Category: Terrain
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Horta Waterfront
Faial, The Azores (Açores), Portugal (March 2001) Wealthy transatlantic yachters adopted Horta as a convenient stopping point between Europe and North America in recent decades (map). Their graceful sailboats line the town’s marina. While there, their crews also leave colorful graffiti on the harbor barriers to commemorate their oceanic voyages. The mosaic of color on…
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Icelandic Adventures
Iceland (September 1999) For a country as small as Iceland, the capital city of Reykjavík and its suburbs felt much larger than one would expect. Hallgrímskirkja, a tall church sitting atop a hill, dominated the otherwise low-slung skyline. Corrugated iron protected historic homes near the harbor from cold rain and steady wind. Tjörnin (literally “the…
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Belgium (September 1998)
Grand’ Place, Brussels The Grand’ Place serves as the center of Brussels (map). Museums, Guild Houses and restaurants line the sides of the city square. These beautiful old buildings, decorated with elaborate stonework and gold leaf provide a spectacular visual setting. Guild Houses served as the headquarters and meeting places for various groups of craftsmen…
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Butte du Lion (“Lion’s Mound”)
Waterloo Battlefield, Braine-l’Alleud, Walloon Brabant, Belgium (1993, 1998) A great battle raged on June 18, 1815 just south of Brussels, Belgium near Braine-l’Alleud and Waterloo (map). The Duke of Wellington commanding allied troops from several nations defeated Napoleon Bonaparte and his fearsome army after a punishing eight-hour conflict. Historians recognize this as one of the…
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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…
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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…
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Exploring the Mitten, Part 2 (Two Great Lakes)
The upper tier of the mitten sits between two of the Great Lakes: Huron and Michigan. That means the farthest someone needs to travel to hit an immense body of water is maybe 75 miles (120 kilometres). Generally, unless situated directly atop the midpoint, a given location will sit even closer than that to at…
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Australia’s Blue Mountains
The “Three Sisters” Rock Formation (October 1997) The Great Western Highway left Sydney and headed up through the Blue Mountains. Echo Point laid perhaps an hour and a half from Sydney near the town of Katoomba. This offered excellent views of the Blue Mountains and the “Three Sisters” rock formation (map). Every tourist who travels…
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Jenolan Caves
Australia’s Blue Mountains (October 1997) We pushed further into the Blue Mountains to the Jenolan Caves complex (map). The park offered several cavern options and we chose an “adventure” tour. I was a little skeptical. I figured it couldn’t really be all that adventurous. Boy, was I wrong. We both considered this activity one of…
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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,…