# Places you've been. . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 8, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879 "2019-09-08T14:38:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/21 "2019-09-08T20:00:07Z")
I’ve been on the set of a Star Trek TV series (specifically, the _Star Trek: Voyager_ set). I stood on the transporter platform, and sat in Captain Janeway’s chair on the bridge. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/22 "2019-09-08T20:22:27Z")
I’ve spent a lot of my life in working in remote places. I’ve been to a lot of places that very few outsiders at all have ever been to. A few of them. Panama. I’ve been to every place in Panama you can get to, plus a lot of places you can’t. I led the first scientific expedition to the Serrania de Jingurudo in Darien in 1997. We had 7 party members, plus 24 Embera guides and porters from the last village on the Sambu River. We were in there for 3 weeks. The last camp was so far in that the Indians told me even they had never been there before, and had to decide what they were going to call it. I’ve been to a lot of other remote areas in the Darien and elsewhere. One of the most interesting was the site of New Edinburgh, the lost Scottish colony on the Caribbean coast. It took 8 hours by boat to get there. I’ve also visited every single island on the Pacific coast for seabird surveys. New Zealand. I worked with the New Zealand Wildlife Service for three years, working on various remote islands and also in high valleys in the Southern Alps like the Transit and Tutuko that you had to chopper in to. Peru. I did biological surveys at several oil camps on the lower Urubamba River in Amazonia that could only be reached by helicopter. Gabon. I did other surveys in Gabon where we camped for three or four weeks in Petit Loango and Monts Doudou National Parks. Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire). I visited the Okapi research center in Epulu in the eastern part of the rainforest, where I went out net-hunting with 20 pygmies to catch forest antelope to radio-collar. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/23 "2019-09-08T20:34:36Z")
The former palace of the last Shah of Iran, in northern Tehran (now a museum). The Shah fled with his family in 1979. His family’s private rooms have been preserved essentially as they were since then, with 1970s furnishings, children’s books, model airplanes, and stuffed animals, mostly imported from the West. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/24 "2019-09-08T20:47:14Z")
Oh, all those places sound magnificent. My pitiable contribution is not worth talking about. I do know one place no other Doper has been to. Positively, I’m the only one. On a lonely gravel road in SW Arkansas, floating on a john boat in the ‘beckdawrek pond.’ Laying on my back watching the clouds meandering by. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/25 "2019-09-08T20:49:18Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I’ve spent a lot of my life in working in remote places. I’ve been to a lot of places that very few outsiders at all have ever been to. > > A few of them. > > Panama. I’ve been to every place in Panama you can get to, plus a lot of places you can’t. I led the first scientific expedition to the Serrania de Jingurudo in Darien in 1997. We had 7 party members, plus 24 Embera guides and porters from the last village on the Sambu River. We were in there for 3 weeks. The last camp was so far in that the Indians told me even they had never been there before, and had to decide what they were going to call it. > > I’ve been to a lot of other remote areas in the Darien and elsewhere. One of the most interesting was the site of New Edinburgh, the lost Scottish colony on the Caribbean coast. It took 8 hours by boat to get there. I’ve also visited every single island on the Pacific coast for seabird surveys. > > New Zealand. I worked with the New Zealand Wildlife Service for three years, working on various remote islands and also in high valleys in the Southern Alps like the Transit and Tutuko that you had to chopper in to. > > Peru. I did biological surveys at several oil camps on the lower Urubamba River in Amazonia that could only be reached by helicopter. > > Gabon. I did other surveys in Gabon where we camped for three or four weeks in Petit Loango and Monts Doudou National Parks. > > Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire). I visited the Okapi research center in Epulu in the eastern part of the rainforest, where I went out net-hunting with 20 pygmies to catch forest antelope to radio-collar. I figured you might chime in here. Very interesting places your work has taken you. I’ve been to places in Alaska where I am absolutely positive nobody here has been to: Cape Romanzof, Cape Newenham, Tin City, Indian Mountain and a few other places that are restricted to the people who work at the radar sites there, and perhaps the few Native folks who happen to wander in. In other parts of the world, I’ve been to the [Bandiagara Escarpment](https://www.google.com/search?q=bandiagara&sxsrf=ACYBGNQ8oy4H39fRky-ZXxPmzWHzwd8xFw:1567975352286&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjzY6vi8LkAhXVPn0KHSukA7sQ_AUIFCgD&biw=1766&bih=876#imgrc=Z9Pz3ZsdzLfCpM:) in Mali and climbed up to the old cave dwellings there. I’ve been to Victoria Falls, which I suspect some Dopers may have visited, and attempted to go gorilla trekking at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest on the border with Congo. Also went to the park near the Rwenzori Mountains of the Moon, where it was once thought the Nile began. I boated (and capsized) on Lake Victoria, and I visited the site of Carthage in Tunisia. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/26 "2019-09-08T20:55:57Z")
I’ve toured the [Montréal area control centre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Area_Control_Centre) (flight control for the FIR – not an airport tower) in Dorval. We knew a guy who had just retired from there. Oh, and I’ve lifted weights at Gold’s Gym in Venice. _Light_ weights. :o ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/27 "2019-09-08T21:00:57Z")
San Marino. While there certainly may be more who have been, I find little evidence on search. Two people listed it in the 2003 thread [So How Many States/Countries Have YOU Visited?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=196227&highlight=%22san+marino%22), also started by Chefguy. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/28 "2019-09-08T21:02:06Z")
