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Blue Vespoli and the Rainbow Train Bridge
Feb. 2nd, 2018 01:19 pmThe bed magnets were strong when my alarm went off at 4:45 this morning. However, Emma has taken it upon herself to serve as the second alarm clock - after the alarm goes off, she has been meowing and purring and demanding affection. It worked. Eventually I was lying there, awake. I managed to drag myself out of bed shortly after 5 am, got dressed, and rode up Hardy towards the lake.
As I approached the lake, the blue lights of the bike/ped bridge came into view, which made me think about the light rail bridge lights. When the light rail bridge was first built across the lake, it included an artist's light installation with differently colored LED lights that could shine in a range of patterns. But at some point after the early phases, they stopped running the lights. We only know this because we'd get to see them every single morning while out on the lake, rowing, the last time I lived out here.
Well, the lights were back on again, this morning, and shortly before I reached the light rail bridge, a train went across and I got to see the light pattern change in response to the train, to a softly flickering rainbow. Very nice.
It was just me and the college kids at the marina at 5:30 am. One of them helped me track down lights for the boat and an inflatable life jacket. Since I'm not particularly familiar with the boats at the marina, I just took a blue Vespoli 1x that I believe was the same boat I borrowed last spring for the Desert Sprints Regatta. Perfectly serviceable. I have no idea how it compares to the rest of the equipment. I am hoping at least one set of oars has smaller grips on it, though.
After the inky darkness and narrowness at the BAP, Tempe Town Lake felt extremely wide and brightly lit, lined with tons of shiny buildings, and the concrete walls were unnerving. There were multiple dead fish, and not nearly as many water birds.
It was still good to get back out on the water.
As I approached the lake, the blue lights of the bike/ped bridge came into view, which made me think about the light rail bridge lights. When the light rail bridge was first built across the lake, it included an artist's light installation with differently colored LED lights that could shine in a range of patterns. But at some point after the early phases, they stopped running the lights. We only know this because we'd get to see them every single morning while out on the lake, rowing, the last time I lived out here.
Well, the lights were back on again, this morning, and shortly before I reached the light rail bridge, a train went across and I got to see the light pattern change in response to the train, to a softly flickering rainbow. Very nice.
It was just me and the college kids at the marina at 5:30 am. One of them helped me track down lights for the boat and an inflatable life jacket. Since I'm not particularly familiar with the boats at the marina, I just took a blue Vespoli 1x that I believe was the same boat I borrowed last spring for the Desert Sprints Regatta. Perfectly serviceable. I have no idea how it compares to the rest of the equipment. I am hoping at least one set of oars has smaller grips on it, though.
After the inky darkness and narrowness at the BAP, Tempe Town Lake felt extremely wide and brightly lit, lined with tons of shiny buildings, and the concrete walls were unnerving. There were multiple dead fish, and not nearly as many water birds.
It was still good to get back out on the water.
