At the entrance to the Ocean Breeze water park in Virginia Beach, VA, stands a 30 foot gorilla wearing beach clothes and sunglasses. You can clearly see his shadow in this image, but you can also see a ground-level shot that shows off his fabulous attire if that isn’t good enough

Thanks to William Eckley.

Here’s the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, because it’s been a while since we had a bridge. Er, I mean tunnel… no, wait, two bridges! Or is that two tunnels?

Frick.

The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel is a combination of two bridges and two tunnels, connecting Hampton and Norfolk in Virginia (I think that’s right anyway, but perhaps the Wikipedia entry can clear it all up for you).

Anyway, it’s pretty cool – lots of cars on there coming in and out of either end (or is that either middle?).

Oh sod this. I give up.

Thanks to Tiger, Brad, DanielMaui, John Drummond and Ben.

Here is the Jmes River Reserve Fleet, much like the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet we spotted previously. It’s a collection of really old (and big) ships that are just hanging around with no place to go. Most of them probably contain asbestos and other nasty chemicals so disposing of them would be rather expensive.

Thanks: Alex, Nathan, Brad, Corey Ehmke, Ken Adams, Jesse, Braz, Jim Absher, Stephen & RJ Marquette.

Based on the lighthouse in ancient Alexandria (one of the ’seven wonders of the world’), the George Washington National Masonic Monument in Alexandria, VA stands at 333 foot tall. Washington was the ‘worshipful master’ of the local Masons lodge when he was elected President and the monument was constructed entirely with voluntary contributions from members of the Masonic Fraternity. Apparently the Square and Compasses logo to the front of the building is the world’s largest.

Thanks: Josh Stevens, CK Dexter Haven & Tim Gregory

The Mount Weather Special Facility is an unacknowledged US Continuity of Government (COG) facility located in a huge underground bunker 45 miles west of Washington D.C., near Bluemont, Virginia. OK, there isn’t high res coverage of the exact area but I love these secret bunkers . The facility was built in the ’50s as a relocation point for senior government officials in the event of nuclear attack or other national emergency. Today, the site also houses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Emergency Coordinating Center. Some other cool facts:

• Total constuction costs, adjusted for inflation, are estimated to have exceeded $1 billion.
• Tunnel roofs are shored up with some 21,000 iron bolts driven 8 to 10 feet into the overhead rock.
• The entrance is protected by a 34-ton blast door that is 5 feet thick and reportedly takes 10 to 15 minutes to open or close.
• Tunnels inside the complex accomodate 20 office buildings, some of which are three stories tall.
• On-site 90,000 gallon/day sewage treatment plants and two 250,000 gallon above-ground storage tanks are intended to support a population of 200 for up to 30 days.

Loads more reading and higher res photos at FAS and GlobalSecurity.

Thanks: John