New York City

05 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in New York, Photography, vacation

Tags

art, boats, Hiking, HISTORY, Museum, nature, Parks, photography

Did the Groupon Tour Bus to NYC the other day. Really nice trip and for $32 round trip, you couldn’t beat the price. Left the Carney Park and Ride at 7:26am and was parked in NY at 10:25am. Had to be back to the bus by 6:30pm. Nice long day of sight-seeing. It has been close to 30 years since I have been there. Back then it was smelly and dirty and I saw someone get robbed right outside of Penn Station…

First stop, Times Square.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Inside the church.

Past Rockefeller Center and thru some back streets to this guy made of Coach bags. I was waiting for the girl to start singing… “Mothra…”

The first Trump property we saw. Armed Tactical Police outside with dogs. Secret Service inside with scanners. Looking down from the top of the waterfall.

From walking around mid-town to Central Park. Not sure what was going on with the woman in the pink top, to the left. It looks like her transporter malfunctioned.

On the hour and half hour, these guys rotate around the base of the clock.

Nice zoo in the park.

Model yacht sailing on one of the lakes.

Was goiing to ask Alice something, but she seemed pre-occupied knocking this little kid off her toadstool…

To the oblisk.

Then to Belvedere castle.

View of the turtle pond with many of them basking in the sun, along with the egret.

Across the pond to the Grand Lawn.

We were supposed to go to the Natural History Museum, instead, we were enjoying just seeing the sites, we kept on going…The Dakota.

Which then took us back to Central Park and Imagine.

Lots of people trying to pay their respects. This was the only rowdy scene all day. Some rickshaw driver started cussing out tourist as he was hogging up the photo-op for his passengers. Surrealistic.

Another Trump Property, for the man who would be king and have this in his hands.

Relections.

This was pretty neat – a wall of plants, just barely hanging on by their roots.

Lincold Center.

And of course, a bunch of water towers.

Grand Turk Island

26 Friday May 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in nature, Photography, Travel

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boats, Hiking, nature, photography, Travel, vacation

After two and a half days at sea we finally made port. This was a six and a half hour stop. Because I had gotten some sunburn, which is unusual for me, even though I had a ton of SPF50 on, we decided we would not spend all our shore time laying on the beach. I signed us up for a history tour of the island. Woo Hoo!!

Getting ready to dock about 8am. Look at that water.

The dock and visitor center. Be sure to take your Boarding Pass and ID. And don’t cross the yellow lines on the pier!

Kathy waiting for the tour bus…or me to to stop taking photos of everything!

The tour was only supposed to be 1-1/2 hours in an air conditioned bus. it was more like 2 hours. First stop, an area outside of Cockburn Town (our tour guide got a kick out of saying “Cockburn” multiple times??) Above are some local shops.

The first stop was 15 minutes long so we left the main strip and headed towards the salt ponds. Grand Turk was a salt producer.

Quite a few of these around. Raise and lower water in the salt ponds but more importantly, they divert flood waters off the island back into the sea.

Horses and donkeys roam freely on the island. There is our tour bus.

Kathy looking for our winter home. Tour guide said the wooden homes were built from shipwreck wood.

Some of the colorful buildings.

Boat on the beach.

Heading to our next stop we see a replica of John Glenn’s space capsule – don’t blink or you will miss it!

Our second stop was at the far end of the island. The light house. Because of the people who lag behind, that have to use the bathroom after 20 cups of coffee…we didn’t have enough time to go inside.

Kathy making some new friends.

Tour is over and we head back to the ship to change our clothes for the beach. Here comes the Carnival Splendor.

Local took our pic for us. May have been one of the crew members?

Kathy looking for sea glass. Found some nice pieces. This side of the pier had more rock/coral under the water. Had to go out a ways to avoid it. Water was great!

Watching the people on the Splendor disembark. Big ass ship!

Time to set sail and one last memory of our stop on the island…On to Half Moon Cay

Cruisin…

16 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in nature, Photography, Travel

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boats, nature, ocean, photography, Sunset

Hard to catch up on Facebook and WordPress posts after being away for a week. Sorry if I missed anyones birthday. I did check on occasion but was really too busy and really didn’t care about most of what I did see (political commentary). What did amaze me was that people started posting Happy Mothers Day post late Thursday night! What did I learn from my momma? To never look at this…but that’s where the fun is!

National Aquarium, Baltimore

26 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Aquarium, Baltimore, Photography

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Tags

Aquarium, Baltimore, boats, Cushings, fish, nature, photography, puffin, Sea Turtle

Hard to believe my daughter is 24. For her birthday she wanted to go to the zoo but because of the nasty weather, we went to the Aquarium instead. it is always a good time with her, Kevin and Kathy.

