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Miscellaneous Views from My Balcony - Set 1

This first set were also taken by my friend Dan, somewhere around 1997 - the summer by the look of them!

105th Street Bridge - the closest one. Just recently the "Edmonton Queen" riverboat got stuck under it. They don't normally go that far upstream because of shallows and sandbars, but I guess they were being adventurous!

A zoom-in of the Alberta Provincial Legislature. All the decision making and money spending goes on "under the dome". I used to work in that area (not for the government), and the cafeteria in the basement of the building was open to the public at the time - a good way to hobnob with the bigwigs!

This shot actually has two bridges in it. The one in the front is a newer concrete one, the James Macdonald bridge. Not far behind it is the Low Level Bridge (as opposed to the High Level Bridge seen in several of my shots). There used to be old trolley tracks on both the High and Low Level bridges. The High Level Bridge now just has an unused (except for our new little tourist trolley) train track, and there is just road on the Low Level Bridge. There is another similar metal bridge further downstream - the Dawson Bridge. The front stuff in this picture is one of our water processing plants.

This is a closeup of the the new part (the old brick part is to the right) of the downtown power plant. Just to the right of the one spout of water is where the main cooling water comes out. It isn't flowing in this picture, which is unusual. The river is at average height in this picture. Flood levels start when those 3 round holes in the lower concrete building are underwater.

This is a nice zoom of the riverbank area to the northeast, where I often take my walks. I really wish my digital camera had an optical zoom!

Here is the city skyline, looking mostly north and a little east. Just behind and to the right of the old part of the power plant is the main city baseball diamond, where the Edmonton Trappers play. In return for advertising money, the field is now called "Telus Field" - Telus is our local phone company, which recently (May 1999) merged with B.C.Tel from the neighbouring province to the west.

These two shots are back to my camera. They are spring shots of ice flow on the river. They are early in the spring, so there isn't much colour in them.

Later in the summer, there had been lots of rain out in the mountains, and a couple of days later, the result hit us on the river. There had also been lots of snow (2 feet!) in some places, on July 3 - 4, greatly surprising any southern tourists that might have been there. Anyway, this is likely the high water level for the North Saskatchewan River for this year. The second is a bit brighter, since it has less sky in it. Note the level of the water in comparison to those lower round holes on the structure at the left at the river's edge. Note also that the outflow to the right of the right-hand structure is entirely underwater, and all you can see is turbulence on the surface.

There is a stern-wheeler riverboat that does regular trips on a short stretch of the river. It can be booked for weddings, etc. as well as its normal outings. I need to be on the riverbank above it, with my camera, to get a good shot. Either that or walk all the way around to its dock. For now, this shot from my balcony will have to do. Update: I got a whole set of shots on September 5 - see the Edmonton Queen Views page.

August 2, 1999 - The Edmonton Queen

I was out on September 18, an early fall day, taking pictures of the fall colours. I was surprised by a set of four fighter jets blasting overhead (twice!) in a tight diamond formation. Later, I saw about a dozen jetski's heading down the river. The evening news explained that the planes, at least, were to mark a giving of the rights to the city to one of the local air force units. And no, I wasn't prepared enough to get any pictures of the planes.

September 18, 1999 - A jetski on the river.

OK, so this one isn't from my balcony - its looking out the window just *beside* my balcony. I've taken to calling this spider "Igor", but I imagine something like "Igorette" would be more appropriate. Anyway, outside of a pet Tarantula a coworker had, this is the largest spider I've ever been close to. The lines are the screen on the window.

Igor, September 5, 2000

Up Home

	105th Street Bridge - the closest one. Just recently the "Edmonton Queen" riverboat got stuck under it. They don't normally go that far upstream because of shallows and sandbars, but I guess they were being adventurous!
	A zoom-in of the Alberta Provincial Legislature. All the decision making and money spending goes on "under the dome". I used to work in that area (not for the government), and the cafeteria in the basement of the building was open to the public at the time - a good way to hobnob with the bigwigs!
	This shot actually has two bridges in it. The one in the front is a newer concrete one, the James Macdonald bridge. Not far behind it is the Low Level Bridge (as opposed to the High Level Bridge seen in several of my shots). There used to be old trolley tracks on both the High and Low Level bridges. The High Level Bridge now just has an unused (except for our new little tourist trolley) train track, and there is just road on the Low Level Bridge. There is another similar metal bridge further downstream - the Dawson Bridge. The front stuff in this picture is one of our water processing plants.
	This is a closeup of the the new part (the old brick part is to the right) of the downtown power plant. Just to the right of the one spout of water is where the main cooling water comes out. It isn't flowing in this picture, which is unusual. The river is at average height in this picture. Flood levels start when those 3 round holes in the lower concrete building are underwater.
	This is a nice zoom of the riverbank area to the northeast, where I often take my walks. I really wish my digital camera had an optical zoom!
	Here is the city skyline, looking mostly north and a little east. Just behind and to the right of the old part of the power plant is the main city baseball diamond, where the Edmonton Trappers play. In return for advertising money, the field is now called "Telus Field" - Telus is our local phone company, which recently (May 1999) merged with B.C.Tel from the neighbouring province to the west.