The Great Western Journey part 14--Home of the Brave

Jim and I had scheduled a tour of the Delta Air Wing Launch Site. This rather nondescript house was full of eye-opening information. It's been decommissioned but they left everything just as it was on their last day. We arrived early after finishing at the visitor center so we sat in our car. It was a very hot day (104F) and we would periodically run the car to get some air conditioning. The ranger came out to us to say that we could come through the gate and into the house, but as he had to remain with us at all times, anytime another tour member arrived we all had to walk back outside with him (and stand in the shade on the side of the house). Once the tour started we heard about daily life for those charged with pressing a button to begin a nuclear war (as well as the support people who kept them ready for their job). Note the lock on the refrigerator. Not only is there no late-night snacking but it keeps someone from tampering with the food supply. And that "smoker" is not for a barbecue. It's to burn classified documents!

This layout is based on a sketch I saved from Even More Scrapbooking (she had posted it on Splitcoast Stampers and her own blog). I like her sketches because she includes dimensions. The base pages as you may have noticed are plain black CM pages. Since I was using the patriotic theme I didn't need other base pages to cover it and the black against the red, white, and blue is striking. The paper is from a Bedazzled set that was free with purchase a little while ago. The white star paper is cut to 11x10. That means that I have a 2x10 border left over. I simply turned that over to the blue side to use as the borders! The red stripe was scrap paper from the same kit. For the circle elements, I chose round stickers from my stash.

Continuing through the living spaces we got to see the bedrooms and lounge areas. I'm still marveling that they left the battleship game in progress. Then we made our way down to the work zone where 2 airmen held the keys to launch the missiles. The middle photo on the right is the door to the bunker. Apparently, each unit had its own distinctive door art. The ranger is showing a photo of the bunker which is essentially a sealed chamber--also to prevent tampering.

The right page may look familiar as I posted it just after I completed it in November 2022. Refer to this post for details on the paper. The left page is based on a sketch from the CM Virtual Crop in September that I saved. The paper is from the same kit as the right-side page.

The time spent in the launch room was limited but we saw so much! The cable Jim is holding is the same one we saw in the morning but now we could see it close-up. Those layers of wrap were to protect it from being easily damaged. Saddens me a little to know that someone did NOT catch the misspelling of Emergency!

This layout is based on a sketch from my last class with Noreen Smith (December 2022). The sketch is for a single page but I doubled it and turned the right page 90 degrees to the right. That creates a visual symmetry that helps you look at all the photos without realizing it! This is some VERY old patriotic paper and when you have such bold patterns it is a good idea to use them sparingly. Those 9x11 strips mat the photos and create interest on the page at the same time.

The Great Western Journey part 13--Wait a Minute!

We stayed in the general vicinity Sunday morning because there was a planned group ranger talk at Minuteman Missile NHS. The talk was at the site of the missile silo and I was amazed that you can look directly down the tube into where the missile is still housed. According to the ranger, the clear dome is to prove to the spy satellites that this is decommissioned and incapable of being launched! It was hot, even early in the morning but so worth the trip out to the site!

This layout is based on a November class I took (sorry can't show the sketch). I wish I could show the sketch as the original layout had more vertical photos on the right. But in practice, the squares created a middle section that was very flexible on photo placement. Those squares also provide a great base for sticker clusters to decorate the page. The green colors really had to do with what paper I had with me as I put this together while at a crop away from home!

At the end of the talk we all posed for a group photo. I think the ranger took it for us!

For this page,  I wanted to highlight that big photo of our group. I chose this pinned layout as a base. Now that pin has a lot of circles across the bottom but the idea is that you want to frame the bottom and have some banners on the top. When looking for a theme for the pages I decided that I would move toward a patriotic theme and all of my following pages for this park follow that idea. The large photo allowed me to use up 2 scraps of paper--one at the top and one at the bottom--to frame the photo. I did create a small border along the bottom but the paper with the star print helps create the "cluster" in the original page idea.

After the ranger talk, we went to Wall Drug for brunch and then to the visitor center. The building is fairly new so the "rusty" look of the main entrance is intentional. The most eye-opening display was the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world as demonstrated by the blue and orange towers (right page below). Many of the club members were there as well and I caught Jennifer's Junior Ranger swearing-in ceremony.

This layout was based on a class that I took and I cannot show the sketch. The main thrust was the pair of borders--one horizontal on the left and a vertical one on the right. I kept with the patriotic theme and was able to use up a paper pack that was pretty old. The border punch on red cardstock pulled the 2 pages together.

Bonus post--Lasting Memories Challenge 626

 Hi all! I thought I would do something different today. I'm working on an album and the challenge from Lasting Memories worked out perfectly for the photos. So hot off the presses is this page from the Minuteman Missle National Historic Site. You'll see more about this visit when I post the rest of the trip (Starting December 16th). Until then, enjoy this page of the first photos of the bunker where servicemen sat waiting to launch nuclear missiles.

This page features multiple Creative Memories packs as well as a few other scraps. The base page is from the Stars and Spirit designer pack from this summer. It's still available as well as the stickers (a few of which are in the circle clusters). The title was made from the Paper House Let Freedom Ring sticker page.