anywhereSF

Day 103: April 14, 2014: Bywater, New Orleans

With the music festival wrapping up over the weekend, we decided to rent some bikes to do cover some ground and explore a bit farther from the center of New Orleans today.  Unfortunately, the forecast didn’t look all that cooperative…

Nonetheless, we took our chances and headed out for a cruise through the Bywater, revisiting some of the area I ran through the day before, and covering some interesting territory farther from the river.

This arch serves as the main entrance to Crescent Park, crossing over the tracks to the trails that make up the park, lining the river.

I’m not certain if this old burned out wharf on the edge of the park will eventually be removed, or if it is a permanent fixture, but I kinda hope it stays as a reminder of the history of this land. Also, note the cool old riverboat making it’s way up the Mississippi.

And note the slightly larger river traffic that followed. I grew up on a river, but way too far inland to see anything like this, so it was amazing to see this huge ships making their way upriver.

At the edge of the Bywater, we came across this old Navy compound, which seems to have been largely abandoned, save for the two Ready Reserve Force ships, MV Cape Kennedy and MV Cape Knox, docked at it’s edge. I only notice these because we have two docked along the waterfront in San Francisco, as well. From my previous research, I’ve learned that these transport ships are operated and kept in a constant state of readiness by the US Maritime Administration, with the idea that they could be fully activated on a few days notice to provide transport of resources for military operations around the globe, as well as supplies for humanitarian assistance following disasters in the US and abroad. In fact, it seems these two ships were actually used as headquarters to support the recovery and relief efforts for some time after Hurricane Katrina. We only saw these from afar, but having kayaked up to the ones in the SF bay, I can say that they are some impressively gigantic ships.

Finally, while racing back to get our bikes returned before the downpour hit, I had to stop for at least one shot of the brightly colored Bywater homes. As you may have guessed from the ominous skies, we didn’t quite beat the rain… And I can say, New Orleans rain is not like SF rain. I believe I was thoroughly soaked, in spite of my rain jacket, within about 30 seconds. 🙂

(A mix of Kodak Ektar 100 in the Canon Sureshot A1, and Rollei CR200 slides in the EOS 3)