RIP Champlain Bridge

I and several hundred other people almost watched the 80 year old Champlain Bridge explode into lake Champlain this morning.

Just this past year the Champlain Bridge was added to the National Historic Registry as the first and great example of some type of bridge engineering; some type of engineering not destined to stand the test of time. It was a beautiful snowing morning and the sky and lake met seamlessly at an invisible horizon line. The bridge was also invisible from where I stood. Some of the news stations captured the explosion on film, but I think most spectators only heard it--one quick boom like a July 4th firework.

It was perhaps the most anti-climatic event of 2009, but, what with the cheerful crowd, one I'm happy to have attended.