We hadn’t really planned on stopping in Seattle but it was on the way to Alaska and I have some good friends there. We ended up staying four days, which is kind of a long time. Again, being in one place for more than a few days has it’s merits. My friend Elley works at the Pacific Science Center so we checked that out one day and had a real nice time. We walked in and were impressed by large groups of toddlers being herded around the different exhibits. We watched an imax show on the National Parks and decided we liked visiting them more than watching a movie of them. Jerry and Charlotte went and saw a preseason Seahawks game because Jerry loves football and somehow convinced Charlotte to go with him.
We continued exploring our interest in urbex and Jerry found an abandoned missile silo close to the city. Apparently in 1944, to combat the faster and higher altitude aircraft, the US Government began Project Nike. Because aircraft were now capable of traveling at speeds of over 500mph at elevations of over 60,000 ft, even a supersonic missile could not simply be aimed at something that high and fast. Nike missiles used a much more complicated tracking technology involving multiple radars to follow aircraft. The government built approximately 265 Nike Missile sites across the united states, some housing nuclear missiles. Luckily, they did not live by the Nike motto and besides tests and an accidental explosion in a battery in New Jersey killing 6 soldiers and 4 civilians, none were used. I am sure the entire project costed us millions and millions of dollars. The sites are not operational anymore and many have been demolished.
One of these sites lies outside of Seattle and we tried to visit. After driving down all sorts of driveways near the GPS coordinates we arrived at a locked fence with a “No trespassing” sign and figured we were probably in the right place. A path off to the side led to a hole in the fence, and we spent an hour or so walking around trying to find the control center, which was supposed to be above ground. The silos are underground, and we found what was probably them, although they were fenced off with barbed wire and filled with water. We noticed a freshly poured cement foundation and after we left, we found some information saying that the buildings had been demolished just weeks ago! Some pictures of the site predemolition can be found here. It looks quite cool but oh well, there are other locations to get to.
(-@beenrukavin)
Harry and Jerry having a good time with hand signals
Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream (ft. Yung Charlotte) 