Author: Twelve Mile Circle
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A Precious Tip
The Washington Monument has been in the news quite a lot lately. Experts continue to examine damage resulting from the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on August 23, 2011. The thought of people rappelling down narrow masonry walls for hundreds of feet searching for cracks seems daunting. Just watch this video from the Associated Press:…
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Transcontinental Clip
I like to photograph unusual signs as I travel, either for my personal amusement of for future reference. One such occasion presented itself at the Union Station train museum during my recent visit to Ogden, Utah. It displayed a large map of the original Overland Route, the one known better as the Transcontinental Railroad. It…
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Strip Annexation in Arizona
Loyal reader Scott sent me a message recently related to towns studded with enclaves outside of their jurisdiction. That specific topic sometimes generates discussion on Twelve Mile Circle (e.g., Mmm… Doughnut and the Gaithersburg Doughnut Hole). So he wished to bring an even more interesting situation to my attention. He referenced the concept of Strip…
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12MC in the Real World
What do I mean by Twelve Mile Circle in the Real World? I don’t mean the actual circle itself which would be entirely too logical, rather I mean those rare moments in time when people read an article here and use that as motivation to undertake a physical action. And by physical I don’t mean…
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Icelandic Diaspora
I thought about a trip I made to Washington Island several years ago. That’s the island found off the tip of Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula where most people arrive by ferry. The residents displayed their Icelandic roots with great pride. I wondered at the time and I’ve wondered occasionally since, whether this was true or simply…
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Thelma and Louise Route Map
What would possibly possess the Twelve Mile Circle to examine a 20-year-old chick flick practically frame-by-frame for most of a weekend? Blame it on a skewed sense of curiosity fanned by random search engine queries I’d observed in my web logs. I’d mentioned the movie Thelma and Louise only once on 12MC, and only as…
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132 and Bush
I’ve said it before and it bears repeating: I’m both high-brow and low-brow simultaneously with little in the middle. I admit that I’ve watched more than my share of COPS episodes since it first aired in 1989. It’s one of my guilty pleasures. I can’t be the only one who keeps a laptop close at…
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Mountainous Claims
I noticed a recent record in the website logs that geolocated to Mountain View, California. That’s hardly a unique occurrence. I’ve had plenty of readers from Mountain View in the past. The only difference is that I happened to wonder whether Mountain View actually had a mountain view this time. I don’t know why. That…
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The Dreadful Road Trip
I’m told that one could see the smoke rising from the Pentagon from my home on September 11, 2001, barely two miles away. My coworkers in Crystal City, immediately to the south, felt our office building shake (explaining their added nervousness during the recent earthquake). I wouldn’t know. I was stranded more than 800 miles…
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Jackson Volcano
I’ve been inundated with search engine queries for the last several days about a city with a volcano and lots of brewpubs. They’ve been landing on the guest article that Marc Alifanz wrote about Portland, Oregon, which I think is probably the correct answer to the readers’ question. I’ve tried to find the source. Often…