An intermezzo between Parts 3A and 3B
Breaking with tradition (though one must wonder
how much tradition a one-year-old electronic journal REALLY has?), this entry
consists entirely of images - both presented here and from the past. Part 3B,
recounting the trip back West from Thunder Bay to Seattle, will follow this
entry. Following that will be more image-only entries covering lots of North
American vistas, towns and a number of additional Time&Motion flicks
(Herky-Jerky™ movies).
Nota Bene: Check out the multimedia page for several new T&M flicks,
most notably a catch-up which I promised for quite some time now -- the 2004 Fremont Solstice Parade and the 2004
Gay Pride Parade and the all-new Across Wyoming - a T&M flick with
appropriate soundtrack by Anton Dvorak - of the diagonal, across-state, trek I
made through Wyoming, starting at the northwest corner in Yellowstone National
Park and ending at the southeast corner in the Medicine Bow Range mountains.
This flick shows off a side of Wyoming which many don't know exists - the
beautiful forested mountains and open plains of a state most think of as an
open-pit mine.
And now, an all-image (with caption) entry. This image journal focuses on Louisville, Kentucky, a town I found to be surprisingly hip, equally alluring and like so many other towns which have gone through a several-decade-long period of severely restricted municipal and private funds, filled with magnificent restored buildings originally constructed at the turn of the Century (19th, that is). Also, like so many towns which once had a heavily-industrialized waterfront, Louisville has removed most of the evidence of its once glorious river days and replaced the wharves and docks with a riverwalk and Riverboat Queens which now ply up and down the Ohio River.
Plus, the new edifices which have grown up on the old main streets, in the case of Louisville, include some stunning examples of the Philip Johnson / John Burgee school of architecture. For those not familiar with Louisville, it was founded as a way-point along the Ohio River and grew as a shipping and transport center associated with an early agricultural heritage which included tobacco. As the industrial age began to wax, Louisville became more and more populated, growing up along the banks of the Ohio. Today's Louisville retains a great deal of the character of the earlier town with its broad streets and avenues and a unique, for river cities, view along some streets. Because Louisville is on a bend of the Ohio River, just down from Cincinnati, there are a very large number of east-west running downtown streets which both begin and end at the river.
The images below try and capture some of the old charm as well as the new electricity and, of course, the Ohio River.
But, first, a parting shot at the beginning of the trip East...
High in the Cascades, heading East on August 8, the sun was peeking through early
morning fog and clouds. The interstate is still empty, the crows still asleep, and the
day tranquil. A great omen for a great trip.
US Highway 54 crossing the Mississippi at Louisiana, Missouri. Across
the river is Illinois. This is about ten miles downriver from Hannibal,
Missouri, home of and featured town in Mark Twain's many stories about
river life. This is a classic steel-arch span and has two traffic lanes, which
appeared to be mostly empty most of the time. The Mississippi is about
a quarter-mile across at this point in its path. If one starts at Brainard,
Minnesota (setting for the movie "Fargo") and travels downriver, to the
end of paved roads, there are 77 road bridges and 14 vehicle ferries along
the Mississippi. There about a third that number of railroad bridges and
an almost equal number of Corps of Engineer locks.
Panorama of Broadway at 2nd Street. Main runs east-west, as does Broadway. Broadway is about a third-of-a-mile from the river and
downtown Louisville is sandwiched between the two.
Further west at the intersection of Broadway and 3rd. The number streets run north-south from the river's edge south through downtown
and on through the rest of Louisville. My hotel was right on Broadway, easy walk distance to just about anything in town.
One block further west at the intersection of Broadway and 4th. Louisville's streets are relatively broad for early American cities and owe
a lot to the influence of Pierre L'Enfant and his master mentor, the designer of modern Paris for Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann. The city
itself is named in honor of French King Louis XV, who went to war with England in favor of the American revolution. However, it's evolution
is strictly American with a grid system and named and numbered streets, unlike New Orleans, which was developed by French settlers
and whose streets radiate perpendicular to the river, as is the custom in France.
