Goodtime III - Cleveland, Ohio

On May 31, we went for a cruise on the Goodtime III in Cleveland, Ohio.  It's a huge tour/party boat that travels on the Cuyahoga River and in Lake Erie.  It was an ideal field trip for my two little boys, with lots of bridges, boats, buildings, lighthouses, trucks, trains, etc. to see, and the captain informed us about all of the interesting and historical things we saw as we were passing them.  The weather was absolutely perfect and it was a lovely morning altogether.

When we first arrived, we were a little early (YES you read that right - early!  Us!) so we explored the pier a bit.  The boys were fascinated by the huge chains.

Looking back from the end of the pier.

Waiting to board the boat

The girl in these photos is my friend's daughter, J.  She is an amazingly sweet, smart, and talented girl and loves helping me chase/keep an eye on Bug, which is a huge help!

See how she doesn't take her hands off of him when they're near the water?  She even said to him, "You better not fall in or else I'm gonna have to jump in after you!"  I love that girl!

This plane kept making low passes over us.  They've been filming Captain America in Cleveland (quite a few major streets were closed and it was a bit tricky getting to the pier that morning) and we wondered if it had something to do with the movie?

Another pass of the plane

 

The view from our spot on the 3rd deck.  That's the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the left and the Great Lakes Science Center on the right.

Great Lakes Science Center again.  I love that place.

Coming around the Steamship William G. Mather - taking a tour of it is on our "to-do" list.

We got to go under many different drawbridges as we went down the river.

In this photo you can see three moving bridges that we just went under.

Cute little tugboats, all in a row

See the engineer waving?  He was blowing the horn at us too.

Train going over the bridge

I like how you can see the lighthouse in the background of this shot.

See the lower red bridge behind us?  Instead of raising to let us by, it swiveled like a carousel.

 

This is Cleveland's new courthouse building.  I think it's beautiful - I could stare at it all day.

Going under another bridge.

My friend's son, E,  was experimenting with my camera and this is my favorite pic he took.  It reminds me of the scene at the end of Annie where the bad guys are chasing her up a train trestle like this one.

Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse

Cleveland Harbor East Breakwater Lighthouse

Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse from a different angle

Just thought this was a cool shot.

Both the West Pierhead and East Breakwater Lighthouses together

Back at the dock

I snapped this on the way home.  Every time we go to Cleveland, I always try to get a shot of this huge dandelion sculpture that we pass on the way in, and miss it.  Got it this time!  (And conveniently, the highway mile marker sign will give you a clue to the location of the sculpture if you haven't seen it and want to find it.)