Forest Creatures

The vast forests of the northwest are famous for cryptids such as the Sasquatch, a fabled furry forest creature. They are rumored to look like a tall human, and there are people who would love to capture one. Their only proof of existence being rumor and a rather dubious home movie. But there are other creatures to be found in the northwest, like these.

This baby was spotted crouched on a stump, in preparation to disappear into the shrubbery.

This one was seen sunning itself on a mossy rock, it seems safe enough.

Here’s a freshly hatched baby, and where is it’s mother? I hope she’s close at hand.

This is obviously a land turtle, as there is only a trickling stream nearby, but there is plenty of delicious greenery.

Why I do believe this is a pterodactyl (one of my favorite dinosaurs). I must have startled it, so it’s taking off.

Actually, these are not real relics of the past, but in the forest, hidden among the tall pines it seems possible. These creatures are a labor of love, artfully ensconced in a believable setting, and are a minor tourist attraction that appeals to the 5 year old inside of us (well, at least I have this). And I think probably that one is more likely to encounter dinosaurs than a Sasquatch, so I found these figures enchanting. And if you find your way there, they are waiting still, for you.

Low

I love cars, perhaps because I have not always had one. And because I am old, I remember when these different sorts of cars could be seen driving about. Today, the best place to see interesting cars is, unsurprisingly, at a car show. And this was a show put on by local enthusiasts for a particular type of modification, low riders.

When I was in college I sometimes drove my roommate’s truck which was quite similar. These originally came in your choice of dark green, or dark green and were intended as a utility vehicle. It had a four speed stick shift, no power steering and was also intended to be driven in pastures and such. This one has been dropped, re-chromed and painted in two tone metal flake. It can’t be driven in a pasture anymore.

I formerly used to drive one of these, and I can testify that it was a lot of fun. The unmodified version will do up to 120 mph on the freeway, but painting it red is asking for a ticket. Even without modification it is a low car and you can easily high center (like in a pasture).

Low riders are not limited to cars, motorcycles can be low too. This was an amazing example that has been chromed and etched on every possible surface. It includes a blanket if you need to camp out, but I think that there is also the pasture problem on this vehicle.

This was my favorite car in the show, and I hope it won a trophy. The metal flake paint job was a work of art and it included an artwork under the hood. Every bit of chrome was redone and it was a deluxe model from the era when everything was chromed. This car does have hydraulics in the trunk, so it does not always ride so low. It could possibly drive into a pasture or rough road, but I suspect that it sits in the garage most of the year and is too precious to drive. That’s a shame as it is a beautiful tribute to both culture and automotive design excellence.

Travel

I have heard that the easiest person to fool is one’s self, and I certainly live up to this saying. By this I mean that I continually forget how much I hate the act of travelling, and somehow imagine against hope that it will be different this time, and it will be easy. So I had convinced myself to go to California (and being there was, in fact, great fun) and then came the bit where I returned home. Because my town is located near a big city there are limited options for direct flights and I chose the “budget” airline. And this was where I ended up.

There were lots of palm trees in California, but here in the desert there is limited water, so the palm trees tend to be of the artificial type.

This place is also famous for lots of neon, but in this case they were saving electricity by not spelling out the entire word.

This portrait made up of tiles shows one of the famous residents of the city. In place of the usual sort of background music there was music from the residents in the 50’s and 60’s who originally made the place famous.

This place is a mecca of legalized gambling and there were noisy electronic games on every concourse. I did notice that there are lots of international flights to here, and that some of the games seemed to be aimed at the Asian market. (I certainly hope that this dragon is lucky).

I know that you were wondering where I had ended up, well this was it. I spent 4 hours that seemed like lifetimes at this airport because due to a delay I had missed my connection. Among the many attractions that were touted, there is a museum of crime in this town and the airport is named for a senator, so I suppose that is fitting. And now I have yet another piece of evidence that travel is over-rated (but I am already planning the next trip). 😉