Beautiful Day

Saturday, November 14 was a beautiful day. Everett was in town, and I took him to see the scenic side Augusta. First we went to Phinizy Swamp, which is also where the Natural Science Academy is. The local schools go there for Science projects. Below is the boardwalk that spans over part of the swamp out to the wetlands. Even though it was in the mid to high 70's, we saw no wildlife basking in the sun, just a couple egrets ad tons of spiders on the boardwalk, but they were not yucky ones!

This is only a small part of the wetlands used by the Science Academy AND the Waste Water Treatment Plant for filtering purposes.

This ugly spider is NOT one from the boardwalk. He/she was outside the restroom door. Very clean restrooms! It was about 3" in diameter.

After the swamp, we ventured to downtown Augusta to the Raw Water Pumping Station, where I took no pictures, and we walked part of the trail that follows the upper part of the canal.

I took this picture from the trail we walked, and saw the herron and turtles sill there later when we took the boat ride on the canal. The guide on the boat gives a very interesting history of the canal. I have ridden this boat ride about 3 times now, and each time learn something else new. Must depend on the guides and how much they research the canal history. The bird is a blue herron, and the turtles I believe are yellow bellied turtles.

The beginning of the boat ride on the canal begins in Downtown Augusta about 2 blocks from the hospitals. The boats are replicas of the original boats they used to carry cotton and tobacco down the canal to the mills, etc. The bridge has eagles and lions on it. Will have to do the history and pictures of that another time.

Textile mill below was turned into a factory to make ammo fur the Civil War. It still produces hydro electric power which it sells to GA Power and also charges the replica boats which are electric. No motor or fuel powered crafts are allowed on the canal.

No fuel power used here. The green overpass is the pedestrian/bicycle path that runs several miles along and over the canal.

The mill below is the Enterprise Mill where the boat started from and returned to. This mill has been restored to keep its original state as much as possible. There are now offices and apartments in it, along with a museum. Throughout the building you can see some of the workings of its hydro electric mechanisms.

As you can see, we did have a very pretty day for walking and boating. Hope to keep up better with the blogging. Now I shall go back to work and earn my money!