Saturday, February 23, 2008

#12: d is for Diefenbunker

A friend and I had talked about visiting the Diefenbunker since at least October. We finally set a "play date" for four for today. Mr & Mrs C invited us over for a delicious lunch (homemade lasagna, garlic bread, Caesar salad, and butterscotch pie--Shirley, you had me at lasagna!) before we headed over to Canada's Cold War Museum.

Outside the guardhouse/ticket office with the other Mr & Mrs C
Photo ©James Chychota, 2008


Missiles (deactivated) at entrance to bunker
Photo ©James Chychota, 2008

Jeep at entrance
 Photo ©James Chychota, 2008

Replica of a B-36B bomb lost in BC, Feb 13, 1950
(for details, see "Lost nuclear bomb in British Columbia" heading here and
Clearwater's "broken arrow" expedition diary notes here)
 Photo ©James Chychota, 2008

Standing in the doorway to the vault
 Photo ©James Chychota, 2008

The cafeteria in foreground, kitchen in background

It's a really neat place to tour; I can see us taking future houseguests there. Our tour guide was a young fellow, still in high school, but very well-informed, with a great sense of humor. This will sound quirky, but I think my favorite part (I didn't get a picture of it) was finally seeing a real working dumb waiter. I've read about them--Nancy Drew used to hide from crooks in dumb waiters all the time and eavesdrop on their devious machinations--and imagined them often, but today I saw one with my own eyes. It was a lot smaller than I expected. No doubt slim Nancy would have fit just fine; I suspect Trixie Belden couldn't have squeezed herself into that little box. If it comes down to a contest between Nancy and Trixie, I'm with Trixie every time.
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3 comments:

  1. someoneFebruary 24, 2008 at 11:12 AM

    Nancy vs Trixie! I love it! Harriet the spy also hides in one, just for the record!

    It is always rather sobering to visit war sites of any kind. A breathtaking hike on a ridge in Oahu leads you to two bunkers. You sit on them and imaging the Japanese aircrafts coming in to attack Pearl Harbour and you realize the men in those bunkers were probably half your age.

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  2. LFebruary 24, 2008 at 2:08 PM

    I always preferred Trixie as well, thanks to your large Trixie Beldon collection. I was so fascinated with Honey, that someone would actually name their child Honey - how exotic and beautiful. I knew it wasn't a true story, but still...

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  3. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2008 at 1:20 AM

    Well, this is not Nancy nor Trixie, but Sylvestor the cat (from the WB cartoons) uses a dumb waiter to hide from the hoods who accidentally hide tweetie bird in the dumb waiter.....well, you'll have to see that particular WB cartoon episode when it comes up on Cartoon Retro channel. :) By the way, CurlieQ's meows sound kinda like the Road Runner's "meep meeps". :)

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