The intersection of Jefferson and 5th Streets in the cultural section of Louisville. The art museum is the neo-classical structure in
the left center with the town hall beyond that.
Main Street looking both right and left. Main was the original "main" street of the town and is one block away from what had been
the Ohio River wharves and docks. It's now the arts and crafts section of town and contains an unusually large number of late 19th and
early 20th century structures. It feels and looks a lot like Pioneer Square except for the exceptionally broad avenues and sidewalks.
The same intersection as above, Main and 6th Street, except now the view is facing the Ohio River with east being on the right and west
being on the left. As with most river cities, the first "real" street above the docks and wharves is actually on a slight elevation. The Ohio
River banks are about fifty feet down 6th Street, which is the street in the center. The reflection in the glass building above mirrors the
street scene on the left in the image above this one.
Along 4th Street are a few reminders of a more glorious age for cinema - in this case the
Ohio Theater, an Art-Deco styled cinema house which is now an arts and music venue.
Also on 4th Street is the Palace Theatre, a rococo "grand dame" theater now being used
as a playhouse and revival cinema venue. Both the Palace and Ohio have been restored
to their original splendor and are part of an awakening Louisville arts and crafts scene.
Located on Main Street is this post-modern headquarters of Humana, Inc.,
a large and profitable health maintenance organization which actually
takes pride in providing "humanistic" service and prices to its more than
17 million subscribers. Many may recall Humana as the company which
sponsored the first artificial heart transplant. The lobby area also has a
surprise for the visitor - a Fresnel mirror sculpture. Most folks are familiar
with one of Fresnel's inventions - the Fresnel lens used in lighthouses.
Although perhaps unintended, this is yet another French reference in this
very surprising town. (see below).
My reflection as captured on the Canon Elph standing in front of the Fresnel mirror in the
outside, covered, lobby area of Humana, Inc.'s Louisville headquarters.
A closer look at the subject of my Fresnel mirror photography. Fresnel lens and mirrors
work on the theory that light, as a wave, can be modified (in this case "amplified")
concentrically - so the lens (and mirrors) consist of concentric rings of ground glass
which have slightly different radius formula. Because this sculpture is to one side, visitors
to Humana's corporate offices are often caught offguard, as I was, by the weirdly moving
reflection to their left as they enter the building. This is the first Fresnel mirror I've ever
encountered.
It seems that every city in America these days has some form of fiberglass, mass-reproduced
sculpture representing some animal and provided to artists within the city to paint and
decorate as they choose. This is a gay-proud ribbon bedecked flying horse located across
from Humana's corporate headquarters along Main Street in Louisville. Horses, of course,
make perfect animals for Kentucky, home of both the Kentucky Derby and the justifiably-famous
horse training and breeding farms outside Lexington (heart of the Blue Grass area).
This is a live music venue located right downtown on 4th Street in the heart of Louisville's
shopping and entertainment district. The night I was in town was the opening night for this
new attraction (free!!) and there was a steady stream of Gen-X, thirty-somethings, and even
folks like me (Baby Boomer) who were heading toward the throng to hear the music.
One block north of Main Street, along the Ohio River waterfront, is both the elevated freeway
and a series of construction projects which will link the rest of the city to the waterfront. One
such project is the Muhammad Ali Center , a multicultural visitor center and cultural enrichment
center which will focus on Ali's contributions. Ali, of course, began and grew up here.
Don't think for a minute that your civil liberties aren't being rapidly eroded by the present
administration's ridiculous and unwarranted tactics and plain, Gestapo-styled actions. This is
one of two river boats which are docked along the quay right in the heart of Louisville on the
Ohio River. Do not ask me why Homeland Security has decided this boat is off-limits because
there is no evident nor even any preposterously-wild and imaginative reason why this
attraction should be closed. If you like this type of environment, if you like these kinds of
restrictions to your freedom as an American, make sure you vote for Bush this November,
because this is only the beginning of the restrictions on your lifestyle.
