as the race organizations staff.
The kayakers had a series of white water rapids to run through before going over a couple of fairly large (possibly 10′ high) waterfalls.
Many of them flipped during this portion, but nearly everyone was able to flip themselves back over.
This is a great event, and really showcases the river nicely, as well as the city of Cuyahoga Falls.
We are looking forward to returning in 2018.
The Flats is the area in Cleveland in a valley along the much maligned Cuyahoga River. Most of the area is industrial, and back the 1960s the river had the misfortune to be so polluted it caught fire a couple of times (Randy Newman even made a song called Burn On).
The portion of the Flats near the lake has been revitalized a couple of times now (once in the 1980s, and again more recently), so there is this great mix of industrial shabby and post modern chic – sometimes in the same building.
But the mix, along with the great collection of old lift bridges, high level bridges (sometimes one over top of another) and views of downtown provide numerous photo ops.
