{"id":14825,"date":"2017-04-30T22:55:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T02:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=14825"},"modified":"2021-11-27T19:12:36","modified_gmt":"2021-11-28T00:12:36","slug":"2021-the-gw-bridge-and-ross-dock-on-veterans-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=14825","title":{"rendered":"2021 – The GW Bridge and Ross Dock on Veterans Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published <\/span><\/span>on November 25, 2021)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>(click to enlarge and do that on ALL panoramic images)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m a little late with this\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026it took quite a while to put together.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t shoot this every year, but when I do, Veterans Day is the best time for it because it\u2019s not too hot or cold out, the Palisades are magnificent in their Fall colors and the largest hanging US flag is unfurled on the New Jersey tower of the George Washington Bridge.<\/span><\/p>\n

I like to start out at (Hudson) river level – just north of the bridge where the park known as Ross Dock is located (technically, it\u2019s the Ross Dock Picnic Area, but I\u2019ve yet to see any picnics going on there on weekday mornings in November). <\/span><\/p>\n

The way I get there, I get to drive under the bridge and that\u2019s always a great way to start because of the GWB view from a unique angle (and there\u2019s still a good chunk of elevation to lose to get to river level):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

On the way (and back) to\/from the park.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another bonus: parking is free at Ross Dock from October through April.<\/span><\/p>\n

I park on the south end of the park, closest to the bridge. Before I even get out of my car (and being perpendicular to the bridge), I can see if the wind is sufficient enough to blow the flag into view. It IS, as you can see in the first shot and this zoomed-in one:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That means it\u2019ll be more fun to shoot the flag when I get ON the bridge (and under it).<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cunder\u201d part is the first order of business. It\u2019s a little bit of a hike to get there, but the views make you forget about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

I begin right at the southern edge of the park with another panoramic shot. In the distance behind the Jersey tower, you can see some of the tall buildings in Midtown Manhattan:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I get a little closer\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026and closer:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Almost there\u2026\u2026.. this panoramic shot is SO wide (more than 180 degrees) that the road I\u2019ve been walking on can be seen in both the far right and far left edges. And if you look at the Palisades on the left as they slope downward, that little spit of low-level, yellowish land sticking out into the river is Ross Dock – my starting point:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

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But what\u2019s that noise overhead? (click to enlarge)<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

That happened a few times while I was there, but I couldn\u2019t identify whose choppers they were (or maybe it was the same one going back-and-forth).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The south side of the GWB from ground level:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Panoramic iPhone photos have a curvature issue when the subject is above you. And look what it did to the cables on the top right side:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works pretty well in the middle, though:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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I really should have knelt down when I took that shot because the beam connecting the Jersey tower\u2019s \u201cfeet\u201d blocked something important. Fortunately, I had taken this shot just prior that included that important thing – the Little Red Lighthouse on the New York side:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For all you locals, it also includes the ramp to the Henry Hudson Parkway\/West Side Highway and shows half of the angled roof of the GWB Bus Station.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As I started to head back to Ross Dock, I heard voices behind me. I turned around and saw these men push-pulling something up a ramp into the southern \u201cfoot\u201d of the Jersey tower, where a third man awaited them behind the fencing:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the way back, I passed something I had taken a picture of (on the right – when the sun was shining) on my way TO the bridge, but didn\u2019t notice the sign. I did on the way back when it was cloudy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Palisades Interstate Park has many hiking trails in its long system along the Palisades and Carpenter\u2019s Trail is one of them. It\u2019s a series of old stone steps that go up the Palisades.<\/span><\/p>\n

I recall reading something someone wrote about how when he was a kid, he and a lot of other Fort Lee kids used to use those steps as a shortcut to get down to the river.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are my two views of the steps at the bottom (click to enlarge)<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I reached Ross Dock, I turned around and took this picture of the bridge, Midtown and the now-cloudy sky (similar to the opening image):<\/span><\/p>\n

