Tag: British Columbia

  • 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…

  • Pacific Northwest Breweriana

    Breweriana collected in the Pacific Northwest (May 8-17, 1998) Anyone who knows me understands that I like fine tasting beers. Thus, we compiled a large collection of breweriana on our trip to the Pacific Northwest. The photograph above shows the full set of glasses, growlers, coasters, and stickers. The collection made it home without too…

  • The Border Peaks

    It’s not unusual to see an international border extend across or along a mountain range. Even Mt. Everest sits on the border between Nepal and China. Also, a border will need to be adjusted sometimes when the underlying physical characteristics of a mountain changes too. That issue confronted Italy and Switzerland several years ago as…

  • Rolla

    Editor’s Note… Well folks, after 1,373 articles, it finally happened. I repeated a topic. I’d forgotten that I posted a similar article back in 2014. This should make for an interesting compare and contrast, though. I did include a couple of extra Rolla locations this time. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner, actually. Once again…

  • Ladysmith

    A few weeks ago I wrote about Triangle, a name on a road sign that I pondered as I sat stuck in traffic on a drive back from Richmond, Virginia. I also noticed another exit on that fateful trip as I slogged through miles of gridlock. The sign said Ladysmith and my mind began to…

  • Columbus Name Symmetry, Part 2

    It doesn’t take much to please Twelve Mile Circle and I’d been particularly fascinated by the first name / surname symmetry of Cristóbal, Colón, Panamá. Never one to stop beating that dead horse I considered that Christopher Columbus had lots of other places named for him that remained unexplored. Certainly there must be plenty of…

  • End of the Line

    Many longtime Twelve Mile Circle readers probably already guessed that this article that would come next. Immediately after a story about the beginning of the alphabet, naturally one would expect to find one about the end. It became an equally difficult task too, except for the most notable location. Take a moment to ponder this…

  • Earl Grey

    The 12MC audience anticipated my next move again. It was “The Basement Geographer” this time. He flagged British prime minister Earl Grey and the Grey Cup in a comment responding to Gray vs. Grey. So I will cover that along with other topics today. I knew that could be a risk when I mentioned the…

  • Did Sir Walter Raleigh Get Drunk in Canada?

    I learned a new adage recently, Betteridge’s Law of Headlines: “Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no“. I’d already understood that mentally of course I just didn’t realize it had a name. Good to know. Naturally, Sir Walter Raleigh never indulged in intoxicants in Canada. The record…

  • Pre-Nazi Swastika Architectural Details

    I traveled into the Twelve Mile Circle — the Delaware geo-oddity that inspired the name for this site — while visiting with some dear friends last weekend. In Wilmington, at Rodney Square specifically, I happened to glance up. There I noticed the wonderful Egyptian Revival architectural details on the Wilmington Public Library. My earlier Egyptian…