Thursday Arch Series

This was taken last fall, when the earth in this part of the world was still green. Look carefully at the itty bitty people on the ground to get a sense of scale. The view is from the north, through the park that surrounds the monument. You approach from the northwest along a curved path, surrounded by trees. Then you round a curve, placing yourself on the Arch's north-south axis, and this is in your path. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety, as somebody once said.

TOMORROW: CDPD Monthly Theme Day - When people think of St. Louis, they think of...

Riverside Scenery

When my wife and I went out eagle viewing last weekend, we were told that we should find a lot of the birds at a certain spot along the Mississippi at sunrise. We got up before dawn and reached the river as the sun rose. No luck, but this power plant had a dramatic look in silhouette.

TOMORROW: the Thursday Arch Series returns

The Piasa Bird

There are miles of bluffs over Great River Road along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, running north from Alton, Illinois. Round a bend just north of town and this smacks you in the face from one of the limestone walls. The Piasa (PIE-a-saw) Bird is the stuff of local legend. According to Altonweb.com:

Its foundings go back to 1673 when Father Jacques Marquette, in recording his famous journey down the Mississippi River with Louis Joliet, described the "Piasa" as a birdlike monster painted high on the bluffs along the Mississippi River, where the city of Alton, Illinois now stands.

According to the diary, the Piasa "was as large as a calf with horns like a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger's, a face like a man, the body covered with green, red and black scales and a tail so long it passed around the body, over the head and between the legs."

The creature was given its name by the Illini Indians, "The Piasa", meaning a bird that devours men.

Or, if you would prefer a competing version, check the Great River Road web site

On the other hand, a Southern Illinois history site says that the bird is complete bull. This commentator said it was dreamed up in 1836 by a writer of frontier romance and adventure stories. Still, it's pretty cool, makes for a great local yarn and could scare small children. That's good enough.

TOMORROW: Power sunrise

A bird in the can is worth two in the bush

We saw a few eagles during our expedition but not as many as we had hoped. The ones we found were too far away to photograph, even with my 400 mm telephoto lens. There were, however, lots of other birds, including this guy and his friends. I think of pelicans as being in the South, especially Louisiana, where it's the state bird. But this far north, fishing amid the river ice floes? I would never have guessed, city kid that I am.

TOMORROW: A bird, but not similar to this one. In fact, not a nice bird at all.

The Confluence

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A few miles upstream from the Arch, the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers blend into one another at The Confluence, the main junction of one of the world's great river systems. Together, they and their tributaries drain about 40% of the lower 48 states into the Gulf of Mexico.

In the first picture, the Missouri, full of ice swirled into circles by the river's currents, washes into the nearly ice-free Mississippi at a point recently converted into a Missouri state park. We took a side trip there during our eagle watching day trip. The Mississippi has plenty of ice above the big lock and dam at Alton, Illinois, which blocks its flow southward.

TOMORROW: Eagles? No. Pelicans? Yes.

Decorative gesture

Back to the STL area. We spent the night in a luxurious B&B in Alton, Illinois, just north of St. Louis. It's called The Beale Mansion and it is overflowing with antiques and Victorian decoration. We had a huge, ornate room. The marble-floor bathroom was big enough to host a small party but contained a heart-shaped hot tub for two. Just the right size party.

The reason for the short trip was that there is a large bald eagle population that hangs out along the Mississippi there in mod-winter, so people go eagle watching. We'll see how the photos go. For now, this young lady graced the mantle in our room (oh, yeah, working fireplace, too!). Another obsessive Lensbaby shot.

TOMORROW: A trip along three rivers - the great confluence

Art Walks On Eight Legs

On the Jubilee Walk, between London's Tate Modern museum and the River Thames, crawls Louise Bourgeois' intimidating sculpture, Maman. St. Paul's Cathedral is in the right background.

This was shot at night handheld at ISO 3200 and then spiffed up in Photoshop.

TOMORROW: Victorian decor in the Midwest, with a twist