Hillside Cellulite

I spent the day with my daughter on a "Geology Adventure" digging for crystal deposits along the middle fork of the Snoqualmie river. On the way up I-90 we passed through Issaquah. Now I realize that it has been at least a couple of years since I have gone this route, but holy buckets batman!

I can recall my Kentucky relatives lamenting the use of "strip mining" because of how it laid waste to what had once been a beautiful hillside - literally turning it into a moonscape. I'm rather certain the hillside leading up to the exclusive Issaquah Plateau is comparable.


What used to be a very natural looking forest leading up to the unseen McMansions above, is now strip mined with what I took to be townhomes - duplexes of some sort. Hundred and hundreds of them....such that all that could be seen on the hillside was the drab shades of light brown and grey paint that the contractors probably picked up at a recyling station. It was unreal to see, they all looked identical like an army of mindless robot warriors marching accross the green countryside of Naboo.

Absolutely yardless...none...not a shred of green to be seen between the cookie cutter architecture. Indeed, I doubt there was hardly any space at all between them.

So there you have it. The exit to Front Street used to mark your eastbound introduction to the Cascades...not anymore. North Bend is clearly now the gateway that Issaquah used to be. What an eyesore that development is.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Having lived in this area all my life, I've been privvy to the borg-like infestation of cramped, shoddily built housing, sweeping like a plague over the countryside. Valerie has, I think, grown quite tired of the fact that anytime we go somewhere around here I'll spend most of the time pointing out "That used to be farmland there, those used to be woods over there." I used to go pheasant hunting out near Carnation, but haven't been in about 5 or 6 years. Valerie and I drove through the town of Carnation and I barely recognized it.
7:44 PM
Anonymous said…
I grew up near the Kent Valley, and you don't EVEN want to drive through the South End with me. Farms (on rich riverbed soil) are now townhouses or industrial blech or worse. :-P

Liz
7:39 AM
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