A lot of the locations mentioned have been military, so I’ll offer one of those as well. I’ve been to the former RAF Denge, site of the UK’s largest experimental sound mirror complex.
Built between the wars, the mirrors were early warning devices for the detection of incoming aircraft by sound. Access to the site is limited to a couple of days a year now; when I went, twenty-odd years ago, it was a little easier but still damn difficult. We had a guided tour led by Richard Scarth, author of a couple of books on them.
In the years before the second world war, funding was allocated for an immense system of mirrors along the south and east coasts of England, and then … radar was invented and the funding redirected. But the reporting infrastructure used by the radar system was actually designed for use with the sound mirrors.
When I was a locksmith the shop I worked for had a lot of federal contracts, mostly DoD.
I visited quite a lot of federal and military sites in the DC area, but the most notable one was the time I was sent to a nondescript building in Arlington, Virginia that is conspicuously guarded by heavily armed men. My tools and myself were thoroughly inspected before I was even allowed inside the lobby, and inspected again once I was inside. After verifying my identity over the phone with my shop, four armed men who would not talk to me escorted me onto an elevator that had no buttons and I couldn’t tell whether we were going up or down. When we exited the elevator I was led down a windowless hallway to a windowless room that was completely empty save for the drawer safe I was there to change out the lock on. They locked me inside the room while I did my work, which was carefully observed, and the whole procedure was reversed on the way out, including the multiple personal inspections. I suspect I was at a Defense Intelligence Agency site, but I still don’t really know.
And have, if you’ve bothered to read the rest of the thread. I’d also venture to say that when I visited those cities in the 80s, millions of westerners were definitely not making those cities their destinations. Lastly, and as I stated in the first post, the thread is to offer up places you have been to that other Dopers (not the millions you refer to) have likely not visited.
Anyway, I’ll offer up Palouse Falls, WA, which is a place that many have visited, but it’s just enough off any beaten path that most of those on this board may not have been there or even heard of it. It’s another of those natural wonders, a product of the Glacial Lake Missoula floods that shaped much of the Pacific Northwest.
That’s one part of one of my favorite areas, the ‘Channeled Scablands’ of E WA state. Also Sun Lake - Dry Falls and its decent (but could be better6 Visitors Center. I also like the glacial erratics such as Yeager Rock (web pics here), which is easy to get to (gMap link). Also Omak balancing rock (web pics.
I’ve been in the official Space Shuttle simulators and I landed the shuttle — very roughly. My brother worked there in Johnson City and got us in to play around on it. Then he, a former F-16 jockey and USAFA grad, proved that it is possible to do a loop-the-loop and a barrel roll before landing the shuttle.
That same brother got me into the F-16 sims at Luke AFB. The ‘Las Vegas at Night’ sim scenario was cool, especially buzzing the Strip with all its lights brightly lit.
Probably the place least likely for another doper to have been to is the art installation “Taking a Wall for a Walk” by Andy Goldsworthy, that is located in Grizedale Forest in the Lake District in England. Point number 28 on this map
Folks in this thread have been to some amazing places, but I’m guessing nobody else has been in the sex offender wing of the Kansas State Penitentiary – during a lockdown no less!
It is not far off the exit and it really is worth the time; more so if Bill is there. The cycle shop is near the road and the museum behind it up a hill. Just look for the dinosaurs or jousting knights (depending on Bill’s mood) and turn left.
True. But I’ve been in the same area in 3 different WI prisons during lockdowns. There, we call them the Special Management Units, and the inmates there are SMUs.
No, but I interviewed a candidate that I then, during the interview, referred to another dept since he’d be a better fit. They hired him. Then he went on an int’l business trip. On his return, while clearing customs, he was arrested.
Child pornography on his laptop, and he was a frequent offender and he finally got caught. Is he still in jail? I just checked. His arrest was in 2008 and he got 10 years, so he’s probably out now.
What’s the interesting and unique place that I’ve been to that no other Doper likely has been to? That interview room, back around 2007 / 2008. I’m not aware if any coworkers are fellow Dopers here.
In the early 2000s, we drove our RV to Inuvik, NWT via the Dempster Highway. Inuvik is located on the McKenzie River delta, about 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. I believe it’s the farthest north that one can drive in Canada.
A couple of years prior to that, we drove the Dalton Highway to Deadhorse, AK on the North Slope of Alaska, which is even farther north than Inuvik. Prudoe Bay is, of course, the oil camp for the oil deposits, and the start of the trans-Alaska pipeline.
In both cases, we drove the roads because they were there and because it was an adventure. The scenery is incomparable.
Unfortunately (for me anyway, but not necessarily for the locals), the ice road between Inuvik and Tuk (or, Tuktoyaktuk) has been replaced by a real road about 100 miles long. I would have wanted to drive that ice road. I’ll have to find another, I guess.
And as you know, Chefguy, I too plan to drive the Dalton up to Deadhorse. I want to visit the Arctic Ocean. (Hey, maybe I want to be Chefguy! :D)