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In Ross Dock\u2019s southern perimeter of large stones, I thought I saw a questionable object on one of them\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.but it\u2019s not an object at all (though some may call it object<\/em>-tionable). It\u2019s empty space that\u2019s been carved out of the stone and might NOT have been sanctioned by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..but – of course – I could be wrong:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Continuing my walk around the park\u2019s perimeter – this time on the eastern (river) side – I saw something colorful in the water upriver and zoomed in:<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

While the colors seem to indicate that it\u2019s one unit, the name on it (“Reinauer Twins”) indicates (after Googling) that it\u2019s a tug boat moving a larger vessel (photo from tugster.com):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Turning the northeast corner of the park, I look back to the GWB and see that the flag\u2019s still billowing and that the geese don\u2019t care:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The last river-level picture (click to enlarge) faces west and shows the park\u2019s kiddie area below the mighty Palisades:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I have to tell you that the Palisades are LEVEL and do NOT look mountain-shaped (just enter \u201cnew jersey palisades\u201d in Google Images). This is strictly due to the limitations of the iPhone\u2019s panoramic setting. Whatever\u2019s near the top will be curved, arc-like. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The best example I can give is this photo I took last month:<\/span><\/p>\n

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The beams – of course – are all straight, but in this panoramic shot, the one nearest the top has a much more-pronounced curve than the one below it. Sometimes, the effect is advantageous, but that\u2019s not the case with the previous shot of the Palisades.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Time to go upstairs to the bridge.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To do that, I have to leave the park and drive up to a Fort Lee road (Hudson Terrace) that\u2019s closest to the GWB and goes under a bridge approach. I can usually find a metered space immediately north of the bridge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Walking south, these are the first two views I see just before and just after I walk under the bridge approach:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I walk up the entrance (right pic).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the first things I see before actually getting on the bridge is a tribute to Port Authority police officer Bruce Reynolds, who was assigned to the GWB and was the only PA\/GWB police officer to die at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when he was trying to rescue people:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

At the WTC, he was last seen assisting a woman who had been seriously burned by blazing jet fuel. The road that I just walked up to get to that spot is now called Bruce Reynolds Boulevard.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Approaching and almost under the flag (click to enlarge):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under it:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From both sides of the tower (click to enlarge):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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When you use the panoramic setting, you have to pan the phone from left to right. So when trying to shoot a panoramic of a GWB tower, it seems logical that you have to turn it sideways and pan it from bottom to top.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, when I tried that initially, it took part of a picture and then took another part of a picture – both of which had to be deleted. I don\u2019t know what I changed – maybe I used a smoother, quicker motion – but I finally got two passable shots (although some of the nearest cars in the first one are only half there and the second one seems to show the further half of the tower slightly bending outwardly while the nearer half looks ramrod straight). NOTE: For these 2 vertical PANO images, you have to scroll a bit to see the whole shot. If you click them, the image will shrink to fit the screen.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BTW – the second one also shows fairly-level Palisades in the distance.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From the bridge, I thought this dark view of Manhattan was one worth taking – especially with some large vessel in the Hudson – but then I noticed what I thought was the antenna atop the World Trade Center (just slightly more to the right than the vessel)\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.but the WTC itself was initially blocked from view by another building.<\/span><\/p>\n

The simple solution was to take a few steps to the left until the WTC was visible. However, the WTC – at least 10 miles away – was considerably further away from the building that was blocking it and, at that distance, I had to walk about a third of the way across the bridge before the WTC was (almost) fully-visible:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

How\u2019s that<\/em> for dedication to your shot?<\/span><\/p>\n

The bottom half shows a zoomed-in version of that vessel\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026or should I say vessels<\/em>? They look just like the vessel\/tug pair I shot earlier from Ross Dock, which I thought<\/em> was heading north.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While walking around the laterally-protruding part of the Jersey tower, I noticed a lot of work going on in the bridge\u2019s lower level. No idea what that\u2019s about\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I also noticed some unusual signs on the bridge:<\/span><\/p>\n

