Category: Miscellaneous
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Viva Las Vegas Mini-Vacation with Kids
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, May 2006 Our friends decided to get married in Las Vegas, and in all seriousness they had a wonderful traditional ceremony set in a beautiful outdoor area. We found ourselves with some free time though, and we had to figure out how to entertain two small children in a venue that…
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Mall of America
Bloomington, Hennepin County, Minnesota (August 2002) Anyone hunting for Americana in Minnesota absolutely must visit to Mall of America in Bloomington, a suburb of the Minneapolis / St. Paul metropolitan area (map). I will concede that it’s essentially just an overgrown mall, but what says more about America than its shopping mall culture? I’ve probably…
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Bermuda Shorts, Part 7 (Architectural Details)
I thought I would take the discussion in a more lighthearted direction by focusing on a few architectural details I noticed. Examples reflecting local culture, customs and tastes could be found on contemporary buildings all across Bermuda. Pastels Pastels appeared everywhere. Seemingly every building featured those characteristic soft pale hues. Walk down any street and…
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McIlhenny Co.’s Tabasco® Factory
Iberia Parish, Louisiana, USA (March 2007) Tabasco peppers grow commercially in several places including Louisiana, Central America and South America, but the bottling of the famous Tabasco® Sauce traces to only one location: Avery Island, deep in the heart of Louisiana’s Cajun country (map) Making the Sauce This sign welcomes visitors to the McIlhenny Company’s…
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Global Wildlife Center
West of Folsom, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana (April 2010) We’re always looking for fun things to do while visiting family in the New Orleans area. They’d been talking about how wonderful the Global Wildlife Center was, and how much fun the kids had on their visits there (map). We hadn’t visited it before so we stuffed…
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Miscellaneous Bayfield Locations
Apostle Islands & Bayfield Peninsula, Wisconsin (August 2007) Stunningly clear views of the Apostle Islands and the mainland led the way to the Mawikwe Sea Caves. Now on our return trip, passengers jostled railings for viewing space as we sailed away from the northwestern tip of the peninsula towards the Bayfield marina. We completed our…
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Jersey Shore, Part 7 (Leftovers)
The Jersey Shore trip came to an end all too soon. I still had a few things to talk about, though. Some topics didn’t fit neatly into the earlier categories so I lumped them all together in this final article. After that, Twelve Mile Circle will hibernate once more until I find something else to…
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Jersey Shore, Part 4 (Brewery Renaissance)
New Jersey had some peculiarities. People can’t pump their own gasoline, for instance. It’s like the 1960’s, with station attendants and the whole deal. The local roads also had this weird thing where drivers had to exit right to turn left. I don’t mean like on the Interstate highways with formal ramps and overpasses where…
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Portmanteaus, Acronyms and Anagrams
Longtime readers know how much I enjoy a good portmanteau, a word created by mashing together two other words. I’ve featured geographical occurrences several times on Twelve Mile Circle, for example Dueling Portmanteau Placenames. I’ve also traveled intentionally to various portmanteau locations such as the towns of Mardela Springs and Delmar along the Maryland-Delaware border.…