Perhaps a bit hard to see, but this is a double rainbow which occurred very briefly over
downtown Louisville right as the sun was setting. The camera captured the double
rainbow but in person it was actually a triple rainbow - the third band being too faint for
my trusty but under-powered and "only 2 megapixel" Digial Elph to capture.
Looking opposite the rainbow, the sun was setting along Main Street presenting this
tangarine-and-gold sky. All-in-all a wonderful afternoon and evening in Louisville.
Ah, the afterglow of a great sunset, equally great and providing a warm bask with which to
make my way toward the river for some late-sun sky effects.
But not before one last image of downtown basking in twilight with "Forth Street Live" and
its neon-lit stage in the center.
The waning sky as seen from the middle of the Ohio River on the US Highway 31 bridge. The bridge's steel arches are on the right, the
Ohio River and sun-lit sky in the center and downtown Louisville on the left.
A higher magnification image showing some of the activity along the river. The most obvious is their version of the Alaska Way Viaduct,
an elevated Interstate 64 viaduct with the river and river boats to the right. This is looking west - obviously.
Looking downriver towards another steel-truss bridge, the waning sky provided one last
blast of scarlet and then night fell.
From my vantage point halfway to Ohio, in the middle of the US Highway 31 bridge,
Louisville begins to twinkle and come alive with lights and street life. For river cities,
Louisville has done a pretty decent job of matching the city to the river's edge and has
a relatively attractive skyline for a modern American city - not too many "cereal-box"
buildings and not too much "junk" messing with the cityscape.
A wide-angle image of the US Highway 31 bridge, the Ohio River, and downtown Louisville with the remnants of the sunset still aglow.
A closer look at some of the Johnson-Burgee inspired architecture gracing Louisville.
An update to my circa 1970 Chevron highway map which has been the baseline map for annotating my trips across North America. The
map is http-live, which means if you click on the map you will get a much larger image in a new page, in the event you actually wanted
to read the writing or examine a highway in higher detail.
And that's it folks. Remember, there are new movies on the multimedia page <http://homepage.mac.com/credmond/multimedia.html>, so
please check them out.
Next update will be more text-only recounting of the voyage home to Puget Sound from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Next images will probably be from the beach and of my family.
And now, an all-image (with caption) entry. This image journal focuses on Louisville, Kentucky, a town I found to be surprisingly hip, equally alluring and like so many other towns which have gone through a several-decade-long period of severely restricted municipal and private funds, filled with magnificent restored buildings originally constructed at the turn of the Century (19th, that is). Also, like so many towns which once had a heavily-industrialized waterfront, Louisville has removed most of the evidence of its once glorious river days and replaced the wharves and docks with a riverwalk and Riverboat Queens which now ply up and down the Ohio River.
Plus, the new edifices which have grown up on the old main streets, in the case of Louisville, include some stunning examples of the Philip Johnson / John Burgee school of architecture. For those not familiar with Louisville, it was founded as a way-point along the Ohio River and grew as a shipping and transport center associated with an early agricultural heritage which included tobacco. As the industrial age began to wax, Louisville became more and more populated, growing up along the banks of the Ohio. Today's Louisville retains a great deal of the character of the earlier town with its broad streets and avenues and a unique, for river cities, view along some streets. Because Louisville is on a bend of the Ohio River, just down from Cincinnati, there are a very large number of east-west running downtown streets which both begin and end at the river.
The images below try and capture some of the old charm as well as the new electricity and, of course, the Ohio River.
But, first, a parting shot at the beginning of the trip East...
High in the Cascades, heading East on August 8, the sun was peeking through early
morning fog and clouds. The interstate is still empty, the crows still asleep, and the
day tranquil. A great omen for a great trip.
