BELLEVUE and NEWPORT
May-July 2006
Bellevue, KY! My home turf! All sorts of nifty poo goes on down in the Belv, son. This set of photos - which also deals with Newport - covers 2 separate events. The first picture is from an otherwise fruitless Roads Scholaring attempt; the rest are from a more successful outing a couple months later.
You didn't believe me when I said you'd get to see yet more unusual angles of the Cincinnati skyline, did you? This is a great photo from along Lincoln Road in Bellevue. The yellow object just behind that utility pole is part of the I-471 bridge. I got so tired from biking uphill that I just turned around and went home when I got here.
Ru!!! That sign talks about ru!!! This is at Bellevue Beach Park. I don't know why they call it that, because it's not like it has a big sandy beach or anything. At most it has a muddy riverbank. Anyhow, I got a good laugh from this sign that admonishes, "Don't Let Vandals Ruin Your Park." (The magic word!!!) The lower sign prohibits mere possession of paint, markers, and like items. How democracyish - not! It warns of a heavy fine, but ironically, someone bravely covered that part with spraypaint. Hilarious, huh? Here we're facing Frank Benke Way and away from the river.
Drought continues. Just kidding! You didn't fall for that, did you? Anyway this is the Ohio River at Bellevue Beach Park. Most prominent here is the I-471 bridge, with the skyline of Covington just behind that. The water tower in Fort Wright is 5 miles from here, yet it's clearly visible above the left side of the horizon behind the bridge.
From about the same spot at the park, the elevated road you see is Columbia Parkway (US 50) in Cincinnati.
This is Cincinnati as seen from KY 8 in Bellevue as you approach Newport. I had to get a photo of this because I knew there was going to be some development on that lot, depriving us of this view.
Part of downtown Cincinnati as seen from the well-hidden James Taylor Park in Newport. "Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain..." Wait, that's a different James Taylor. Anyway, that portal that comes out near the river between the stadium and the Coliseum is for that weird part of Broadway that splits in the middle and goes under Mehring Way. Most times I've seen it in recent years, that part of Broadway has been closed due to high water, because it rains so much.
From along the Licking River, a superb shot of the 4th Street bridge between Newport and Covington that carries KY 8. It doesn't even look like it's in an urban area, but it is.
This is the mouth of the mighty Licking, which emerges from the left and flows into the Ohio. That's Covington right across the river. You can see that city's skyline and part of the Roebling Suspension Bridge.
Still at Taylor Park, this is a gaggle of ducks, geese, swans, or some other exotic avian type. These feathery friends of ours later began quacking and swooped towards the Licking River to meet another group of birds.
Taylor Park takes a page from the NKU playbook. The sign scolds, "HEAD IN PARKING ONLY." The supposed reason for this is that everybody who patronizes the park is considered a potential drug or "indecency" offender (nice to know everyone is deemed guilty until proven innocent) and the city wants to make it easier for authorities to check the license plate numbers of cars. Hence this ridiculous tyranny. Behind that you see the mouth of the Licking again and the Roebling Suspension Bridge heading into Cincinnati.