A Night Off

"No work for night shift."

That line brings joy to my heart every time.

I work in a seafood processing plant in Westport, Wash., and every afternoon I have to call the company hotline to see if there's work for that night. Usually there is, but at this time of year we sometimes get a night off. It's the end of the season; the ocean is rough; and fewer boats are going out to fish.

I'm thinking we got tonight off because the boat crews took Thanksgiving off. Thanks be to them!

At any rate, I found out about 3:15 p.m. that I had the night off, which gave me just over an hour of daylight to take some photos. I headed out along the river to see what I could find.

The Hoquiam River is about 25 miles from the Pacific coast. It rises and falls with the tide. We were heading toward low tide this evening, which created an opportunity for an interesting angle at the boat launch a couple blocks from my house.

The dock at the boat launch floats on pontoons, moving up and down with the water, so at low tide you can walk down into a kind of canyon made by the exposed riverbank. And it juts out into the river a good bit, so walking there feels like plying the waters.

I think the reflections on the water were the best part of being down there this evening. I spent most of my time photographing the bridge in the other direction -- Simpson Avenue Bridge is longer and presents a more sweeping view. But as I turned to leave I couldn't resist the touch of sun on Riverside's towers.

Maybe I can share a shot of Simpson Avenue Bridge for Picture a Day tomorrow ... if there's no work!