Flint and Detroit, MI

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Flint and Detroit are both in Michigan. When I hear about Michigan, I think about closed factories and abandoned buildings. This is how the media, throughout my life, has portrayed it. I've heard crazy things about nature taking over abandoned buildings in Detroit. That damn Michael Moore has got so much to say about Flint. Oh, and it's weird to me that California and Michigan are the only two states with two cities in The Top 10 List. Richmond and Oakland are a lot closer to each other, but Flint and Detroit are also close. Okay, maybe it's a looser connection that I thought. I need to get out of bed.

The Salton Sea

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This lake is barely over 100 years old and was created as a result of an unusually large snow melt from Colorado and high rates of precipitation in a single winter season. So why the salt? Salton was a salt mining town until it's flooding in 1905. High levels of bacteria created infections that would wipe out large number of fish in the 1980s and 1990s. This eventually caused botulism to become rampant in the area and began killing off birds as well. It's now littered with abandoned shelters, including a hotel/resort that was built in the 50s or so and failed, and corpses of countless animals.

Gilrich, TX

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When hurricane Ike ravaged Southeast Texas in the fall months of 2008, the peninusulas that hug the West and East Bay that surround the larger Galveston Bay were nearly wiped clean. At some points the land on the eastern Bolivar Peninsula is less than 2 miles wide, leaving it no match for the super charged sea and fierce storms. Destroyed ports, docks, beach house, small store fronts, and sea side restaurants. A must see.