Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • Point Roberts – Stranded by an International Border

    Point Roberts, Washington cannot be reached by land from the rest of the United States. One must drive first into Canada, curve around Boundary Bay, and then cross the border again to re-enter the United States at this remote corner. The establishment of a border between the United States and Canada along the 49th parallel…

  • Island on an Island

    Sometimes an island has a pond or lake that also happens to contain an island. Twelve Mile Circle likes to call that second, subsidiary island an “island-on-an-island.” Beaver Island, Michigan Beaver Island is the largest on Lake Michigan. It contains several lowlands, marshy areas, and ponds which makes it a perfect candidate for islands-on-an-island. We…

  • Pardon the Dust

    You’ll notice some unusual activity on the Twelve Mile Circle over the next several days. I will be transferring some of my “old” geography pages into blog format to make it easier for me to manage content and so viewers won’t have to ping back-and-forth between sites. Twelve Mile Circle grew up from a series…

  • Gambling Banned in Nevada!… (in tiny pockets)

    Think of Nevada and the cacophony of Las Vegas springs to mind as a reflex.[1] It’s a familiar refrain that repeats across hundreds of desert towns large and small. Envision a symbiotic intertwining of a state economy and a robust gaming industry. Entire towns have even blossomed simply to entice the residents of stricter states…

  • Union Jack over the USA

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland proudly flies the Union Flag, often called the Union Jack. It retains an official or semi-official designation throughout the Commonwealth Realm. Oddly, it also flies over a tiny corner of the United States with the explicit approval of the American government. I’m not talking about Hawaii…

  • Silly Little Highway

    Mrs. Howder’s Mothers Day gift — at her request — was to have me and the kids leave the house for a few hours. I had to find the right enticement for short attention spans so I offered to take the kids on a tour of the “World’s Shortest Highway.” as a part of our…

  • Mac and Cheese

    I’ve gone Mac! Actually it happened a few weeks ago but it took me a little while to feel proficient. Even so, I don’t want to turn this into a Mac versus PC discussion. People make choices based on personal preferences and that’s fine. Instead, I’ll focus on a couple of different mapping features I’ve…

  • Hydrological Apex of North America

    Twelve Mile Circle has discussed watersheds and continental divides before. We’ve crossed the Great Divide in Colorado together. We’ve visited the Red River of the North in Fargo, North Dakota that drains to the Arctic Ocean. And we’ve even mentioned a small corner of Canada that drains into the Gulf of Mexico. So divides are…

  • Lowest Elevation in Nepal

    This is Mount Everest (map), a topic way to obvious for the Twelve Mile Circle to consider. What could I add? Everyone knows about it, every map of the area shows it, and resources galore focus on its magnificence. Its national attitudinal opposite, however — the lowest elevation in Nepal — is a different story…

  • From Britain to Iceland by Automobile

    Certainly one of the more pressing questions of our time is whether someone can use an automobile to travel between Britain and Iceland. By “pressing” I mean of importance to me naturally, because the questions that press upon my mind are rather simplistic. Maybe you are feeling a little curious too. Can someone drive from…

Latest Comments

  2. Hi Mr. Howder — Just going from memory, I recall that your “rule” for counting a nation/state/county is “if I’m…

  5. Does anyone have actual music to the song – Tanaha ,Timpson. Bobo and Blair ?? It was recorded by Tex…