Kevin, Jules and their new friend – the sloth (couldn’t see the one inside, he was way up in a tree sleeping for 22 hours).

Non-stop raining outside. The USS Torsk. Didn’t it use to have shark teeth painted on the front?

Top of the stairs, everyone wants their photo taken here. I did like the layout of the aquarium, you just follow a path thru the building and you pretty much get to see everything, except of course when the bratty little kids just bust right on thru putting their grubby little hands all over the windows.

So now I see a problem – when smart phones came out I refused to use one as my camera. God made phones for a reason, cameras for another. Well, this photo was taken with a point and shoot that I bought specifically for taking pics thru glass.

And here is one from my daughter’s iPhone! I just may have to sell all my cameras, laptop and every other device to get one of these!

Moving on…this reminded me of kayaking at Dundee Creek for some reason.

Turtle floating about.

I didn’t even notice this guy until someone pointed him out to me.

Another great shot my daughter took.

Morie!

Nice colors and reflections on top the water, looking up from underneath.

This guy is starting to collect some algae.

Here is one of the oldest residents at the Aquarium.

Him and the three legged sea turtle have been here since the aquarium opened.

Calypso the sea turtle getting fed.

Sitting, watching, waiting…

Nice colors.

What a life.

Quite a variety of underwater plant life.

Julie petting a ray.

Overhead display.

Kevin and Julie. It is unbelievable how my daughter looks now compared to back in November, when she had a tumor removed. Thanks God.

Domino Sugar Hon.

J for Jules.

Back to the house for some cake – Tres Leches (Milk Cake). Thanks Kathy for making!

Baltimore 1910-1965

24 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, HISTORY, Inner Harbor

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Baltimore, boats, bridges, engineering, Inner Harbor, Jones Falls, photography, Public Works

Scanning and documenting some more photos from the DPW Museum collection. A while back I had posted some photos taken from the smoke stack of the Eastern Avenue Pumping Station – they were in bad shape and a lot of smog in the pics. These look more like originals. Found in an unmarked folder. Some writing on reverse of photos.

On reverse of this photo is stated: Property of C.C. Wisner showing side wheeler Louise. 1910

Also marked as Wisner and being taken by A. Waldek (His name is spelled two different ways on 2 photos). Undated. Looking north. Shot Tower in upper left.

Another undated one. Assuming between 1910 and 1934 . Marked with Wisner and Waldeck. View of Pratt Street up Jones Falls.

Notation on back: Baltimore City, Old Light Street waterfront piers and docks since removed. 1949.

And after the removal. About 1954.

1965 improvements prior to the Inner Harbor becoming Harbor Place.

Montebellephant

24 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in art, Baltimore

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art, Baltimore, boats, elephant, Lake Montebello, Montebello, Public Works, water, water history

I have been working at Montebello Filters for over 35 years and have never seen it allowed to use the Montebello Lake for anything other than what its purpose is – an overflow catchment for the smaller waste lake up on the property of the filters. I have seen it requested to be used for paddle boats, canoeing, kayaking (I’m not even allowed to kayak on it!), fishing, ice skating, model boat racing, etc. The answer has always been “NO”.

But next week – there will be an inflatable elephant floating on the lake! Yes, you heard me – an inflatable Lighted elephant! History will be made next weekend.

But seriously – I think it looks pretty cool and I can’t wait to see it!

See lightcity.org for a list of other events around Baltimore.

Waste Lake Chronicles

31 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, Hiking, water history

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Baltimore, boats, engineering, FILTRATION, Hiking, HISTORY, Lake Montebello, Montebello, Public Works, water history

Checking on the contractors the other day, I saw that they had pretty much cleared most of the shoreline…nice day for a hike around the lake.

Started on the SW side looking towards Morgan State University.

Headed up to the far end, closest to Hillen Road. The old surge shaft from Loch Raven is to the right. The dredge and barges could not get this far up.

Looking down from on top – the sludge. This is a by-product of what goes on in the filtration plant. Lots of sand at this point. The sand is used to filter the drinking water and when the filter becomes clogged, we backwash it. Unfortunately the pressure from backwashing pushes sand into the drain and ends up here.

More sand and sludge.

Since I was up here, I figured I would look down the hatch. The contractor had some concerns about getting too close to this structure. He said they could see a pipe that I told them to stay away from.

The pipe coming thru the wall at the top, is laid in the waste lake bed. It is about 10′ under the water surface. Although capped off, it would still cause problems if broken. I was supposed to climb out of this shaft a while ago…after an inspection of the old 1880 Loch Raven tunnel. (5-1/2 mile hike). Cancelled due to safety concerns.

