Huntington at sunset

Here are a few images of Huntington, W.Va., on a late spring afternoon as the sun prepares to set.

First, downtown Huntington ...

A closer view of guys fishing ...

This is the Nick Joe Rahall II Bridge, formerly and informally known as the West 17th Street Bridge. It opened in 1967 and closed for a few months in 1998 for repainting and repair. After it re-opened, the state of West Virginia graciously renamed it in honor of its senior member in the U.S. House of Representatives, who has been there since first elected in 1976. After we ran out of things to name for U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, we had to put Rahall's name on things.

But you can't keep a good senator down, and we've found a couple more things to name after the senator and his wife.

This is my favorite bridge with the sun striking it almost horizontally. Part of the tower is in shadow, but the rest is lit up pretty good.

And this is the Ohio River bank a few feet above the mouth of the Guyandotte River, looking west toward the setting sun (on the left).

From the archives 2: Baptizing

One day back in the early 1980s, between noon and 1 p.m. on a Sunday, I was driving through Lawrence County, Ohio, on State Route 7 when I decided to stop by the park at old Lock and Dam 27 on the Ohio River. I had my camera with me for some reason, and I have no idea why I chose to stop on this particular day.

What I saw there was a guy minding his own business fishing even though a few yards away from him was this gathering of people preparing for a baptism or two at the boat launch ramp. I got some quick shots from a couple of different angles and then left, as I had to be at work soon. Also, I didn’t want to intrude on their ceremony.

I remember river baptisms happening every now and then in the 1960s and 1970s, but I rarely hear of them anymore. It could just be that I'm not by the river at the right places on Sunday afternoons, or it may be that it just doesn't happen around here nowadays.

(Reminder: All photos on this blog, except as otherwise noted, are copyright by me, Jim Ross, and are not to be downloaded, used or reproduced without my written permission.)