“As you walk around, keep your eyes open for blue-green pebbles underfoot: this rock is known as Trinitite. Trinitite was formed when the heat pulse from the explosion fused the desert sand into glass. Trinitite is found nowhere else on earth. You are not allowed to take trinitite from the site, and even if you could you wouldn't want to: it is still 'mildly radioactive.' There is a small glassed box a short distance from ground zero inside the inner fenced area. This box encloses a small area of earth that was preserved in its post-test condition. In this box you will see a good amount of Trinitite. The rest of the area you have been walking on has been plowed over and under in an attempt to clean up radioactivity.”
Destination: West Virginia. West Virginia, it can be argued, already has enough problems, particularly with its existing gene pool, but one of them never was fear of nuclear attack by the Communists. Or was it? If you’ve ever lost sleep wondering how President Dwight Eisenhower, who was at his watch when the Cold War got super chilly, could have survived an attack by the Russians, then a trip to this particular now-revealed secret bunker will let you sleep well forever more. This sucker is 800 feet below a fancy resort, features 112,544-square feet of wall-to-wall paranoia, and a trip here is instructive. There are decontamination chambers, living quarters, filtration systems and just about everything you needed to make a president and his staff safe and comfy while the world topside glowed merrily. http://www.atomictourist.com/green.htm
Destination: Scotland, UK. Let’s catch a plane and go overseas, then, for a taste of doomsday, foreign style. The Secret Bunker, a.k.a. Underground Nuclear Command Centre, is in Fife, and not all that far from the famous Saint Andrews golf links. Up until 1993, this place really was top secret, a very sobering component of Britain’s defense against the undefendable. 24,00-square feet under 100 feet of solid rock and earth, this bunker has been lovingly restored and converted into a museum. There’s an RAF command center, a complex filtration system to protect the bunker’s 300 inhabitants against radiation, biological and chemical contaminants, offices and living spaces, 3-ton blast doors, and of course, a café and gift shop. That is a post-Cold War reality that you simply can’t escape at some of these tourist traps. Go to the site at http://www.secretbunker.co.uk and have fun.