[Srebrenik Fortress](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Srebrenik+Fortress/@44.703591,18.531354,509m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x6ca63b32603b90a8!8m2!3d44.7033769!4d18.5311635?hl=en-US) in Bosnia and Herzogovina. Its Bosnia’s best preserved medieval fortification. [Middle Bass Island](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Middle+Bass+Island/@41.6841514,-82.8205422,4277m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x883a5617646a9003:0xa42e9892cf78ca64!8m2!3d41.6823388!4d-82.8075032?hl=en-US) in Lake Erie. It’s to the north of the more commonly visited South Bass and its draw of Put In Bay. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/29 "2019-09-08T21:08:19Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Cool place! I’ve been to Page, but missed out on that particular view. We did the guided tour of Upper [Antelope Canyon](https://www.google.com/search?q=antelope+canyon+az&sxsrf=ACYBGNRZc9_zthKvph9oJUy-orCBtaUHZQ:1567970803116&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjblPO1-sHkAhWEFzQIHZ7rBvMQ_AUIEigB&biw=1766&bih=876) while there. Wow! Next time I’m out that way, that’s a must visit. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/30 "2019-09-08T21:13:17Z")
I swam into the ice caves of Pictured Rock National Lakeshore with my daughter. Not kayaked or canoed, or jetskied, but swam to them, thanks to unusually warm water and ambition. We took off from the nearby beach and hugged the cliff until we got there and had an amazing time. I know we’re not the only ones who swam there but there’s probably not many of us. > **[Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (U.S. National Park Service)](https://www.nps.gov/piro/index.htm)** > > Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore homepage ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/31 "2019-09-08T21:24:56Z")
I skied Mt. Chacaltaya, the World’s Highest Permanently Established Ski Area (or was. Glacier has melted and no more skiing). > **[The World’s Highest Elevation Ski Resort = Chacaltaya, Bolivia @ 17,785-Feet...](https://snowbrains.com/the-worlds-highest-ski-resort-chacaltaya-boliva-17785-feet-photo-tour/#comment-1787218)** > > Chacaltaya ski resort was originally created to allow good winter snow skiing from November to March every year. The lift was only open on weekends due to the extreme cold of the area. Just under 18000 feet in altitude. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/32 "2019-09-08T21:33:10Z")
My parent’s home towns are so small I’d be practically naming myself if I posted them. If any of y’all had been there, I would know about it. 😉 How about the peak of Mt. Washington, NH? I went via the cog railway, but my Dad and Uncle climbed it. Lorton Federal Penitentiary? My church group used to sing there at Christmas time. Now it’s an artist’s collective. There used to be this really cool medical museum out behind Walter Reed Army Hospital. It had the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln, and the instruments used to try and remove it from his skull. Cheat River Canyon, WV - many people have been rafting in the flat water of the upper Cheat, but not too many have run the Canyon.There are two IV+ holes called the Recyclotron and the Particle Accelerator, one right on top of the other. A great ride but it’s best while the water is still freezing cold in early April. I accidentally-on-purpose skied down the banks of a creek between two runs at Arapahoe Basin, CO. I’m betting there were spots there that no other foot (or ski) had ever fallen. Quite a few lesser caves in the vicinity of Luray, Virginia, which may or may not have been on private land we shouldn’t have been crossing. . . Jeez, when did I become such a couch potato? ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/33 "2019-09-08T21:54:12Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Has anyone dug for diamonds at the diamond mine in Murfreesboro,Ark? > … Looked for diamonds several times but never found one. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/34 "2019-09-08T21:56:58Z")
Has anyone ever been to St. Jacob’s Well, a sinkhole in Clark County, Kansas? ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/35 "2019-09-08T22:09:57Z")
I performed at the Music Center in LA. I have visited the [4-corners monument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners_Monument), where a person could (and did) run around the center and visit 4 US states in a matter of seconds. I camped at [Devils Tower in Wyoming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Tower). The night sky was amazing, and the formation juts upward in the middle of a flat. At night, the views are magical. I worked “crowd control” at Universal Studios Hollywood as my summer job in high school and college. I saw quite a lot (heh) of the backlots and of filming. I met quite a few celebrities, and ended up dating a stuntman for awhile. I volunteered in a Junior Zookeeper program while in High School. It was amazing. The Zoo spent a lot of time teaching us about exotic animals, and we got to work with keepers on their string. Candidly, that usually meant we got the shit work (literally). I’ve scooped a lot of dung. I also got to do some really amazing things: I bottle fed pronghorns, I worked with injured owls, I learned how to handle non-venomous snakes, and I took the mini-horses from the petting zoo on jogs around the outer road of the zoo. There was a lion incident, but that’s a different story. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/36 "2019-09-08T22:10:00Z")
I’ve been in the apartment building that John Dillinger lived in after he escaped from prison. > **[That time John Dillinger shot his way out of a St. Paul apartment building](https://www.twincities.com/2016/03/31/that-time-john-dillinger-shot-his-way-out-of-a-st-paul-apartment-building/)** > > As a Ramsey County jury downplayed St. Paul’s crime problem in March 1934, John Dillinger was shooting his way out of a Lexington Avenue apartment complex. My daughter has an apartment there. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/37 "2019-09-08T22:16:23Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I worked for a company that had a contract to do some electrical upgrades at Site R, the [Raven Rock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_Rock_Mountain_Complex) nuclear bunker in Pennsylvania. Got to walk around in the tunnels and visit the gift shop. Yes, they have a gift shop in a nuclear bunker. No gift shop in the SAC underground; just a lot of guards with guns. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/38 "2019-09-08T22:20:11Z")
> [@Ynnad](#): > > Looked for diamonds several times but never found one. Friend of mine found apprx1/4 carat brown diamond. Now known as Chocolate diamonds. Not very valuable. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/39 "2019-09-08T22:38:25Z")
I’ve been inside a MMIII missile silo. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879/40 "2019-09-08T22:44:53Z")
Shoalwater in Queensland, Australia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-youve-been/839879.md?page=3)