July 14, 2006 - Pittsburgh Zoo.

I haven't been to the Pittsburgh Zoo in a very long time (spent several years at the San Diego Zoo) so it was interesting to see what was different. Basically everything. I don't remember anything. Last time it was a lot of metal cages, but now modern enclosures. The bears seem to be the same enclosures, but that's about it.

I got some good pictures. There are advantages to smaller zoos because you can get in closer. I got nice shots of a very good looking snow leapard. I hope to see the tigers and lions awake some time too.

Here's the snow leopard. He was resting near the glass.

In August, they will have the polar bear enclosure done and the two new polars will be on display. I enjoy polars and still have to post polar-pix from San Diego Zoo and Sea World!!!

They have annual membership for $45, not bad after coming from San Diego where a single adult admission to the zoo costs $32. Also the annual membership at Pittsburgh Zoo gets you free admissions to other zoos as well. It would give me a reason to go somewhere. And not spend a lot of money! :)

Today, July 10, 2006 - I went bridging. I first went to the Tarentum Bridge. Tarentum is nice because they have a parking lot and boat ramp right under the bridge. Then there is a park along the side of the river. Very nice ideed. I'm putting down the Riverview Park in Tarentum for a separate photo-trip!


I found the Freeport Bridge next. This is the last bridge over the Allegheny River in Allegheny County. Actually the bridge crosses from Butler County into Westmoreland County, but crosses the north-east corner of Allegheny County. The bridge just misses the spot where Allegheny, Butler, Armstrong and Westmoreland Counties come together.


After that, I went to Kittanning. Kittanning also has a beautiful riverfront park. They also have large American Flag in the middle of the bridge. It's so gorgeous. I crossed half way over the bridge, you can see the Kittanning lock & dam from the bridge. From the bridge you can see up the street all the way to the Armstrong County Court House. It really looks good.

Then I got a bit lost. But I had maps with me, I made it home! :)

July 8, 2006 - Various wanderings

On Saturday, the 8th, I went out looking for stuff. No real plan.

First I stopped at the bridge where Mosside Blvd in Monroeville crosses Turtle Creek. It's a two lane steel girder bridge in the process of being replaced. Instead of replacing it with a wider bridge, they are going to build a new two lane bridge next to this one, and then move traffic to the new bridge. Then the old bridge will be torn down and another two lane bridge built, so altimately there will be two lanes in each direction.


After that I came to a narrow rusty bridge leading from Monroeville into Wall (yes, Wall is the name of a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania). This old bridge doesn't look to good but it's quite sturdy and doesn't get that much traffic. I also saw a nice war memorial in Wall.


I saw the Greensburg Pike Bridge, but didn't cross it. I previously got pictures from the north side and now I got some good shots from the south side of the bridge. Then I got lost for a while, during which time I saw the George Westinghouse Bridge, but didn't find a good place to get out of the car and take pictures.

After eating and stopping at the Super Wal-Mart in North Versailles (pronounced "ver-SAILs", honest!) I headed home. As it was still light, I stopped at the cemetery at Beulah Presbyterian Church. This is one of the oldest cemeteries in Allegheny County. I've never seen so many Revolutionary War Veterans in one place!

Fireworks on the 4th of July.

Okay I tried shooting fireworks display. My digital camera has a terrible shutter lag, and it is near impossible to anticipate action. The lag is not consistant, so you really can't predict.

Also, the low light capability is... well, there isn't any low light capability. So the shutter speed is long, causing squiggly lines sometimes. Unfortunately, there is no provision for a Longer shutter opening, which would have allowed more of the color.

As fireworks flicker, your eye stitches the flickers together into one unit. The relatively fast shutter sometimes catches the dullness. Also a bright explosion would often merely light up any existing smoke.

For you movie fans, you may be interested in noting that this is at Monroeville Mall, which was the setting for the 70s horror classic Dawn of the Dead.

July 5, 2006 - A few things

Okay on a day off I went looking for a few things. I got an old stone arch bridge that used to carry Verona Road over Quigley Creek. It's only one lane wide and would have been torn down and replaced a long time ago, but they moved the road to straighten it out. So now the bridge is on the Rosedale VFD property. It's kind of overgrown and hard to see, and I couldn't down into the creek to shoot the actual arch the way I wanted. But it's a hundred years old or more, and it's still there. So, it will be around in the fall, when the leaves are not so heavy.

I went to the local library to try to sort out the location of some no longer existing structures, but the people and materials at the library are close to useless. I'll try Carnegie Library, they seem to understand the function of history.

July 1, 2006 - Pittsburgh

Another Saturday, and I went downtown. I parked on 7th Street, about a block from the bridge, and took pictures. Mostly I shot the 6th St. Bridge, also called the Roberto Clemente Bridge. As it was about a week and a half from the All Star Game, the bridge had large All-Star Game banners in the arches of the support towers:

There were Three Rivers Reggatta events going on at the time, with Hydrofoils racing in the Allegheny River under the Ft. Duquesne Bridge:

Next, I went up to Mt. Washington and got more pix. Because of the heat and humidity, it was quite hazy and pictures needed contrast cranked up, but I got a few good shots.

That's what I did. I will do a special blog discussing the Roberto Clemente Bridge!

June 24, 1906 - Ligonier, PA

It was a partly cloudy day. I headed east on rte 30 with my mother to Ligonier. I saw a few bridges that I will have to come out later to get.

We went to Fort Ligonier. We paid money, and cheaply xeroxed flyer, reading "self-guided tour", but it turned out to be merely a crude map of the grounds folded over, nothing remotely resembling a "tour".

I got a number of pictures. I thought it could have been presented better.

We went to The Compass Inn. It is a restored inn, originally built in 1799. They had a stagecoach stop. It was nice, but they don't let you take pictures inside the building. I got some pictures.

Then we went to the Keltz Cemetery, where one of my Great-great-great-great-great-great Grandfathers is the featured guy. George Keltz was a Revolutionary War soldier, some say his son, George Adam Keltz was also in the Revolutionary War. One interesting feature is a semi-blank grave marker that says "American Soldier". I'm guessing that it eroded and people couldn't remember who it was, but they remembered putting flowers and flags on holidays and remembered that he was a soldier. I guess. I do have nice pictures of that.

Here's a shot of the "American Soldier" marker:

Here's my first entry in the Photo-blog.
I grew up in Pittsburgh, lived in San Diego, now live in Pittsburgh again. The rich history and culture of Western Pennsylvania is a photographer's paradise. There are so many things that I like to make excursions, often without a plan or specific goal.

Excursing out by myself has advantages, because I can stop when I see something and don't worry. With someone else, if I convince them to stop, they expect one snapshot and on the way again.

Anyway, I'll discuss my excursions, what I saw and what I hoped to see and post some examples.

RJ