Bridges

After spending Saturday shopping for stuff for the new dorm room and finishing up the move-in the three of us decided to go down to Old Sacramento to have dinner. The Sacramento River runs along the edge of Old Sacramento and includes a couple of interesting drawbridges.

As we arrived out on the riverfront the sun was setting and the rail/car bridge was closed. Cars use the upper deck and trains the lower:

The sirens sounded and the bridge began to open for an approaching ship:

It was the Empress Hornblower, one of the dinner cruise boats that take people on a 3-hour (or so) cruise on the Sacramento River. The dock was right below where I was standing, and the boat usually run 45 minutes one direction, an hour-and-a-half back down the river past the landing, and then 45 minutes back to the dock.

As the boat continued down the river it approached the Tower Bridge where more sirens and alarms were sounding:

The Empress Hornblower continued her cruise under the raised deck.

Wouldn't it be nice if every time an obstacle got in our way it would just raise up and let us pass?

Back in 2001-2003 the Great Western Quartet Convention was held in Sacramento, and during those three years I chartered the Spirit of Sacramento (pictured here), another riverboat that's just a bit bigger than the Empress Hornblower, for a special 3-hour gospel music breakfast cruise. There are some photos from the 2002 cruise here.

On the way back to the school we passed the biggest crime scene in California history - the State Capitol.  More theft goes on in that building than anywhere in the state.