April 27, 2011

Island Life

You never want to be in a hurry when you're trying to get on Siesta Key or off it, because inevitably you'll encounter this scene. The drawbridge on Stickney Point Road opens to allow tall sailboats and other vessels pass through. It used to open on demand whenever someone wanted to go through; but, the Coast Guard changed the schedule about five years ago so that it opens every 20 minutes, if necessary. The traffic stop this time was actually quite short, with the bridge going up and down quickly. When I lived in Michigan there was a drawbridge near Grand Haven (another popular tourist destination), which occasionally would get stuck in the up position. And, believe it or not, at the time there was just one engineering firm in the state which could be dispatched to fix it --- and it was located three hours away. Talk about a traffic nightmare! I've never known that to occur here; however, if it did, at least one would have palm trees to admire during the wait.

5 comments:

Lorraine said...

Oh yes, the palm trees are lovely! When I relocate to Florida, my new home must have a palm tree on the property.
The weather up here in PA has been warm the past few days. Everything is turning green and the tulips are just about ready to open up, so no more whining from me about snow. :)

Ernie said...

I crossed that bridge yesterday while test driving a new car with the top down. The view is lovely. Never heard of any of our local bascule bridges getting stuck recently, but they do occasionally shut one down for maintenance, necessitating a long drive to the other one for a few days. Nice new template, BTW. :)

gogouci said...

We have two bridges in Salem and one is a pedestrian. So I don't get to experience snarled traffic because of drawbridges. Palm trees always make things better...like bacon.

T. Becque said...

That might drive me crazy!
Answer: I edit the HTML on my photos by deleting a number from the posting "640" and that, for some reason, makes the posting more clear. Does that answer your question? I'm not sure if it did. Ask again if I got it wrong!

Lois said...

This picture reminds me of the old bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway in Jacksonville Beach where I grew up. It always seemed to be up when we were in a hurry to get somewhere and it also got stuck every once in awhile!