Forest Haven Revisited

After a sleep in, four of us went back to Forest Haven to explore further. I've been here a few times now but the place is so vast that we still have areas undiscovered by our group.

The day was murky, threatening us with rain and putting a sadder veil over the place than usual. Barb had sent us an article she'd found online, a long read, but a tragic report, and this was still haunting me as we trudged along the broken roads.

 

  

We passed overgrown playgrounds with rusty slides and silent swings, then crept through decaying corridors quietly treading the dusty floors. We appeared to be the only visitors here this day and that seemed to add to the already still and heavy atmosphere.

All of my photos were of a dark nature and I was struggling to find a shot that could be beautiful.

 

Emily, Barb and I were sitting on the curb outside a building waiting for Tim to come out. I was shooting the grey sky with my camera trying to get a shot where the clouds didn't appear ominous when Tim came trotting out of the door with a triumphant grin on his face. He had found an identity bracelet in the basement. I was incredulous. Tim has an amazing gift for foraging and finding treasures and has really been an asset on our trips. He's also a walking wikipedia, but I digress. We all clamored to look at the bracelet and excitedly decided to see if we could find another. My mood had lifted and I raced with the others downstairs. We scrummaged around and couldn't believe it when after covering the whole area, we had found another two.

The ultimate souvenir and a proud possession!

 

We happily continued to the next building which was also quite a find. it was the site laundry with massive machines for washing, pressing and folding clothes and linens. The photo above is of a machine used for steaming clothes called a form finisher which inflated to the desired form so the clothing placed on it could be steamed properly.

As we left the building, the rain started to fall heavily meaning cameras had to be packed away. Undaunted, we went to our regular bar to drink beers and gloat over our precious momentos.