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Span Fan

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Today is the anniversary in 1909 of the opening of New York’s Queensboro Bridge connecting Manhattan with Queens across the East River.

Though it’s not quite as famous as it’s sister to the south linking Manhattan and Brooklyn, the structure has a distinct profile, a colorful history, and a place in The Great Gatsby, Charlotte’s Web, The Simpsons and its very own Simon and Garfunkel tune – the 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy). Didn’t know this was about the Queensboro Bridge? Except for the title, the song doesn’t mention a bridge at all.

The Queensboro Bridge cost 20 million dollars and 50 lives back in 1909. The structure is really two cantilever bridges, each with a foot on Roosevelt Island. It has a busy, baroque look with ornamental flourishes that today’s lawmakers would never approve.

Taking a look at this structure’s history, it’s a wonder anything ever got built, then or now. There were strikes and delays. Somebody placed dynamite on the bridge in a union dispute. United Pennsylvania Steel was accused of using too much of their product in the construction as a convenient and secret way to drive up the cost.

Infrastructure is expensive and the bills keep coming. New York has spent a half billion dollars fixing up the Queensboro Bridge over the past quarter century, and yet people still paint it with graffiti and drop trash out their windows as they drive across it. Go figure!

But I do admire big, grand construction projects, and bridges can play a romantic role in people’s lives that mere roads can’t match. When I was a kid I got a thrill out of any trip that required a major crossing. The favorite bridges of my youth – The Bear Mountain Bridge and the Tappan Zee Bridge.

What was so special about them? They were big and scary, that’s what! And when we crossed them, it was an event. Suddenly, there we were on the other side of the river. Who knows if we’ll ever be able to get back?

What’s your favorite bridge?

125 thoughts on “Span Fan”

  1. We are all familiar with that famous bit of film of “Galloping Gertie,” the West Coast bridge that was too sensitive to vibrations. As a boy, I had my own Galloping Gertie. My last home in Ames, Iowa, overlooked Brookside Park. The park sat on the west side of Squaw Creek. To get to it from the town side of the creek, you had to cross a suspension bridge. And it was the twitchiest bridge I’ve seen. As you walked across it, the bridge picked up the rhythm of your walk and began to hop and flop until it thrashed around enough to make folks queasy. You couldn’t actually bring it down by lunging in rhythm (which I know because I tried), although the bridge would perform a spectacular dance in the air. As with so many fine things from my childhood, they have torn this down and replaced it with a bridge as dull as Mitt Romney.

    Good morning, baboons! It is a good day to be alive.

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    Simon and Garfunkel are younger than those two guys on the YouTube, even though they are much older than I am. I know this because they were so much younger on Ed Sullivan. Who were those old guys really?

    My favorite bridge is the Kate Shelley Bridge in Boone Iowa. It spans the DesMoines River. It is the site of a near accident before the days of electronic communication. The old bridge collapsed in a storm. Kate Shelley, then a teen-age girl, crossed the fallen bridge and the river to flag down the train that the townspeople know is coming and save the passengers and engineers from a fatal accident. What is below might be a link or might be just a jumbled mess.

    http://www.google.com/searchq=kate+shelley+high+bridge&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=kJx1T5umJ4-o8ASx7oWSBA&ved=0CB0QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=672

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    1. The attempted link is just a mess. But you can google great pictures of this.

      Meanwhile, WordPress is up to its password mischief again. GRRRR

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      2. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/graphics/media_kit/regional/northern/kate_shelley/new_bridge_concept.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/media_kit/regional/northern/kate_shelley_photos.shtml&h=699&w=1091&sz=471&tbnid=CF6XjaTdEEkqRM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=140&zoom=1&docid=PoeCCCj44Yl0_M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7Kl1T_nvBoak8gSFxbySBA&ved=0CEgQ9QEwAw&dur=577

        http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Kate_Shelley_High_Bridge-Construction-center_facing_west.jpg/250px-Kate_Shelley_High_Bridge-Construction-center_facing_west.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Shelley_High_Bridge&h=169&w=250&sz=14&tbnid=hvfbb8YwBS6fhM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=133&zoom=1&docid=vCZW5GuavWE9OM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7Kl1T_nvBoak8gSFxbySBA&ved=0CEQQ9QEwAg&dur=325

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  3. Good morning to all. I guess my favorite bridge is the Mackinaw Bridge that connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. It is one of the world’s longest bridges with a very long suspension span in the middle. The total length is 5 miles. Before it was built, there were car ferries there and when I was young we took the ferries when going to Wisconsin to visit my Grandparents. There were some very long waits to get on the ferry during summer tourist season. The bridge was completed in 1957 and there was no more waiting to get on a ferry.