US Highway 54 crossing the Mississippi at Louisiana, Missouri. Across
the river is Illinois. This is about ten miles downriver from Hannibal,
Missouri, home of and featured town in Mark Twain's many stories about
river life. This is a classic steel-arch span and has two traffic lanes, which
appeared to be mostly empty most of the time. The Mississippi is about
a quarter-mile across at this point in its path. If one starts at Brainard,
Minnesota (setting for the movie "Fargo") and travels downriver, to the
end of paved roads, there are 77 road bridges and 14 vehicle ferries along
the Mississippi. There about a third that number of railroad bridges and
an almost equal number of Corps of Engineer locks.
Panorama of Broadway at 2nd Street. Main runs east-west, as does Broadway. Broadway is about a third-of-a-mile from the river and
downtown Louisville is sandwiched between the two.
Further west at the intersection of Broadway and 3rd. The number streets run north-south from the river's edge south through downtown
and on through the rest of Louisville. My hotel was right on Broadway, easy walk distance to just about anything in town.
One block further west at the intersection of Broadway and 4th. Louisville's streets are relatively broad for early American cities and owe
a lot to the influence of Pierre L'Enfant and his master mentor, the designer of modern Paris for Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann. The city
itself is named in honor of French King Louis XV, who went to war with England in favor of the American revolution. However, it's evolution
is strictly American with a grid system and named and numbered streets, unlike New Orleans, which was developed by French settlers
and whose streets radiate perpendicular to the river, as is the custom in France.
The intersection of Jefferson and 5th Streets in the cultural section of Louisville. The art museum is the neo-classical structure in
the left center with the town hall beyond that.
Main Street looking both right and left. Main was the original "main" street of the town and is one block away from what had been
the Ohio River wharves and docks. It's now the arts and crafts section of town and contains an unusually large number of late 19th and
early 20th century structures. It feels and looks a lot like Pioneer Square except for the exceptionally broad avenues and sidewalks.
The same intersection as above, Main and 6th Street, except now the view is facing the Ohio River with east being on the right and west
being on the left. As with most river cities, the first "real" street above the docks and wharves is actually on a slight elevation. The Ohio
River banks are about fifty feet down 6th Street, which is the street in the center. The reflection in the glass building above mirrors the
street scene on the left in the image above this one.
Along 4th Street are a few reminders of a more glorious age for cinema - in this case the
Ohio Theater, an Art-Deco styled cinema house which is now an arts and music venue.
Also on 4th Street is the Palace Theatre, a rococo "grand dame" theater now being used
as a playhouse and revival cinema venue. Both the Palace and Ohio have been restored
to their original splendor and are part of an awakening Louisville arts and crafts scene.
Located on Main Street is this post-modern headquarters of Humana, Inc.,
a large and profitable health maintenance organization which actually
takes pride in providing "humanistic" service and prices to its more than
17 million subscribers. Many may recall Humana as the company which
sponsored the first artificial heart transplant. The lobby area also has a
surprise for the visitor - a Fresnel mirror sculpture. Most folks are familiar
with one of Fresnel's inventions - the Fresnel lens used in lighthouses.
Although perhaps unintended, this is yet another French reference in this
very surprising town. (see below).
My reflection as captured on the Canon Elph standing in front of the Fresnel mirror in the
outside, covered, lobby area of Humana, Inc.'s Louisville headquarters.
A closer look at the subject of my Fresnel mirror photography. Fresnel lens and mirrors
work on the theory that light, as a wave, can be modified (in this case "amplified")
concentrically - so the lens (and mirrors) consist of concentric rings of ground glass
which have slightly different radius formula. Because this sculpture is to one side, visitors
to Humana's corporate offices are often caught offguard, as I was, by the weirdly moving
reflection to their left as they enter the building. This is the first Fresnel mirror I've ever
encountered.
