Wordless Wednesday – Pain In The Bud

Wordless Wednesday: The Retrofuturistic Rocket Cars Of Rural New York

They appear out of nowhere on a scenic route in New York’s Catskill mountains, beckoning drivers to stop and check out the rest of the wonders inside the nearby shop.

A few years ago on the way back from the Catskills, a scenic mountain belt in low-central New York, I spotted this beauty from the road and had to stop:

It’s a heavily modified, custom Dodge Magnum crafted by artist Steve Heller. The parcel of land I’d almost passed houses his shop, Fabulous Furniture On 28, one of the most unique spots you can find in the state, if not the country.

Here are a few other photos of the Cro Magnum I took that day:

Heller’s property is adorned with all sorts of retrofuturistic metallic sculptures that evoke the science fiction films and comic books of yesteryear:

The classic cars are my favorite, but unfortunately I did not get to see them all that day.

The header image and the images below are from Heller’s site, while I took the other photos on the day I stopped to look around.

The header image is another Dodge Magnum, while the beast below is The Marquis de Soto, a customized Mercury Grand Marquis:

Wordless Wednesday: The Glorious Amur Tiger

Today we’re admiring photos of the majestic Amur (Siberian) tiger, a species that has been pulled back from the brink of extinction thanks to the hard work of conservationists.

The Amur tiger, panthera tigris altaica, is the largest subspecies of the largest cat in the world.

Click an image in the gallery to view a higher resolution version:

All images in the gallery above via Wikimedia Commons. Header image via Pexels.

Wordless Wednesday: The Hidden City Of Petra

Located in modern-day Jordan and accessible via a winding path through its sandstone formations, Petra is one of the most fascinating and mysterious sites on Earth.

Known as the Rose City for the color of the timeless sandstone it was carved from, Petra is one of the oldest known human settlements, with its first inhabitants claiming the site as far back as 7,000 BC.

Petra’s iconic carved structures date back almost 2,000 years to the construction of Al-Khazneh, an Arabic name that means “the treasury.” It was actually a mausoleum and meeting place for the Nabataeans, an ancient Arab people whose kingdom existed in what is now present-day Jordan.

The Treasury is a misnomer that was bestowed on the rock-hewn building centuries later, when legends claimed priceless treasures were sealed within. Today, visitors can see bullet holes in the stone from raiders who thought the structure would shatter, leading to an avalanche of gold pouring from the cracks opened by their firearms.

Petra is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is one of the 7 Wonders of the New World. It may be most familiar to movie fans as the site of key scenes in 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

These photos were taken by Brother of Big Buddy (BoBB), who selfishly visited without me and thought he was Indiana Jones as he posed in front of The Treasury atop his camel mount. Thanks for the photos, bro!