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  4. Crossed Bear Mountain many times. Came to appreciate that the toll is paid from only one direction, when we were in a hurry to get back to the airport for a flight out.

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    1. Dude! Seriously! I assume those are for people who consider themselves to be extreme bridge enthusiasts. Which I, personally, am not. That first video was almost like something out of a horror movie – there’s nothing but creaking noises, and you’re just waiting for something verrrrry bad to happen…

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    2. Now, if that first bridge doesn’t scare the daylights out of you, you’re made of much better stuff than I am. Can’t imagine that anything short of a wild animal on my tail could make me cross that bridge. Come to think of it, jumping off it looks like a better alternative.

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  7. In 1970 I lived half a mile frmo the Golden Gate Bridge. I think it’s still my favorite – love the color (the Golden part refers to a metaphorical gate, not the color), and all the country and city around it. Was once returning from a friend’s in Marin County during the morning commute, and remember the raido anouncer saying “Well, traffic is moving along at 55 miles an hour, which is pretty good considering the speed limit is 50…”

    The Bay Bridge, to Oakland, was much longer and double decker – Eastbound on top if memroy serves, Westbound underneath. I’ll never forget driving to Oakland one day and having a sudden (what Eckhart Tolle would call an “out of ego” experience) feeling of “Oh my, I’m just one being in a little box on wheels moving along with hundreds of other little boxes on wheels…” Didn’t last long.

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  8. It was long gone before my time, but I’ve seen pictures of the Hastings Spiral Bridge. Think of how thrilling those curves would have been for a little kid riding in the family’s first Model T! Usually I don’t like large bridges, because I can’t help but think what would happen if it fell down or the car fell off, but I like interesting footbridges.

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  9. I’ve never liked bridges. They combine motion sickness and fear of heights for me-not fun.

    The one exception is a bridge built for Girl Scouts. When a Brownie flys up and becomes a Girl Scout there is a ceremony that ends with a walk over a bridge. They are usually improvised like the one in this picture.http://www.theshoppersapprentice.com/2011/05/02/our-cheap-girl-scout-bridge/ When I was a Girl Scout I got to wait at the far end and welcome the new scouts as they came across the bridge one by one. I loved the symbolism as well as the absence of motion and height. It seems like there are other occasions in life that should be marked with a bridging ceremony.

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    1. Hadn’t planned to – do you need it? The ground is pretty good and moist. Ideal weed-wrenching conditions.

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  11. I’m rather fond of the footbridge over the St. Louis River in Jay Cooke State Park. My wife and I crossed it dozens of times on hikes or ski runs by ourselves or with family and friends who came up to visit us. We always paused in the middle of it to enjoy the views of the river and to feel the rhythmical sway as other walkers crossed it.

    I also like the Lift Bridge in Canal Park in Duluth, mainly because it’s an active bridge–going up or down as boat traffic passes through. Pretty cool to watch those 1000-foot-long ships squeeze through that narrow passageway.

    An obscure footbridge that has captured my imagination is here in Owatonna, crossing the Straight River in Morehouse Park. It was built as part of a restoration project that dismantled the old dam and was part of a compromise that built a combined new dam and a rapids/fish ladder to facilitate migration of river fish. The bridge is sturdy and attractive, with a small wall honoring donors who helped pay for the project. It’s lit up with blue ornament-style lights and spotlights at Christmas time, which cast a luminescent glow upon the bridge and the waterfall over the new dam.

    And let’s not forget the Bridge on the River Kwai. Oh sure, it didn’t last long and suffered a violent “death”, but you have to admit it was one cool looking bridge, especially considering the circumstances under which it was built.

    IIn general, I love bridges because I always get the sense of something new and different to be seen or experienced on “the other side”.

    Chris in Owatonna

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    1. My dad volunteered for an ultra-secret mission in WWII. He was turned down because he was married, with two kids, and the project was considered more or less a suicide mission. He later learned it was the destruction of that bridge they featured in “Bridge on the River Kwai” (I think the real bridge had a different name).

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        1. It is so odd, BiR, the way my family’s life crossed paths with great events or important people. Harry Truman, FDR, John Dillinger, rescue of survivors of the Indianapolis, Bridge over River Kwai, Douglas MacArthur, Nicky Nolte and many others I don’t recall right now. The world used to be a lot smaller than it is today, and one family could brush up against Big People and Big Things.