It seems that every city in America these days has some form of fiberglass, mass-reproduced
sculpture representing some animal and provided to artists within the city to paint and
decorate as they choose. This is a gay-proud ribbon bedecked flying horse located across
from Humana's corporate headquarters along Main Street in Louisville. Horses, of course,
make perfect animals for Kentucky, home of both the Kentucky Derby and the justifiably-famous
horse training and breeding farms outside Lexington (heart of the Blue Grass area).
This is a live music venue located right downtown on 4th Street in the heart of Louisville's
shopping and entertainment district. The night I was in town was the opening night for this
new attraction (free!!) and there was a steady stream of Gen-X, thirty-somethings, and even
folks like me (Baby Boomer) who were heading toward the throng to hear the music.
One block north of Main Street, along the Ohio River waterfront, is both the elevated freeway
and a series of construction projects which will link the rest of the city to the waterfront. One
such project is the Muhammad Ali Center , a multicultural visitor center and cultural enrichment
center which will focus on Ali's contributions. Ali, of course, began and grew up here.
Don't think for a minute that your civil liberties aren't being rapidly eroded by the present
administration's ridiculous and unwarranted tactics and plain, Gestapo-styled actions. This is
one of two river boats which are docked along the quay right in the heart of Louisville on the
Ohio River. Do not ask me why Homeland Security has decided this boat is off-limits because
there is no evident nor even any preposterously-wild and imaginative reason why this
attraction should be closed. If you like this type of environment, if you like these kinds of
restrictions to your freedom as an American, make sure you vote for Bush this November,
because this is only the beginning of the restrictions on your lifestyle.
Perhaps a bit hard to see, but this is a double rainbow which occurred very briefly over
downtown Louisville right as the sun was setting. The camera captured the double
rainbow but in person it was actually a triple rainbow - the third band being too faint for
my trusty but under-powered and "only 2 megapixel" Digial Elph to capture.
Looking opposite the rainbow, the sun was setting along Main Street presenting this
tangarine-and-gold sky. All-in-all a wonderful afternoon and evening in Louisville.
Ah, the afterglow of a great sunset, equally great and providing a warm bask with which to
make my way toward the river for some late-sun sky effects.
But not before one last image of downtown basking in twilight with "Forth Street Live" and
its neon-lit stage in the center.
The waning sky as seen from the middle of the Ohio River on the US Highway 31 bridge. The bridge's steel arches are on the right, the
Ohio River and sun-lit sky in the center and downtown Louisville on the left.
A higher magnification image showing some of the activity along the river. The most obvious is their version of the Alaska Way Viaduct,
an elevated Interstate 64 viaduct with the river and river boats to the right. This is looking west - obviously.
Looking downriver towards another steel-truss bridge, the waning sky provided one last
blast of scarlet and then night fell.
From my vantage point halfway to Ohio, in the middle of the US Highway 31 bridge,
Louisville begins to twinkle and come alive with lights and street life. For river cities,
Louisville has done a pretty decent job of matching the city to the river's edge and has
a relatively attractive skyline for a modern American city - not too many "cereal-box"
buildings and not too much "junk" messing with the cityscape.
A wide-angle image of the US Highway 31 bridge, the Ohio River, and downtown Louisville with the remnants of the sunset still aglow.
A closer look at some of the Johnson-Burgee inspired architecture gracing Louisville.
An update to my circa 1970 Chevron highway map which has been the baseline map for annotating my trips across North America. The
map is http-live, which means if you click on the map you will get a much larger image in a new page, in the event you actually wanted
to read the writing or examine a highway in higher detail.
And that's it folks. Remember, there are new movies on the multimedia page <http://homepage.mac.com/credmond/multimedia.html>, so
please check them out.
Next update will be more text-only recounting of the voyage home to Puget Sound from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Next images will probably be from the beach and of my family.
Posted: Mon - September 20, 2004 at 01:23 PM
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Published On: Jul 04, 2005 05:41 PM
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Published On: Jul 04, 2005 05:41 PM