#boardmanlake

Antares and the Moon

Reading that Antares would be close to the waxing gibbous moon, I went over to Boardman Lake in Traverse City, Michigan, to try to shoot it during the blue hour.

I hung out at the Traverse Area Community Sailing buildings on the north side of the lake. The moon was at 64% illumination with Antares just up and to the left a bit from that.

Diving Ducks

I saw a few divers today, from top to bottom: a common goldeneye, a raft of redheads, a bufflehead, and hooded mergansers. The final image shows two males (with different amounts of spread on their crests) and one female.

Traverse City Turn

Here are a few shots of the Great Lakes Central Traverse City turn.

The train is first seen returning from Williamsburg, Michigan, where it had dropped a car of lumber. In the second and third images the light engine rolls by the former Pere Marquette passenger station near where there was once a crossing with the Pennsylvania Railroad (Grand Rapids & Indiana).

The engine disappeared at that point and I knew it was headed over to the west side of town to pick up a car at Beacon recycling. I was able to get over there—just as it got too dark to shoot—and caught the diminutive train rolling by the west side of Boardman Lake with some fall colors visible. Too bad my ISO was through the roof by then.

Departure

After Joe Biden’s visit to Traverse City, as well as an orchard in Antrim County, he took off for the east coast.

After seeing (and hearing) some action by the three Ospreys on hand, there was a lull. And then Air Force One, in this case a C32A (Boeing 757-200), lifted off and came over the horizon. The body of water pictured is Boardman Lake, on the south side of Traverse City.

Waxing Crescent

I went out to see how the Great Conjunction was unfolding evening. I had to face the fact that my lens won’t be able to handle that, and there is still a bit to go regardless. I was able to bag this rather slender crescent (7.2%), and Jupiter can be seen in the third image, upper part of the frame. These were taken in Traverse City, Michigan, with Boardman Lake in the foreground.

TC Turn, Part One

Once again I shadowed the Traverse City Turn (of the Great Lake Central, a Michigan short line) a bit today. My main objective was to shoot on the west side of Boardman Lake, where the former Pere Marquette approached Traverse City from the south.

In this sequence, the train is pushing down through what was once a bustling, ten-track yard; the wye and passing track are about all that is left here.

TC Turn, Part Two

Here the train has made a drop and pick up at Beacon Recycling and is headed back toward Traverse City, Michigan, proper.

This would have been a nice place to watch Pere Marquette, or later C&O passenger trains glide by Boardman lake.