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        3. Odd that you say that, tim! Someone who reviewed my book said, “Ahem, and then there is the Forrest Gump problem.” She meant that my credibility suffered because of all the well known names and events in the book. Your sensibilities are like a divining rod, my friend!

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      2. That’s neat to know. I wonder if your dad thought the movie portrayed that secret mission realistically, as seen by someone who almost participated in the real thing.

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    2. I like that footbridge over the river in Jay Cooke State Park, too. Was kinda scared when going over it as a kid, but now I like it.

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      1. Robin and Edith,

        It is amazing how much that bridge moves when only one person walks across. Makes me wonder how much swinging and swaying is going on when hundreds of cars are on a monster bridge at any given moment.

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    3. Footbridges have always given me vertigo. At Jay Cooke, I’d inch out onto the bridge when no else was on there, but my girls would rush me and bounce on the bridge till I was screaming for mercy. Moms always are easy targets or foils or whatever.

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      1. We belong to a Community Supported Agriculture farm which borders on that bridge! I’ve walked across it. Very old and rickety. Beautiful view of the Straight River in both directions.

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  12. I think the high bridge in Duluth (now, Blatnik Bridge) has a grace to it, and was a wonderful thing when completed. The second bridge is all right, but the third bridge is my favorite, the Oliver Bridge. Barb in Blackhoof I bet knows it well. It has a rusty dusty old industrial charm to it. Also love what is on both ends of it. A fun drive from Fon Du Lac to South Superior.

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    3. I’m going to have to check out the Oliver Bridge, now that I live so close to it! I drive over the Bong and Blatnik bridges all the time now. I know we’re starting construction on the Blatnik bridge in May, so I’d suggest taking the Bong bridge if you’re driving through the area.

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  13. I am a fan of the walking bridges over Minnehaha Creek in S Mpls. I use the Bryant Ave bridge a lot – it’s quite high over the creek, but a lovely old metal bridge with a great view of the creek valley. Plus it’s the best place to cross the creek when I walk from my house to the Malt Shop. 🙂 There are two other bridges a few blocks west across the creek that are especially good for playing Pooh Sticks (Daughter is a fan of Pooh Sticks) – these two lower bridges are nice wide walking bridges with a nice lip for a small child to stand on while she tosses sticks into the creek. One of these two bridges is nestled into a bit of the creek valley and is a little secluded by trees and is just about the epitome of “picturesque creek bridge” – the other good Pooh Sticks bridge is on a flatter part of the creek bed, and is also a common dog crossing, which is a draw for Daughter (this is also the bridge closest to our favored sledding hill). I love standing on a bridge watching the water go by – this seems a better pastime with smaller bodies of water like creeks and smaller rivers.

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    1. The Bryant Avenue bridge is also a favorite of mine. I like having a bridge just for walking and right now it’s essential for getting from my house to the library, while the bridge over the creek is down.

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    2. I love the bridges over the Creek, too. Even when they re-waterproofed them with stinky, no-doubt lethal stuff a few years ago. Pooh sticks is a favorite of mine, too. Sometimes, I’ll just play it by myself if I’m out walking alone.
      For some unknown reason, son #1 used to call those “bin-a-bin-a-bint-bridges” (you have to say it quite quickly to get the right sound). I still think of that every time I cross one.

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    3. Foot bridges (the non swinging variety) are wonderful. A favorite one Husband and I remember from a trip to the Isle of Skye many many years ago — the Faerie Bridge where a Clan Macleod chief said farewell to his faerie queen many eons ago. Downside is there’s no malt shop anywhere in the vicinity.

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      1. but the single malt scotch keeps you from caring. i had 42 different kinds of single malt scotch one night on the isle of sky. got so i couldnt discern the subtle nuances of the taste differences due to the peat in the bog water where the scotch originated after 30 or 35 tastes.

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        1. Now THAT kind of malt they have in abundance, true. And I agree that 42 shots of single malt scotch in one night might just take the edge off your discernment and subtlety a smidge. But you did live to tell the tale….

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        2. 42 single malts in one night?? That is impressive! I’ll have to tell the hubby about that. Don’t think he’s ever been anywhere close to that record in his own drinking history.

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      2. Heard the Faerie Bridge story, but I still haven’t been to the Isle of Skye myself. I’d like to get there at some point, but it’s nowhere near the hubby’s family in Scotland, so we never head that far out when we’re visiting.

