Northern State Hospital...

One thing I love to photograph is abandoned buildings. They're gritty and cold, and they leave you imaging what they were like when they weren't abandoned. One such place is Northern State Hospital in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, a little over an hour north of Seattle.

The drive is uneventful; and, for the most part, all along I-5. And, on a clear day, you might even be able to spy Mount Rainier:

"The mountain is out" is often heard from the locals when you can see Rainier...

Northern State Hospital first opened in 1912, and was once the largest facility for the mentally ill in Washington state. At its peak, it housed over 2,700 patients. Northern State Hospital fell victim to the changing perceptions of mental hospitals in the 1970's, though, and it closed its doors in 1976 after the state legislature cut off funding. While many building are still in use (and off limits) for job corps and drug rehabilitation services, the remaining grounds and buildings are open as a recreation area.

When we arrived, the surrounding area looked like any municipal park you would find anywhere. As we walked from the parking lot, down a path and up a hill, however, things changed.

 

Our first glimpse of what was once Northern State Hospital...

 

There were a number of building on the site and, as you might imagine, the vast majority of them were abandoned and in varying states of disrepair:

To be perfectly honest, there were some building I refused to go into. They just looked like they were waiting to fall down an, frankly, I didn't want to be inside them when they did.

One thing you always seem to see at abandoned sites is graffiti. Some of it is sparse and  simple, still more could almost be considered, given its environment, ornate. But graffiti abounds in abandoned places, and Northern State Hospital was no different:

What I found the most striking was the vivid colors against the drab grey of the ancient cinder blocks. Add to that the fact that the ceiling and roofs were long gone, and it really does make for some cool photographs. with those vivid colors now displayed beneath the green canopy of the surrounding woods, as well.

And, if you want a creepy place to take pictures of your friends, abandoned mental hospitals are good locales:

This is my daughter, Jess, walking through one of the graffiti-ridden, broken down, partially collapsed  buildings at Northern State Hospital in Sedros-Woolley...

 

Oh, and the other thing about abandoned mental hospitals? You just never know what kind of off the wall creepy stuff you'll find. Apparently, here at Northern State Hospital, the "creepy stuff" tends to be dolls. really, really creepy dolls:

 

After spending about an hour and a half or so walking through these dilapidated buildings, we decided to head over to another part of the hospital where most of the buildings are pretty much intact. Most are padlocked and no longer in use, and there's no such thing as a window that isn't broken:

 

 

Unfortunately, none of the buildings in this area were accessible. All we could do was shoot from the outside. That's fine, I suppose, but you just don't get photographs with the same character as when you can actually walk among the broken glass and shattered floor tiles. Be that as it may, though, we made due until deciding we would call it a day.

It dawned on us that we hadn't eaten since breakfast, so we found ourselves a barbeque joint call Double Barrel BBQ:

 

 

Now, living in northeastern Florida, good BBQ is easy to come by. Sometimes it seems like you cant swing a dead cat without hitting another great eatery. For whatever reason, I guess I just never thought that quality barbeque would be found in the pacific northwest.

Yet, there it was:

Cornbread with butter, smoked turkey, brisket (can I get a "Hell, yeah!"?), mac & cheese, and cole slaw, all washed down with a tasty sweet tea. It was outstanding and 100% legit:

At this point, it was getting dark and it was clearly time to head back to Seattle. Thankfully, I wasn't driving, so I was able to get a good nap in during the trip.

Our last outing of the day would come the next day, both local and iconic...