Today is the 4th of July, a major holiday in the US. It’s also the last day of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge for this week. So, I’m going to take the day off while also participating in this fun challenge. Since this is all I’m going to write, I’m giving you the day off as well. I would recommend checking out Cee’s page for this challenge.
For those of you in the US, Happy 4th. For the rest, I hope your week is off to a great start.
21 Second Salute
The gallery contains images from some of my favorite cities.
AMTRAK Metroliner service from Springfield, MA to Washington D.C. at Hartford’s Union Station.
The cathedral in Hartford is getting a facelift.
The”Vessel” – it’s a walkway art installation. There are over 2,500 stairs that you can walk on, up, over and down.
There are doors at both ends of both levels. This is the old pedestrian crossing from the parking garage to the G Fox department store.
Pittsburgh has a lot of hills, and a vast number of steps. We had a set of stairs like this in our neighborhood while growing up.
Access to the Charter Oak Bridge is up those stairs.
The fountain at Point State Park in Pittsburgh. At this location in the water, it’s hard to know what river you are in.
The Tadpole Playground and the Frog Pond are two children’s playgrounds inside the Boston Common. I was walking by on my way to catch a train.
I attend a lot of conferences in the Javits Center in New York and I never leave without snapping a few photos of the glass and grid.
Not a door, more like a portal. Dupont Circle Metro station
Built for the 1962 Worlds Fair, it’s still an impressive structure. They voted to add the lower level restaurant when I lived in Seattle because the Needle was losing money.
One of the best farmers markets in the country. When I lived in Seattle, I frequently picked up fresh seafood and veggies.on the way home.
The Dutchess, again. Under the Roberto Clemente bridge. From PNC Park.
Roberto Clemente, in front of the bridge named in his honor.
Bridgeville Public Library – They converted the railroad station into a library
New arch bridge across the Mississippi River and the waterfalls that used to power the flour mills
With the 4th of July coming up, it seemed appropriate.
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
Thanks for these wonderful photos–you captured several of my favorite places in the U.S. And, although I have a fixation about trains and railroad depots, I believe turning one into a library beats tearing it down! Thanks!
I’m glad you enjoyed these photos. I’ll add one for you. The train station turned library is from the track side so I could include the flag. Looking from the other side, you can see my favorite feature. They restored a caboose for the Children’s Library – https://nofacilities.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/bridgeville-60.jpg
Oh, how cool!! Thanks for this. We have a caboose here in town that was just recently bought by the City of Tehachapi. It’s situated right next to the Tehachapi Depot Railroad Museum and will be restored and moved closer to the museum and used as an exhibit. They’ll restore half of the caboose to look as it did originally, and the other half will be modernized. Should be interesting. The caboose has been there for YEARS, and was owned by a gentleman who owns the local LGB trains (G-scale, garden railroad size trains) hobby shop here in town.
Great selection of images. The Farmers market in Seattle image brought back great memories, some of the stallholders put on quite a theatrical performance. Happy 4th of July.
You make cities look good! I especially love the Tadpole Playground — what a great name! Frog Pond ditto. The glass-and-grid photo is a beauty, as is the whole idea converting a train station to a library — kudos to people who do such things! I hope your day off is a good one!
I’ve been to the Seattle Public Market several times and always enjoyed the visit. It’s kind of like visiting a ‘food and flower carnival.’ Happy 4th of July, Dan, and I hope you have a nice day.
Thanks Judy. It seems funny to miss a public market, when that city has so much to offer, but I do. It was always fun to shop there. Happy 4th of July.
Converting a train station into a library. Now that’s genius! Tadpole Playground and Frog Pond are worth the visit just for their names! For me, the DuPont Circle Metro Station is a scary place…like something out of the Twilight Zone!
The last shot of Old Glory is great.
Happy Fourth of July America! Hope Faith can join you and the Editor to celebrate together and that today starts the week off on a good note for all of you.
Ginger
Thanks Ginger. I added a short video of that flag. I meant to include it last night, but I forgot.
The train station-to-library conversion was a good idea. When I was a kid, we didn’t have a library in town, but the Bookmobile parked in the train station parking lot when it came to town.
It’s in New York City. It’s a point of focus for the Hudson Yards redevelopment. Unfortunately, after (I think ) two suicides, it is closed to the public. You can walk around it, but you can’t climb.
Loved the photos, especially those stairs in Pittsburgh. I lived there for a year (my son was born at Allegheny General Hospital), and what I remember even more than the stairs was The Incline, which was a railroad type car on a track that would take you straight up the mountainside faster than navigating around and around by car. But they only charged for the ride UP, as there were no guarantees the ride down would stop at the proper spot, rather than continue straight into the river! 😮Hadn’t thought about that in many, many years! 😁
Thanks Marcia. I was also born at Allegheny General Hospital, and I love the Incline. I’ve posted about them a few times. When I was growing up, we always to visiting family from out of the area to ride on the Duquesne Incline.
Just did a quick search, and LOVE your pic of that red incline car! Oh, boy, did that bring back memories! While I am a Florida native, my father was raised in Wilkinsburg and my In-Laws lived in Millvale, and we lived in Cheswick for a while shortly after my son was born. So I have some Pittsburg connections, for sure. As a gal from a state that has no really noticeable hills to speak of, let alone actual mountains, I was agog when I first rode the incline. Thanks again for the trip up Memory Mountain. 😁
I’m glad you enjoyed those posts. I’m familiar with all those towns, I think I had relatives in a few of them. Pittsburgh’s hills do present a challenge. I’m glad they’ve preserved the two remaining inclines. At one point, there were 15 of them.
Great photos, Dan, but the Vessel…!! Holy moly! I was going to ask if you had climbed it, but then I read your comment. That is sad.
The flag video is wonderful.
Thanks Lois. I would love to climb that. I read that they are trying to find a way to reopen it, without the risk that anyone will jump off. I’m glad you like the video.
Happy Belated Fourth!! That Vessel looks cool. Although I know my mother wouldn’t like all those stairs. She didn’t like it when we took a tour on a battleship once.
Nice to see so many picturesque staircases, Dan — particularly that long one at the Dupont Circle metro, which I’ve ridden many times before. Hope you had a happy Independence Day!
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