Day 2: July 4, 2009 Happy Birthday US of A

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Frazier Street runs at the north edge of Coolidge Park and that's where I started walking today. It's lined with interesting looking shops and restaurants plus the sidewalk will teach you how to dance. At least Fox Trot, Cha-Cha, and Tango instructions are available. You can do the Fox Trot or Cha-Cha by yourself but not the Tango. That, of course, takes two.

The Walnut Street Bridge is now a pedestrian bridge which I used to cross the river. There is also an hourly water taxi and, I believe, a free electric shuttle. I was told that the shuttle only ran on the south side of the river but I definitely saw them on the north side today. Maybe that's just for the holiday or maybe the service has been expanded. From the bridge, I got a different view of the park and of the Delta Queen. Glad to see that the Port of Cincinnati is still on the stern. Laura thinks it will stay there. That's the Southern Belle coming toward us under the bridge. In the last picture, a Chattanooga Duck is in the middle of a tour.

The renowned Tennessee Aquarium was on my tentative list of things to do but, although the lines were no where near as bad as what I saw at Ruby Falls, it was still pretty busy. I decided I'd save that for another day, too.

Lots of river cities, including Cincinnati, have tours on amphibious "ducks" but I'd never been on one. I decided that might be a good thing to do today and got myself into what was apparently the last seat on an about to depart "duck". Maybe all the Chattanooga Duck drivers are great entertainers but I doubt any can surpass Captain Barry. This man kept us laughing & learning on the entire tour. The learning part included a ton of information about Chattanooga and well beyond. As we neared the wildlife refuge on Maclellan Island, Barry announced it was time for his federally mandated five minute break then asked if anyone wanted to drive. He didn't retake the wheel until it was time to climb out of the river. He also had passengers help illustrate various historic tales. Chattanooga is the birthplace of bottled Coca-Cola and one tale involved design of the bottle. The redhead he's greeting at the end of the tour helped him explain the inspiration for the bottle's shape. If Cincinnati's "ducks" have anyone like Captain Barry, I may have to give them some business.

The grassy slope is something Captain Barry pointed out to us near the aquarium. Kids and the occasional adult slide down the hill on pieces of cardboard. Nothing to charge or plug in and nothing to download. Every city should have one. The middle two pictures are works of art between the aquarium and the slide area. Captain Barry came by while I was taking pictures of the big feet so I took his picture, too.

I used the John Ross Bridge to return to the north shore so I could see what the other end of the Delta Queen looks like. Probably a more interesting picture is of the park area and that crowd that has started to gather in the approximate four hours I'd been gone. The third picture was taken about an hour later from the boat. The last three were taken about three or four hours after that and show more folks in the park as well as on the river, the bridge, and the opposite shore.

The concert started with the national anthem and a fly over. I went ashore to take a few pictures then took some more from the boat as darkness settled in.

The concert ended with the Overture of 1812 and that include a couple of synchronized booming rockets. After that, the fireworks were on. For those, we just had to turn left and look in the sky above the John Ross Bridge.

Who'd have guessed that the night would end in the Texas Lounge with Laura playing harmonica? That's Jack the bartender, Lauren the cocktail waitress, and Jennifer the purser in the other picture. There's many more I wish I'd photographed. I had a great time and every member of the staff (or is it crew?) helped.

Unlike everything else on this page, this panel is from July 5. I can do that because I'm already home and know that what might have been a third day of the trip consisted of little more than driving through a lot of traffic and a fair amount of rain. The first picture is another view from my room. This one shows a gray and wet world and no tent. All the tents and I imagine an abundance of trash disappeared over night. After another great breakfast, I checked out and headed home. The last picture is of the swing on the front of the main deck. There's a 'D' and a 'Q' in the stained glass in the doors behind it. That was pretty much my last onboard view of "The Legendary Delta Queen".

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