'Purple people bridge'

Saturday
Today was a gorgeous summer day - hot without being too hot or humid - that's coming early next week! This morning Roger and I went for a bike ride on the Little Miami Trail - we took our tandem this time for a change, and started a bit further north at South Lebanon and went through Morrow to where the I-71 crosses the valley - very impressive. That was going to be my blip, but then I changed my mind - we are probably going canoeing ourselves tomorrow, and depending on what time we manage to get there after church, we may be seeing the viaduct from the river, in which case I'll blip it then. It was a great ride - the trail runs quite close to the river and there were loads of people out canoeing - and there were quite a few wildflowers alongside the trail. There's also a lot of shade on the trail, so even though sometimes you think it will be too hot for biking, on the trail, with the trees for shade, and the breeze going past you, its often quite bearable if not pleasant.

Tomorrow morning, Roger is doing the Morning Glory bike ride in downtown Cincinnati - it starts at 4.30 am! Apart from not liking the start time the route's got too many hills on it for me! Anyway, he had pre-registered online, but to save time in the morning, he could pick up his packet from Sawyer Point this afternoon. So after a late lunch we went downtown, and while we were there had a walk along the river and across the 'Purple People Bridge' over the Ohio River to Kentucky. The bridge is officially called the Newport Southbank Bridge, but the nickname has stuck and thats what everyone calls it! It first opened in 1872, under the name Newport and Cincinnati Bridge, and was Cincinnati's first railroad bridge spanning the Ohio River. Over the course of the next 35 years, the bridge was adjusted to accommodate streetcar, pedestrian and automobile traffic alongside. In 1904 the bridge was re-named the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Bridge by its new owners. The bridge was closed to railroad traffic in 1987, later closed to automobile traffic in October 2001, and re-opened as a pedestrian only bridge in May 2003, linking Cincinnati with Newport on the Levee, a shopping and entertainment complex.