Gloomy Thursday

It started out raining yesterday morning, but we had planned a trip to the Kinzua Dam to look for Bald Eagles that had been spotted there recently hunting near the base of the dam, and I'm glad we went because the weather cleared up, and although we saw no eagles, it was a beautiful ride. This dam was constructed beginning in 1960 and is located about 12 miles from my hometown of Warren, Pennsylvania. When I was growing up, there were many times the Allegheny river over flowed it's banks, and flooded our town. My parents had a cottage along the river about 5 miles below the present dam sight. Before the dam, the river used to freeze enough that we could ice skate on it. In 1956 in the early Spring ( March) there was a quick snow melt due to heavy rains which resulted in a massive ice jam on the river below our cottage. The water rose at an average of an inch every 30 minutes, and eventually there was 18" of water inside the cottage. It took many days of cleaning all that mud and silt before we could stay there again. The cottage was built up off the ground but had a "crawl space" underneath and the chunks of ice that got trapped there didn't melt completely till June!  

Across the road from the dam, the cliff has lots of trees, and even some big rocks that occasionally break loose and fall to the road below. As you drive along there are signs warning of falling rocks, and some do get quite close to the actual roadway!

This is the lake above the dam. Lots of recreational places, boating, fishing and camping.

On the way home I drove along the same river to the spot where I saw the Mute swan family last summer. Only the parents remain. The locals had told me that all the cygnets ( there were 6) had disappeared, mostly taken by Muskies or turtles.
  Well, gone is the brief sun we had yesterday, and back to the gloomy days of winter, and no snow now to complain about... Take care all.