Shangri-La

If it weren't for a couple of observant rugrats, I would have missed this tarnished gem in the forest.

In fact I have missed it, many a time; it's on the Shangri-La Trail, on Radar Peak, in the Cougar Mountain Wildland near my house, where periodically hike with Stella, our ChocoWeimaDor I (and other less furry members of the family).

This hunk o'steel is evidently a relic dating from the Cold War when there was an anti-aircraft base on the top of the mountain (really a high hill, overlooking Lake Washington toward Seattle).

I've Googled extensively trying to ascertain what kind of car this is/was, but the closest I can come is that cars around 19423 had the requisite amount and configuration of chrome. This one is missing all the identifying logos and insignia.

Elephants' Graveyard

Post-War Target Practice (since the Russians never made an appearance)

Frank Gehry's Dream (thanks to Robin for the idea)

Apres-Midi d'un Plymouth

Ghost Forest

A few miles outside the tourist town of Winthrop, Washington, the road we were taking to visit a ghost town devolved into a rutted track. Soon we were in a ghost forest instead.

It took five miles, surrounded by towering peaks of blackened trunks, to reach the road's end--the site of a former campground, the epicenter for the "Thirty Mile Fire" in 2001. Along the way was a shrine, half hidden in fireweed and sage slowly coming back to life, to four young flamejumpers who had been trapped by the blaze.

The Chewuch River was still very much alive, flowing through the dessicated veins of its bed.

Woods Pole

Things that make you say "Why?"