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  14. Original bridge over Gooseberry, even thought it scares me still today to walk across it.
    Lots of wooden bridges up in the Superior National Forest built for logging trucks are nice pieces of engineering and are worth a walk down off the road to look at. Last a long time.
    The bridge across the bay down by San Jose; Can’t remember the name of it.
    The Bridges across the Missouri in SD are an interesting group.
    OT: Today is Grandparents Day for us, a rather silly invention. Then two days of birthday celebration for our grandson. Have a good weekend, all.

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  16. OT – We’re heading out for the G G Bridge (well, Oakland and Berkeley, actually) for a couple of weeks with my sister and step-son’s families. Get to take Amtrak (YAY) so we’re driving down to Osceola IA to catch it (Steve, rumor has it there is a Maid-Rite there). Couple of days on the train each way, I can hardly wait. 🙂 Have a good couple of weeks, Babooners – I’ll check in when I can.

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    3. Have fun, Barbara! That’s on my bucket list, too 🙂

      This reminds me that I grew up in the mountains and rode trains often. We had many many more tunnels to traverse than bridges to cross. My sisters and I had a game where we’d hold our breath going into the tunnel till we came out the other side — as much for not breathing the cinders flying in the windows as for who could hold their breath the longest. Most of the tunnels were 2-3 minutes from end to end, but there was one 10 minute tunnel on the way north to our cabin that was the granddaddy of them all. We’d just pull our heads into our shirts for that one. No names for any of these tunnels that I’m aware of. I used to think of them as giant wormholes snaking in and out of the mountains.

      When we visited relatives in the US, we switched to holding our breath when crossing a bridge. There were plenty of those in the San Francisco Bay area. I think holding my breath across the Mackinac Bridge would induce coma.

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      1. I used to play games like that with my brother and cousins, too – though no need to worry about cinders as we were usually in a car driving somewhere. But a tunnel or bridge was still a good excuse to see who could hold there breath all the way through or across. 🙂

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        1. My daughter holds her breath whenever we pass a cemetery. Her reason? “I don’t want to breath in any ghost dust.” I made fun of her, years ago, when she said that. Now I hold my breath when passing a cemetery. I mean, who does want to breath in ghost dust?

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        2. 🙂 Steve When my girls were young, they didn’t want to eat with my grandma’s spoons. They’d say, “I don’t want to use dead people’s spoons!” But I never thought of it that way. She was my grandma and it’s comforting that 60 years later we’re still sitting down to a bowl of oatmeal together. 🙂

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  17. My favorite bridge is the Ponte Vecchio, over the Arno River in Florence. My husband and I stayed in a hotel very near this bridge when we traveled through Europe some years ago, and right around this area are the Uffizi Gallery and and a great many amazing panini and gelato vendors. It’s not so very big or gorgeous, but it does have a lot of interesting history. And it’s my favorite for sentimental reasons – my daughter is a direct by-product of our trip to Florence (did I mention that, in addition to the panini and gelato, they have a lot of good wine there? 🙂 ).

    http://bit.ly/HsAFoA

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      1. How awesome for your daughter! And for you, since you got to visit her there! I would have loved to have spent some time living there. It’s just about my favorite place out of everywhere I’ve visited so far.

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    2. Sentimental romantic tales are the best, Doubleyoo What a nice origination story for your daughter. 🙂 My sister lived with her family in Urbania in Umbria over the mountains straight east of Florence for 10 years. A cozy little town, also with amazing panini and luscious gelato, known for its summer vocal workshops for opera singers. Also a meandering green river and a massive stone bridge. Italian towns all seem to boast their own river and picturesque bridge, I like the scale of the bridges in Europe; most of them are walkable so you can stop in the middle and daydream. Or play Pooh Sticks, I suppose.

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      1. As romantic as that part of my daughter’s story is, there’s also a rather ridiculous part to it. On our last night in Florence, we had dinner at a place called Mamma Gina’s. We had been trying for a baby for a little while, and we were joking that maybe we’d end up being successful on this trip. I told my husband that, if I did end up pregnant, Gina would be a good name for the baby if it was a girl. I’m Italian, so it works for me. And of course I did have a girl from that very trip, and I did name her Gina. My kid was not amused when she eventually found out that she was named not after a member of the family, but after a restaurant in Florence. I suppose it’s a bit unusual, but then again, the tagliatelle ai funghi there was really, really good. 🙂

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      1. pissing off and publicly humiliate are two different beasts like the two side of the rick santorum bullshit episode at once. humiliated and pissed off all at once. the gop story 2012.

