Monongahela Boat
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last boat trip which I had bought tickets for here in Pittsburgh back in the early spring, as far as the 2023 season goes at least, was a Monongahela River one offered by the Doors Open Pittsburgh outfit. It was pretty sedate, and a nice afternoon’s diversion. That’s the Birmingham Bridge pictured above, spanning the waterway between the Golden Triangle section and the so called South Side Works development. It pops up a lot, that bridge, during the various explorations that I’ve been engaged in. It’s a convenient landmark for a ‘turnaround point,’ in relation to the titular center of the city at the convergence of the Three Rivers. I plan on walking over it fairly soon.
If you’re in town, definitely check out the Doors Open Pittsburgh site for interesting stuff to do. I’ve learned a bunch of stuff from them.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying that, my Freshman year here in Pittsburgh continues on, but from this point out – nothing organized or mainstream for a humble narrator (although I might ride that double decker tourist bus again).
I’m planning on bringing all of you along for the ride, so buckle your seat belts just the pilots of a B-25 bomber did in 1956 before it crashed into the Monongahela River late on a January afternoon. I’m getting started on Pittsburgh, as seen through my own filters, now. I’m learning about, and reading up on, what might be found just under the surface hereabouts.
The Appalachian Plateau which cradles Pittsburgh holds many secrets. Its origin lies in the dim past of Ordovician Period – some 480 million years ago – when the first land plants appear in the fossil record, and the seas were swarming with nasty little Trilobites and Crinoids.
Who can guess, all there is, that might be hidden in the deep valleys and hollows, along the muddy rivers, and up on the sharp ridges of Appalachia?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In NYC, it’s customary for a boat tour to join a conga line of other tour boats at the Statue of Liberty. We would always joke on the microphone with our audience attending a Working Harbor Committee tour, that there was a Coast Guard rule that you had to visit Liberty. The same sort of customary thing happens in Pittsburgh, but it’s the fountain at Point State Park. There’s lots of private boating action going on as well, and the Coppers slide about in their own boat, to keep everything nice and civil.
I have no idea what branch of the Government that boat belongs to, nor whom that Police Officer works for. I don’t recognize the uniform code amongst law enforcement here yet. There’s State Troopers, whom you recognize immediately because they wear the sort of hat you’d associate with Smokey the Bear, but as you’d imagine there’s multiple layers of law enforcement and they’ve all got their own ‘flair.’
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 
I think I found the answer: see
https://www.facebook.com/PAFishLawenforcement/
PA Fish and Boat Commission Bureau of Law Enforcement
dbarms8878
September 30, 2023 at 8:37 pm