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| All photos above taken by me using my HTC 4G smart phone. "Lion Bridge, Modesto CA. Nov. 2010  All rights reserved |
Today I was driving and like many times I find myself taking LOOOONNNGGG cuts when I think I am taking a short cut. So I found myself on Crowslanding Rd. driving northbound towards downtown Modesto.
Although I have crossed this historic bridge so many times in my lifetime I never really noticed how beautiful it is."The Lion Bridge" has two sets of lions at the each end of the bridge greeting you as you cross. So I crossed the bridge and parked my car on the north end of the bridge jumped out and started taking pictures with my cell phone [pictures are not bad...for a cell phone camera and an armature photographer].
Although I have crossed this historic bridge so many times in my lifetime I never really noticed how beautiful it is."The Lion Bridge" has two sets of lions at the each end of the bridge greeting you as you cross. So I crossed the bridge and parked my car on the north end of the bridge jumped out and started taking pictures with my cell phone [pictures are not bad...for a cell phone camera and an armature photographer].
While crossing the bridge I had an old childhood memory. When I was about 8 years old, my mom drove a 1977 fire bird and it broke down on the north end of the bridge, it was the middle of summer and I think it over heated. Well I remember we lived in the south end of Modesto almost borderline Ceres. So my mom, my brother, 2 younger sister's, and I walked home across "The Lions Bridge". The walk was probably about 10 minutes, but I remember it felt like hooooouuuurrrrssss!
I remember was scared of the Lion's they looked so real and I kept feeling as if they were going to wake up and brake through their cement shell and chase us. Silly thoughts of mine...my 7th grade Language Art's teacher did always tell me I had a "vivid imagination". You know...after taking a second and closer look 22 years later...the Lion's still look real, and when looking into their broken up cement faces, still gave me the feeling that they were going to wake up and jump out of their cement shells [I guess I am still that girl with the "vivid imagination"]
I wanted to find out a little more about the "Lion Bridge" so I did what any other person would do..."I googled it!" I found a website full of historic landmarks in Modesto. I found out that The "Lion Bridge" or better yet the "7th street bridge" is a historic bridge one of Modesto's landmarks. It was at one point the bridge that carried the traffic through town from Hwy 99. Check out the picture I found [check out the background, "no buildings" all nature!]
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| 7th Street Bridge aka "Lion Bridge" [source: www.historicmodesto.com] |
Love the pics and the story about walking across the bridge. We lived in a number of places between Tuolumne street, Robertson Road, and the river. We often crossed the bridge (by car) to get to a little taco stand on Crows Landing Road that was our family's special night out place. I loved how elegant and regal the bridge looked.
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