Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Category: Roads

  • Vila Franca do Campo

    São Miguel, The Azores (Açores), Portugal (March 2001) Vila Franca do Campo sits about midway along São Miguel’s southern coast (map). It served as the first capital city of São Miguel until it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1552. Now the capital is located in Ponta Delgada. Vila Franca do Campo has a wonderfully…

  • Ponta Delgada Streets

    São Miguel, The Azores (Açores), Portugal (March 2001) Most of the Azores seemed rather quiet and sparsely populated. Typically we encountered villages set amongst rolling farmland. However, Ponta Delgada on São Miguel’s southwestern coast, came closest to be being a city (map). Its population approached nearly seventy thousand people. So it served as both the…

  • Crossing Rhineland-Palatinate

    Germany (August 1999) Many years ago we got an opportunity to drive from Belgium to Luxembourg to Germany. The Germany portion cut through the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, from the Luxembourg border to the Rhine River. The Marktplatz at Bernkastel-Kues We drove up from Trier along the spectacular Moselweinstraße (Mosel River wine road). The route crossed…

  • Exploring the Mitten, Part 5 (Keeping Stock)

    We stayed put more than usual during this adventure. Nonetheless, I managed grow my various lists in modest ways. The Twelve Mile Circle audience knows what I like so none of this will be a surprise. I thought it might be a nice way to wrap-up the series. Lighthouses I’ve been captivated by lighthouses for…

  • Exploring the Mitten, Part 4 (On the Road)

    We took only one substantial day-trip during the week. It followed a loop focused on Sleeping Bear Dunes designed to captured as many counties along the way as possible. Obviously, I wanted to see more than big piles of sand in return for a 270 mile (435 kilometre) drive. I consulted my article map for…

  • Exploring the Mitten, Part 3 (Gladwin)

    Michigan contained a lot of square-shaped counties within the Mitten. Surveyors laid them down neatly like that for settlers in the mid 19th Century. Gladwin County fit the same basic definition, with rolling farmland eventually replacing much of the forest (map). Not much differentiated it from surrounding counties although it had some nice lakes. We…

  • Exploring the Mitten, Part 1 (Pivot)

    My county counting hadn’t gone so well this year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. I did manage to make that one brief trip to Pennsylvania to complete the state. There I picked up a dozen new counties. Not bad. However, that hardly moved the needle overall. I knew one more opportunity loomed as the summer…

  • Atop Mt. Coot-tha

    Atop the Summit (October 1997) My wife and I rented a car, and drove the short distance from Brisbane to Mt. Coot-tha. An overlook provided excellent views of Brisbane. It also offered a convenient place to grab a cup of coffee. Later we drove out further to Mt. Nebo, then down through the Samford Valley,…

  • Mississippi River Lock & Dam Number 4

    Between Alma, Wisconsin and Kellogg, Minnesota, USA (June 2009) The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) operates a series of twenty seven locks and dams along the Upper Mississippi River between St. Paul, Minnesota and Granite City, Illinois (near St. Louis). Lock and Dam Number 4 is one of the furthest upstream, as signified…

  • As Far as Vancouver

    Bellingham, Washington to Vancouver, British Columbia to Everett, Washington (May 15, 1998) Bellingham offered an easy shot into British Columbia, Canada. It also provided an opportunity to visit one of the strangest geographical anomalies in the United States — Point Roberts! In this vicinity the two countries set their border along the 49th parallel to…