Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Category: Elevation

  • Islands Below Sea Level

    Are there any islands below sea level? The question seemed absurd on its surface when I noticed it lodged in my web logs in the form of a search engine query. However I’ve learned to not be so dismissive. I’ve uncovered increasingly obscure artifacts and encountered surprisingly unusual situations in the years I’ve written Twelve…

  • Kenai Adventure, Part 3 – Wildlife

    Most people probably drive down to Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula for the scenery and the wildlife, and that’s also true for me. Sure, I enjoyed poking around some of the more unusual aspects of Kenai geography but that doesn’t mean I haven’t taken advantage of opportunities to marvel at the natural beauty that attracts every other…

  • Kenai Adventure, Part 1

    I resolved my Internet dilemma. A park set aside for recreational vehicles sits just downhill from us although out of our line of site. Apparently there’s a company that specializes in providing Internet access to RV parks, allowing visitors to rent by the day, week or month. I’m close enough to tap into that so…

  • Four Runways – Four Miles

    I arrived in Alaska yesterday, in Anchorage specifically. I’d posted an appeal for Alaskan geo-oddities before I left and I’ve received a number of awesome recommendations from the generous readers of Twelve Mile Circle. First up was reader “Steve” who sent me an idea by email: “in Anchorage, there is a spot within four miles…

  • Because I Can

    I’m sure the novelty will wear-off before too long, but this is the first time I’ve ever flown on a WiFi-enabled airline flight. We’re presently in the vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio, at 38,000 feet on the first leg of our journey to Anchorage, Alaska. This is me and one of my little geo-oddity aficionados saying…

  • The Oddity That Got Away

    I’ve returned from Denver, Colorado. Well of course I found some time to record a couple of oddities. That’s what I do. Specifically I visited the Denver International Airport and one of the Arapahoe Exclaves. However, I didn’t exhaust the wish list I brought along with me. Maybe I should have expected that because I…

  • My First Helicopter Ride

    I’d never been in a helicopter until yesterday. It was one of those minor life accomplishments that had been gnawing at me for the longest time. I’d had plenty of opportunities to take care of this before. Somehow the timing wasn’t right or it was too expensive or I was tired or I wanted to…

  • A Single Point on the Border

    I encountered a number of interesting situations as I pulled together my recent series of borderlocking articles. One of those revelations pertained to Jeff Davis County(1) in the State of Texas. Examine its layout closely. Clearly it borders on Mexico. However that happens only at a single point along the Rio Grande River at its…

  • Bordersplit

    I have to keep coming up with new words to describe my various geo-oddity fascinations. Today I coined “bordersplit.” It refers to an object cleaved by a boundary line. The way I figure it, if we can use landlocked legitimately then bordersplit should be treated the same way even if it doesn’t exist in a…

  • Revisiting Previous Articles with Street View – UK

    I’m still having a great time with the recent major release of Google Street View images for the United Kingdom. It’s like somebody opened a new playground with so many different places for me to travel vicariously. It also offered an opportunity to go back to some of my earlier articles and see if I…