Denise Goldberg's blog

Saturday, February 20, 2016

tugboat powered

When I headed to the New Hampshire coast this morning the sky was still wearing gray and the tide was high.

I stopped at the northern edge of Odiorne Point State Park for a bit, then headed on to Portsmouth.

As I got closer, I saw that the Memorial Bridge was in an up position. It was still up when I parked next to Prescott Park. As I stood close to the water, a massive freighter moved by, pushed by tugboats out to sea. I walked a bit, looked around, then walked across the (now down) Memorial Bridge. I reversed direction and was about to exit the bridge when I heard the lift warning. I turned again and walked toward the lift section of the bridge. Cars stop pretty close to the entrance of the bridge but the gate that spans the sidewalk of the bridge has a high section that allows pedestrians to walk closer.

I watched as tugboats maneuvered another large freighter. They pushed it inland, up the Piscataqua River. It moved under the lift section of the Memorial Bridge, then under the lift section of the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge a little further inland.

freighter and tugboat

It was a good day for watching ships, enjoying sky changes from gray to blue, walking in warm temperatures.