Tag: Washington
-
The Returns Are In. Maybe.
I’ve been meaning to fill you in on the results of a referendum I mentioned a few weeks ago. Approval would have moved the Benton Co., Washington county seat to from Prosser to Kennewick. The vote happened more than a week ago. Only now do I feel there’s enough certainty to announce a probable result.…
-
Will the County Seat Move?
In the United States counties are the primary administrative subdivisions of states and the county seats are towns that serve as the local center of government. There are plenty of notable variations and deviations from that model but as a general rule, states have counties with formally designated county seats. Government officials usually established county…
-
Ultralineamentum
I follow the usual geography blogs each day like many of you probably do too. They all seem to have distinct personalities even if they cover the same subjects already blossoming in the popular media. I wouldn’t trade those blogs for anything. They’re informative and insightful, and I enjoy them. However, I wouldn’t try to…
-
A Town’s Odd Streets and Enclaves
Geo-oddities exist everywhere. You just have to look for them. I came across an interesting situation in Bothell, Washington, fascinating in its own right but leading to a confluence of events even more unusual. So the situation begins with the city’s placement directly atop a boundary line separating King County from Snohomish County. That’s hardly…
-
Odd Reality
My web access logs started sizzling with viewers on my Point Roberts – Stranded by an International Border page. People seem to love this entry so it doesn’t surprise me to register at least a few hits each day. However it mushroomed to Crazy Level recently, and all with unique IP addresses. I can’t find…
-
Just How Wide is Hudson Bay, Really?
Everything about Canada is larger than life. It’s difficult to wrap one’s mind around its incredible breadth and scale. I came across a tantalizing fact that I thought might help conceptualize its vastness. Actually it’s a clever little illusion, some geography-slight-of-hand. In fact I think it’s more enjoyable as a mind-bender than as a trivia…
-
Mountaineering by Subway
Let’s climb to the summit of a significant highpoint. This video approaches and then transitions to a panoramic view from the summit of the highest point of elevation in the District of Columbia. But that’s getting a little ahead of the story. Let me explain how I found myself here recently. Here is “Point Reno”…
-
Slug Lines
Geography can influence social behavior and that’s the case with slug lines. This article has nothing to do with gastropods. Rather it’s a commuting method originating organically without any type of government involvement or sanction in the Washington, DC area. Since then it has also spread to other cities. It’s an efficient arrangement that matches…
-
GPS and Genealogy – Arlington National Cemetery
People’s willingness to share is one of the wonderful aspects of genealogy. A reader contacted me recently to provide further information about a common tangential ancestor — one not directly related to either of us but who had married into the larger family of Howder descendants — and for whom I’d had only the sketchiest…
-
GeoBee Challenge
Cape Trafalgar is to Spain as Cape Comorin is to WHAT? (India) I think most people are probably familiar with the concept of a Spelling Bee. Of course it’s possible to extend the same format to geography. Appropriately enough, the National Geographic Society has done just that and not surprisingly they’ve called it the National…