Suicide Prevention (not unusual on a bridge, but a bit unusual because it was put up after the additional, impenetrable netting\/fencing was installed):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rules for bicyclists and pedestrians partially-obscured by stickers put there by bicyclists and pedestrians:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And this one seemed the oddest. It\u2019s right next to the roadway, some strange-looking apparatus looks poised to shoot gunk all over a sign that says: \u201cFather of all mankind. First Sunday in August. Mr. William Gaetano Carriello JR.\u201d, while a New Jersey Transit bus whizzes by:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You think that\u2019s odd? Wait\u2019ll you see what\u2019s next!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You remember what I said about taking a panoramic shot with the iPhone? You have to pan the phone from left to right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early last month, I took a PANO shot of a new building in Hackensack from across a busy street. I had to wait because I didn\u2019t want to get any cars in the shot. However, it was impossible, so I waited until there were as few as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

The shot came out OK\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.except for one little oddity. There was a truck in the far lane that was moving right-to-left as I was panning left-to-right. I cropped the shot to find an almost-perfectly-condensed truck (click to enlarge……..a bit):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it cute (and useless-looking)?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I thought of that when I was on the GWB as big tractor-trailers were zooming by – all going left-to-right. I wondered what that would look like if I did a PANO of a big truck, starting well before it got to me and continuing until it was well past me.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Sounding like Bill Maher) Would you like to see the results? Oh, good. But I have to warn you\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.some were a lot less successful that others, starting with these 3 (including a bus). Oh – and if you see a second vehicle that looks identical and is behind it\u2026\u2026..it\u2019s the exact same vehicle. And they\u2019re all PANOs, so remember to click to enlarge (and click the third one TWICE):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, they can’t ALL be gems…………<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Click these two TWICE to enlarge.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wonder if I could interest Shop-Rite in this shot. \u201cIntroducing our new Super-Mega-Trucks to keep store shelves full for you during the pandemic!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

We might have to lose the hard-to-read\/pronounce lettering on the side.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As you may notice in this PANO shot, I\u2019m getting a little bored with this and am almost off the bridge:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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But I\u2019m determined to try to get at least one right-to-left westbound truck to condense with my left-to-right motion, but there are just too many eastbound vehic-\u2026\u2026\u2026..oh, wait – an opening\u2026\u2026..pan\/click!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Not my best work, but I find the whole PANO-panning-with-and-against-moving-objects thing to be really interesting and will be fooling around with it a lot for sure.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I\u2019ve gotta get off this bridge before the parking meter time expires.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s still more to shoot!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the ground:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the Palisades:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On a convex mirror:<\/span><\/p>\n

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On a wall: \u201cWelcome to Yonkers\u201d? Yonkers is a couple miles upriver on the other side of the bridge in New York!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh – it\u2019s a company that enjoys misleading New Jerseyans while doing business here. How clever.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Entering the lower level of the bridge:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Anybody remember the old nickname for the lower level? Radio traffic announcers took great joy in referring to it as \u201cMartha\u201d (because it was under George).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I reached Hudson Terrace and was about to make a right to get back to my car, I looked back up Bruce Reynolds Boulevard for one last look at the flag and saw these two guys jogging up onto the bridge and one of them was carrying his own flag:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Redundancy aside, I tried to get a better shot of his flag and as much of the slightly larger one as I could:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Almost to my car, I took one last PANO shot of the always-closed entrance to the northern GWB walkway:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well\u2026\u2026\u2026.it WAS open once that I recall in 2017 when they closed the south walkway to install a ton of netting to thwart the suicide festival that had been going on there for a while.<\/span><\/p>\n

Would you believe I actually postponed major open-heart surgery that year to be able to shoot the flag on Veterans Day from an angle that few people ever get to see?<\/span><\/p>\n

Such dedication! (the cardio said it might be \u201cdead-<\/em>ication\u201d if I delayed surgery)<\/span><\/p>\n

Got another hour to waste on that story and those GWB pix?<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=5645<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anyway, this morning at the GWB ended well: when I got back to my car, the meter still had 8 minutes left on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Timing – in 2017 and today – is everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on November 25, 2021)   (click to enlarge and do that on ALL panoramic images)   I\u2019m a little late with this\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026it took quite a while to put together. I don\u2019t shoot this every year, but when I do, Veterans Day is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14825"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14918,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14825\/revisions\/14918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}