Bridge of Echoes

[bobquasit]

On Saturday we went to the Bridge of Echoes in Needham, MA with my parents, my brother and his wife, and their kids. The videocamera died for some reason (I don't yet know if it's permanently dead), but I got some decent shots with the still camera.

On the way to the bridge we took a small detour to see this waterfall. Apparently that's some sort of restaurant in the shot; pity the water looks so dirty, as otherwise it looks like a lovely place.

It took a bit of climbing to get to the top of the aquaduct (the bridge is actually an aquaduct), but it was worth it. The part over the river must have been close to 100 feet high. Teri's agoraphobia kicked in; it didn't help that the walkway isn't flat, but rather has a peak shape that makes you feel as if you're being pushed to one side or the other. The view was incredible. Incidentally, those are the tops of very tall trees alongside the aquaduct. On the way back a couple of canada geese flew by, honking; they were high above the river, but actually just below the height of my head as they skimmed over the top of the aquaduct.

The iron railings on the sides were also quite interesting, because they were simply packed with yellowjackets. The railings are hollow and in some cases rusted out, and the bees were swarming everywhere. I tried to get some close-up shots of the bees, but maybe I was too nervous - when I downloaded the photos, the bees were just out of shot.

Creepy - you could hear the buzzing as you walked down the aquaduct.

Here's a shot from the middle of the aquaduct. That restaurant next to the falls is in the lower part, of course. Needham has some spectacular radio towers.

Another shot from the top of the aquaduct. These are the start of the steps down to the street. It's a long way down, particularly if you're carrying a 39-pound boy who's too tired to walk.

Top to bottom. It may not look that high in this shot, but that's because this is the shortest part; the river is actually well below the street level. That's my father down below, although that's not his truck.

Cross over the street and you soon reach the head of another staircase that leads down to the inner base the bridge, and the echo platform. I don't know what she sees in it, but since Teri likes this shot I'm including it here.

The staircase down to the echo platform. My father and brother are at the bottom, and Sebastian's head can be seen as refreshed (but not entirely willingly) he climbs down on his own.

An experiment: a composite photo of the entire span from underneath. I stood in one spot and started out with my head bent way back to get the side of the arch behind my back, then tried to space shots out evenly. Not perfect, but kind of fun to create, I guess.

The echoes were pretty cool; Sebastian enjoyed them, as did we all. If you'd like to know more about the bridge, here's an article about it. And here's a page with much better photos than mine.