Brooklyn Bridge Break

I'll get back to my Hudson River trip reporting tonight or tomorrow, but I went on a Highly Scenic Paddle last night and I thought I would share some pix this afternoon. The paddle was from the Long Island City Community Boathouse to the Brooklyn Bridge Park and back, with the LICCB hosting the Sebago Canoe Club. This is an annual event that Sebago folks look forward to every summer - we use the LICCB's sit-atops so all we have to bring (if we want to) are our paddles and lifejackets and money for treats at the Brooklyn Bridge Park. I took something like 20 pictures on the return leg, my camera doesn't do so well on the water in the dark but I just couldn't resist the lights - most were of course just blurs but I think the bright lights on the Manhattan Bridge here added just enough ambient light that the camera was able to get the scene. Click here for a short Flickr album of pictures from the trip.

I actually hadn't been to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse section of the park in a couple of years - lots of changes! The BBP Boathouse has a nice new dock there and I hadn't realized that a whole big sports facility had been put in on one of the old piers - skating rink, bocce ball, all sorts of stuff, and it looks like people are really enjoying it.

Here's another fun picture from last night - 

Obviously not one of mine! This was taken by Sandra Maki from American Express, who was working the Amex-sponsored public US Open viewing picnic at the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Gail and I were heading for the food trucks when she saw my paddle and asked if we were in the group that had just paddled by - we said yes and had a fun talk about kayaking in NYC, and she sent me this picture that she'd taken as we paddled by! BTW, if you are a tennis fan, live in the area, and didn't score yourself tickets, this looked like a fun way to watch - they have a big screen set up on the Harbor View Lawn, people were picnicking there watching the tennis matches live on-screen with the harbor, the river, the skyscrapers of the financial district, and the famous bridges as a fabulous backdrop. Click here for more details.