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  19. I don’t know if I have a favorite bridge. If I do, it’s probably small, old and made of wood. There used to be a number of small, wooden bridges on gravel roads in rural Steele County that spanned streams. I remember family outings that consisted of driving across one or two of these bridges and listening to them rumble as the car crossed. My mom called them “gully bridges.” I’ve also heard them called “rumble bridges.” They’re long gone.

    One memorable “bridge” was while hiking in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the UP. We hiked from Greenstone Falls Cabin on the Little Carp River to the Big Lake. It was about 13 miles round trip and took us all day. (We saw great gray owls and trillium grandiflorum on this hike.) We followed a blazed hiking trail along the Little Carp River for a good portion of the hike. The trail criss-crossed the river in several places – some better marked than others. We often crossed on fallen trees or skipped from stone to stone wherever possible. I don’t really enjoy crossing rivers on fallen trees. It does help to use a walking stick for balance and to look straight ahead, never down.

    Right now, I’d like a bridge to the Land of Nod. Pippin’s severe allergies to trees and grasses re-asserted themselves after our walk last night. His face and eyes swelled up and he’s just one sad, itchy boy. He kept me awake with scratching and whining all night. His problems didn’t show up until July last year. It makes me wonder what the summer will bring. I might have to move to a land of permafrost so that I can sleep.

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    1. try a homeopathic allergy remedy for humans in a small dose for pippin. ill bet it works. 5 or 6 bucks should cover it. whole foods up in twin cities if there is nothing down in college land but ill bet you are set. holler if you need clarification on the specific fix but the general allergy mix should do it. heck its just a damn dog

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  20. OT – Just wanted to alert everyone to a great sadness. Barb in Blackhoof suffered the loss of two doelings that were pulled dead from their mother, “Dream,” last night. She’s posted about it on facebook. So sorry for this very sad turn of events, Barb and Steve. Sending healing thoughts your way.

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    2. Sorry to hear about this sadness, Barb and Steve. I’m glad Dream will be okay. Peace, rest and health to all of you.

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    4. thanks PJ – i’m glad you shared. i couldn’t figure out how to say. but i’ve been so busy today trying to keep Dream alive – she has hypocalcemia (“milk fever”) that essentially shuts down her metabolism and all the muscles in her body. it’s a dance between too much calcium and too little as well as getting her to eat to prevent yet another icky, dangerous condition called ketosis. poor Dreamy. she’s been invaded in every possible way, and multiple times, over the last 24 hours. i hope she forgives me, but i hope even more she lives – even if she hates me. she was our first goat. brought her home in May, 2007. thanks for the good thoughts. we’re working hard. and we’re over at the “new kids and moms” pen a lot, to see those five little bouncing kiddos playing, nursing from their moms, and getting stronger every day. so it’s more happy than sad out there. and very busy. thanks again. love, barb

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      1. emma is on spring break and ready to do a visit blackhoof this week if it works for you and steve. we shouldn’t stay for more that three of four nights and dont require more than 2 guest rooms. what do you think? gods speed to dream

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  21. A favorite bridge of mine from my childhood was the Vine Street bridge spanning the Des Moines River in Ottumwa, Iowa where my mother’s parents lived. It had a metal grid deck and when you drove across it the bridge would vibrate or ‘sing’. Sometimes the car would also sway a bit, which I’m sure was exciting for my father when there was an oncoming car. Here’s a picture I dug up of it from 1966:

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      3. Love those kind of bridges – I think they took the Lowry Ave bridge down in N Mpls that was an open grid like that. Not always easy to drive on in a straight line, but the hum as you drove over it was a ton of fun.

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  22. You have to get up early in the morning to come up with a bridge that someone hasn’t already mentioned. TappanZee was a favorite in my youth, too. I seem to recall that it was pale blue. Reminds me of the Sculpture Garden/Loring Park foot bridge with its lovely sweeping shape and blue and yellow sections.
    And, of course, the George Washington bridge with the song my father taught me to a familiar waltz tune “George Washington Bridge, George Washington Washington Bridge,George Washington Bridge, George Washington Washington Bridge” (repeat). Only a fellow original East-Coaster friend knows that song.
    When that bridge was dedicated (October 24, 1931 per Wikipedia) , the mayor of New York cut the ceremonial ribbon. My aunt, then a little girl of 6), was friends with the mayor’s daughter so she got to be part of that event.

