The Nike Missile Site in the Marin Headlands, just North of San Francisco, is the sole preserved site from a giant 1950s era US national anti-aircraft defense system. This site was one of six defending San Francisco, using nuclear tipped anti-aircraft missiles so they could reliably take down incoming Soviet nuclear bombers. Gulp. On the […]
Browsing Posts tagged USA
California: Nike Missile Site
September 30, 2018
Hawaii: Lava 2018
July 25, 2018
Fissure 8, from 3000ftI’m out in Hawaii to see the current lava flows. I started at 4:00am with a bouncy boat ride with Lava Ocean Tours. I had sacrificed a delicious lemon muffin to Poseidon, so the sea was reasonably smooth and we got a good view of where the lava river is hitting the […]
Idaho: The Black Sun
August 21, 2017
I was in Idaho Falls for the 2017 US Total Eclipse. The local authorities had been unsure what to expect: hotels had sold out far in advance and there were fears of a vast insurge of eclipse watchers up Interstate 15 from Salt Lake City. So Starbucks and the local police had all hands on […]
Hawaii: Kilauea Lava Lake
November 3, 2016
For the last few weeks the level of the lava lake at Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has been unusually high, meaning it’s visible from the Jaggar Museum viewpoint, 1.1 miles away. This is as close as the Park Service will let you get. So I seized the moment and visited. Unlike Nyiragongo, Kilauea was merciful and […]
Titan Missile Museum
November 27, 2012
You enter the silo control room and take the command chair. Bob enters the launch codes and takes the deputy commander chair. The green “Ready to Launch” light comes on. “One – Two – Three” and you both simultaneously turn your launch keys. The “Launch Enable” light comes on. The ICBM launch is now irrevocable […]
Stalin in Virginia
August 21, 2010
The US National D-Day Memorial is in the small rural town of Bedford, VA. Overall it’s a fine, elegant and well designed monument, commemorating a key WWII event. But it has recently become noteworthy for a certain small addition… The Memorial include busts of the principal allied commanders and of all the principal allied leaders. […]
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