Sunrise 41: Ault Park (John Quincy Adams, Clear Warm Skies)

Happy Memorial Day! This morning I took advantage of the holiday and slept in. Some friends of ours came in from out of town and we stayed up a bit late last night. I did, however, get the 41st sunrise in yesterday morning with the help of my friend Mike. Mike brought his bike along with him and we woke up early Sunday morning to catch the sunrise.

After two days of overcast stormy conditions, the sky cleared up nicely for Sunday’s sunrise. There were scattered clouds in the sky but the horizon was clear. The air was pleasant and a bit warm, indicating that the coming day would be a hot one. The high for yesterday and today hit around 92 F, a drastic change from the mid 40s that marked the cooler days last week.

The sunrise was a deep orange in the clear sky before the light was scattered by the clouds

A great sight after several days of overcast mornings

Timelapse Photo. If you’re on the front page, click to continue –>

A young bush by the overlook has just started to bloom

Mike and I swung by the observatory on the way out of the park. We stopped to have a drink of water at the Murdock drinking fountains and walked around to the back of the building to check out the lawn. It was then that Mike pointed out the cornerstone of the building, something I hadn’t noticed before.

John Effin’ Quincy Adams

The cornerstone to the observatory building

The rear of the observatory

The observatory building itself was built in 1871, but the cornerstone is clearly dated to 1843. And as an additional shocker, the stone is said to have been laid by John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States of America. I was confused as to what happened in the almost thirty years between the cornerstone and the construction of the current building, but after checking out Wikipedia I’ve got it all cleared up. The observatory was originally built in Mt. Adams (named after John Quincy Adams) in the early 1840s. It was moved to Mt. Lookout in the early 1870s. I believe that this cornerstone was likely moved from the original foundation in Mt. Adams over to the new building. That seems to make the most sense to me. It turns out that the dedication ceremony of the Cincinnati Observatory was the last public speech that John Quincy Adams made.

Cincinnati Observatory

The rear of the plaque, I didn’t know there was a back to it

Close-up

I also realized that there is actually a back to the historic plaque out in front of the observatory. The plaque describes the founding of the National Weather Service. Now that I know that there are two sides to these plaques, I’m going to have to go find all the ones I’ve seen around Cincinnati and see what I’ve been missing!

On the way home we passed by a juvenile female deer on Delta Avenue. We have lots of deer in this area and they can get pretty brave. The only time I don’t mind their company is when they’re chomping at my tomato garden.

Speaking of animal sightings, it is worth mentioning that on Saturday afternoon, while out on a quick trip down to Lunken Airfield and back, I saw two of the coyotes that up until now I’ve only known about by running across their paw tracks.  I was riding along on the trail when up ahead I saw what looked like a dog without a leash about 100 yards ahead. But the canine had an obvious feral edge to him which gave away the fact that he wasn’t someone’s domestic dog. There ended up being two young juveniles that met up by the Little Miami River. They slipped under the fence into the inside of the airfield as I approached them. They seemed friendly and shy, and they kept looking back up at me as they slowly jogged across the jet runway.

This week looks like it will be filled with hot days and clear skies. Seeing as how my morning routine is beneficial in so many ways, I can’t see myself not continuing my sunrise ritual. The next few days may have more brief updates with fewer pictures as I attempt to figure out what the next stages are for this project. In the mean time I’ll see you up at the overlook 🙂