For the first half hour of my walk this morning, the Riverwalk was almost devoid of humanity. From the Promenade Amphitheatre (my start point) to the Homicide Memorial (significantly, one of my turnaround points), I saw only two lone humans – the homeless guy in the gazebo and a bicyclist. And technically, the homeless guy in the gazebo is not actually ON the Riverwalk. During the second half hour, though, as I approached the Ironworks Trade and Convention Center area, I began to see a few more folks – Tricycle Man, Skate Dog Girl, and a couple of tourists.
And guess what? The SCUBA divers were back! I missed ‘em again, though – by just a second or two. As I approached the Dillingham Street Bridge I glimpsed the red-and-white diver down flag out in the water, and I heard voices coming from there, but I couldn’t see the sources of the voices because some tall bushes obscured my view. I quickly moved past the bushes to try to get a good look at the divers, and in those two seconds they had disappeared beneath the surface of the River, two steady streams of bubbles marking their exact locations. I do think I know who it is, though. I think I recognized a voice. And if it’s who I think it is, it’s somebody who is all into historic relics, and I’ve heard that he likes “watery” adventures, too, so I’m thinkin’. I won’t reveal my speculation yet, though, ‘cause I’d hate for this blog to get all gossipy and everything – and besides that, I could be wrong.
A prison work crew was clearing the shrubs underneath the overhang of the RiverClub. I wonder what’s going in there. Maybe more bushes? Maybe an overlook? Will keep an eye out and let you know.
Yet another mystery of this morning was why this one street lamp was lit. None of the others were, and the sun was out and bright. As my friend Butch Anthony would say, "Makes you wonder."
There were so few folks out this morning that I really didn’t have an opportunity to eavesdrop. Just exchanged a few "good mornings." There was one exception: Apparently my Asics gels were so quiet that I unintentionally surprised a tourist couple taking photos of the scenery behind the Ironworks. As I got close to them I realized that they didn't know I was there, so I intentionally scraped my foot on the pavement. They were both startled, the woman especially, and in her very Yankee accent she exclaimed, "You scared the CRAP out of me!" Then she was embarrassed -- by the fact that she'd said crap, I guess -- and I tried as best I could to excuse her and keep my pace at the same time. Then, several minutes later when on my return I met the couple again, I joked, "Here I come!" and they laughed and I laughed, and she made a cordial comment which I couldn't really understand because it was in her Yankee accent but I hope I was correct in my assumption that everything was okay now.
The water was clear and smooth as glass. I’m going to try to figure out a way to learn and report the level of the water each day.
Stopping to take photos is surely interrupting my pace, but that's okay, too.
It's blowin' up a storm here this evenin'; we'll see what that does to the River tomorrow.
just to let you know--I'm reading! I wrote some of my first posts on my blogs describing my walks in my neighborhood, along with photographs, but then my focus turned more to politics. I like that you are posting photos with the descriptions of your observations.
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