Butterfly Island

Last year I wrote about Wendy Park, the newest addition to the Cleveland Metroparks System.  It is located on Whiskey Island, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, just across from downtown Cleveland.  It is a pocket of nature amidst the industrialized Port of Cleveland.  Every September monarch butterflies, after crossing Lake Erie from Ontario, Canada, stop here to rest on their way to their winter home in the mountains of Mexico.  

Last Sunday afternoon, I joined my high school friends, Duffy, Gayle and Heather in a little excursion to Wendy Park.  I was a bit difficult to take good pictures of the butterflies in the shady, wooded area of the park, but they were there...

 

While we were there an enormous ore boat passed nearby, slowly making its way up the narrow channel.

One of the numerous lift bridges was raised to allowed the ore boat to pass under.  After the ship passed, the bridge lowered so that the waiting traffic could cross.

The Metroparks recently built a pedestrian / bicycle bridge that crosses over the railroad tracks and connects Wendy Park with other paths in the Cuyahoga Valley.

From the park you can see the skyline of downtown Cleveland on the other side of the river.

The Goodtime III is a sightseeing ship that takes passengers on cruises up the Cuyahoga River and along the shore of Lake Erie.  The cruises on this boat and its earlier versions have been a Cleveland attraction for decades.  I can remember that when I was in elementary school we took a field trip on the original Goodtime.

We ended our visit to Wendy Park by walking out along the 1000 foot pier to the old Coast Guard Station.  It was built in 1940 in art deco style and is on the Register of Historic Places.  When a new station was built on the other side of the river in 1976, this structure was abandoned.  Now that the property is owned by the Metroparks, the old station is being renovated.