Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Tag: Beach

  • England, Day 6 (Bournemouth)

    We didn’t go far but it seemed like a world apart, traveling from an isolated corner of Dorset into its most populous area. That led us to Bournemouth (map), a coastal town along the English Channel. There are so many ancient places in the United Kingdom but this is not one of them. It dates…

  • Costa Rica, Part 5 (Relaxing in Tamarindo)

    Rainy season doesn’t mean the same thing across the entirety of Costa Rica. Nor does it start suddenly or retain consistent intensity. So our drive to Guanacaste Province’s drier Pacific coast during the earlier part of the season promised plenty of sunshine. That was our plan anyway, and it actually worked. We could take a…

  • Asia-Pacific, Part 2 (Oahu: Beyond Waikiki)

    I didn’t spend all of my limited time strictly within the confines of Waikiki Beach and downtown Honolulu. Whether work-related or during precious spare time I did explore more of southeastern Oahu than I had on my previous trip. Unfortunately I couldn’t linger much and truly take the time to appreciate it. Even so, I…

  • Bogue Banks Bound, Part 1 (Paths)

    Well, that didn’t last long. I felt pretty comfortable even a couple of months ago. It seemed like we’d finally reached the end of the pandemic and we even traveled to Canada. Then the Omicron variant reared its ugly head. I keep hoping, keep expecting, that I won’t have to mention COVID-19 ever again on…

  • Carolina Wetlands, Part 3 (The Great Outdoors)

    I bypassed all sorts of interesting and historical places because I wanted to avoid indoor spaces during the pandemic. So I searched for outdoor attractions to keep us busy. Typically we do a lot of this on our trips anyway, but we really took it over the top this time. A whole lot of walking,…

  • Carolina Wetlands, Part 2 (All About the Water)

    Water, water everywhere! Well what else would anyone expect? After all, the whole area was basically a swamp. They even called one big chunk of South Carolina the Lowcountry for its very specific lack of elevation and percolating water table. Liquid gurgled, flowed, pooled or crashed just about everywhere I stepped during the week. So…

  • Grand Case

    Island of Saint-Martin / Sint Maarten (March 2011) We used the town of Grand Case on the French side of the island as our base while exploring St. Martin. We selected Grand Case for reasons that appealed to us. We’re not much into crowds, resorts, casinos or all-night festivities which tended to rule-out the Dutch…

  • 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…

  • Big Bay on Madeline Island

    Ashland County, Wisconsin, USA (August 2007) With the exception of the immediate boundaries of La Pointe, the most popular spots on Madeline Island were the adjacent state and town park along Big Bay’s sandy hook. “Popular” was a relative term however. We never felt crowded anywhere on the island. We found Big Bay State Park…

  • Antelope Island State Park

    Davis County, Utah, USA (July 2011) Look at a map of the Great Salt Lake. It’s nearly cleaved through its eastern third by a mountain range, some of which is submerged below the waters. The northern section is a peninsula, the Promontory Point. The southern section is an island, Antelope Island, although it sometimes joins…