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  23. There’s some foot bridge over some river in Cook County (MN) that would be my favorite, but I don’t remember exactly where they are now. Pretty sure Temperance River has one, and Cascade River, and Kadunce River (maybe). Probably more…I am going to have to go and search them out someday and then report back to you which is my favorite.

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        2. clyde and his student who hung around the blog a couple of days shared that bridge as a reference poing. cool bridge.

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    1. Oops, got away from me.

      Deception Pass Bridge out in Washington State is pretty cool. We spent a week on Whidbey Island one day…

      And good old Mendota Bridge holds fond memories of my youth; if we were going across the Mendota Bridge it must have been a special occasion for this farm boy from Rochester.

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      1. for some reason that reminds my of the washington ave bridge at the university of minnesota where john barryman jumped to his death in 1972. he was a favorite and his death was a trauma that hung with me for a while. the other side of bridges.

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  26. PJ — This is OT, but I don’t know if you ever saw my note to you about getting your garden ready for summer. Why don’t you check out the March 16 “Ask Dr. Babooner” post and see if this is needed or not. I think Edith and Lisa were on board for an afternoon, too. Hope you’re enjoying being home again, Robin 🙂

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    2. Hey Robin – I didn’t see the original post, but count me in. I’m not an accomplished gardener, but I’m a great weed puller and I can get dirty like nobody’s business!

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      1. i can break my leg or something if thats what it takes to get you to come over and take care on my garden too.
        glad to help if you need it pj.

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      2. VS and tim, we’ll be setting something up some time in April. Get yourself on my email list for updates, okay? robininmn@gmail.com

        tim, remember what Linda said: “Is it wise to woo drama? She might move in and settle down to stay.” I’m not sure which bones are expendable, but be careful what you wish for 🙂

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  27. I have fond memories of the Rock Island Swing Bridge in Inver Grove Heights (MN)…
    In the early ’80’s I lived on a houseboat with my family (husband & two daughters under 3 years old) on the Mississippi River. We were docked near the swing bridge & drove across it on outings to see my in-laws. It was a toll bridge at that time (I think the toll was about 50 cents), only a lane and a half wide, and you best not be in a hurry because if you caught it while it was open for river traffic you were going to be there for a while (which is party what I loved about it… it forced you to slow down). It has quite a history but I never could have imagined back then that such effort would be made to give it a yet another life.
    http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=880585

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  28. Oh, thanks so much. I hadn’t seen that post. I’d be a fool not to accept that kind offer of help. That means a lot to me. I’m thinking it’s probably a bit early yet to remove the remaining leaves on the ground around my bulbs. Another couple of weeks at least, what do you think?

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  29. I just went back and looked for Robin’s offer on March 16th. What a generous and thoughtful offer. I’ll put on my thinking cap about how to make the best use of this offer. I do live in St. Paul (West Side) and depending on where you’re coming from, you’ll most certainly cross at least one bridge to get here. I look forward to meeting Robin, Edith and Lisa; Sherrilee I’ve already met, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am. This is an incredible load off my mind; you’ve made my day. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH.

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    1. Wonderful! I don’t have anyone’s email address, so why don’t you all email me and I’ll put a group email together so we can coordinate on a date in April that is best for the most people. PJ, you can do some prioritizIng of garden needs so we can make the most of our time. My email is: RobininMn@gmail.com

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  31. Mirabeau Bridge, performed by Bill Garrett, James Keelaghan
    Under the Bridge by Jack Hardy
    Over the Bridge by Anne Hills
    Westminster Bridge by Eileen McGann
    Bridge of Sighs by Ralph McTell
    Build High the Bridge, performed by Holly Near & Ronnie Gilbert
    Mallon’s Bridge, performed by Mustard’s Retreat
    Low Bridge, Everybody Down by Lee Murdock
    Covered Bridge by David Rea
    Bridges by Bill Staines
    Twisty River Bridge by Joe Ely
    Water Under the Bridge by Eric Bibb
    Water Under the Bridge by Guy Clark
    Seven Bridges Road by Steve Young, covered by many
    Bridge by Loudon Wainwright III
    I’m the Man That Built the Bridges by Tom Paxton
    The Bridge by Oh Susanna
    Under the Brudge by Ray Bonneville
    Old Blue Bridge by The Bills
    Floating Bridge, performed by Martin Grosswendt
    London Bridge, performed by Peggy Seeger

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  34. Love Bill Staines. That’s a great hat, and I really like the artwork on the wall behind him.

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