Heading down the NE side. Watching the small barge and excavator get as close as he can.

The large excavator and barges. These barges are only about 5 feet tall. They displace only 2 feet of water. That just amazes me.

Soon, we will be testing pumps up on Deer Creek. This will be water from the Susquehanna River. It is very dirty water so we will just dump it instead of letting it go into the plant. See that tower in the background? That is the Susquehanna Surge shaft. When the DC pumps come on and the water flows 36 miles to this point, closing the valves to not let it in, well, the water has to go somewhere. It goes up that shaft and then out thru the drain you see to the left of the boat. 50-60mgd. The dredging should be done by then and their equipment removed. If not, they better tie that stuff down!

Continuing my hike down the shoreline.

Some spots were a little rough to navigate across.

Here is that cove I mentioned in an earlier post. Deer tracks everywhere.

The 4 million dollar problem – already rearing its head in the warm sun!

Waste Lake Progress

17 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, water history

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Tags

Baltimore, boats, engineering, FILTRATION, HISTORY, Lake Montebello, Montebello, POLITICS, Public Works, water, water history

The downtown consultants for the dredging of the waste lake at Montebello had underestimated the amount of material that could be possibly dredged from our waste lake – so they asked if it would be alright to remove the phragmites. A big OK to that.

Back in July I posted an aerial of the lake filled with sludge. This view shows most removed. The phrags were attached to the outfall structure and the contractor cut by hand. (At end of catwalk, lower center of lake). At lower right of lake more sludge accumulated due to a polymer added to belt presses, dumping back into this area.

Barge and excavator removing phragmites. The one shore is completed. Would be nice to have enough budgeted money to remove growth along shoreline.

Within one month the phragmites have grown a couple feet around outfall. Because the growth mat is attached to the structure, pulling away the growth will damage the wall. This outfall leads directly to Herring Run and we can not have this water going there.

What the waste lake by the outfall structure use to look like. Those houses are long gone.

Another view of the lake from years past. This is looking towards the NW corner where the surge pipe from Loch Raven is located. It was nice and clear of growth, inside and out. Those houses are also gone.

The waste lake shoreline was so clear that kids would come in and sail their model boats. This is looking towards the outfall structure.

Dundee Creek

30 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by Ronald Parks in kayaking, Photography

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boats, bridges, Gunpowder Falls, kayaking, nature, Parks, photography

After our vacation to the Eastern Shore, we returned to one of our favorite kayaking spots – Dundee Creek. My first time there was to paddleboard. I did not like that at all. Just couldn’t find my center of balance and I kept falling off. The following week, Kathy showed me about kayaking. I had never done that before. I enjoy it immensely! So peaceful and relaxing. Dundee Creek merges with Saltpeter Creek and then into the Gunpowder River and then onto the Chesapeake Bay.

Before heading out to open water, we always like to head into the cove. Calm waters that dead-end at a stream and bulkhead.

As many times that we have been here, neither one of us noticed this little opening.

Nice and quiet. Looks like some logs up to the right.

I went up and moved them out of the way.

Kathy was then able to pass under the trees, along the shoreline.

Once through, I let Kathy go first – you know, in case there were alligators, wild boars or Adrienne Barbeau.

We found our own little cove. Not very big but nice.

After a while there, we headed out towards Marshy Point. This is the Marshy Point Osprey Cam. It is shut down now – the osprey have all headed south. This is fun to watch when they come back. So is the Osprey Cam on the Chesapeake Bay.

Favorite little foot bridge at Marshy Point Nature Center.

Under the bridge we go.

After the bridge and spending time watching life in the marsh, we headed back to the marina. Water was getting a little choppy. Duck blind.

Vac Pics #5

27 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by Ronald Parks in Photography, Travel, vacation

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Tags

boats, Museum, photography, vacation, water

Alright, alright! I know! Way too many vacation photographs! This is the last of them (We already had another adventure since these were taken!) These photos are from our trip to Smith Island, via Crisfield.

We did a short tour of Crisfield before getting on the tour boat.

Watched the watermen unload their boats.

These are the prices the watermen are paid for their hard work. We paid $170 not too long ago for steamed crabs. Watermen aren’t making much money are they?

All we are saying…

Messy little fellow.

Got on the boat and started to head out to sea. Well, towards the bay at least.

Little pink houses.

Now we are moving. It takes an hour to get to Smith Island.

Kathy and her parents. Great people.

This is a rebuilt smoke stack, all that was left of the processing plant here. Rebuilt by park services in dedication to the person who left the land to them.