Category: Roads
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Anomalies In and Around Washington, DC
Geo-oddities exist everywhere. I thought I would focus some love and attention on a few of them near where I live. Likely you can find unusual features where you live too. Let’s take a closer look at some of them. Obsolete Boundary Stones The District of Columbia once covered an exact ten miles square. In…
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Silly Little Highway
Mrs. Howder’s Mothers Day gift — at her request — was to have me and the kids leave the house for a few hours. I had to find the right enticement for short attention spans so I offered to take the kids on a tour of the “World’s Shortest Highway.” as a part of our…
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From Britain to Iceland by Automobile
Certainly one of the more pressing questions of our time is whether someone can use an automobile to travel between Britain and Iceland. By “pressing” I mean of importance to me naturally, because the questions that press upon my mind are rather simplistic. Maybe you are feeling a little curious too. Can someone drive from…
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Geography as Pitcher Plant
A pitcher plant feeds carnivorously on unsuspecting insects. Bugs crawl, fly or fall into the plant. They cannot escape. Soon victims drown and slowly dissolve into a soup absorbed by the plant for nutrition. The Situation I read a great article in the Washington Post over the weekend that is still available online: “Drunk Drivers…
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Canadian Border Anomalies
I’ve discussed border anomalies between the United States and Canada before. Previously I focused on little areas of the U.S. separated from the rest of the country such as Point Roberts, the Northwest Angle and Alburg, Vermont. Here I give equal time to the Canadians. I’ll outline a couple of instances where citizens of that…
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Delaware Trifecta
The Howder Clan found itself in northern Delaware this weekend. Indeed we traveled within the actual Twelve Mile Circle itself which inspired the name of this site. Of course I carved out some time for a few geo-oddities in this very rich concentration of such spots. Some of them I’ve discussed before and others I’ll…
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Wallace Redux
I’ve never been to Wallace, Idaho but I simply couldn’t get that place out of my head in spite of the controversy[1] surrounding its Center of the Universe claim. Seemingly, there is an odd story for each of its 960 residents. This one involves a stoplight. It all comes down to geography and in this…
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Charlottesville Beer Trail
EDITOR’S UPDATE: THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN IN 2009. THE LOCAL BEER SCENE HAS GROWN AND CHANGED CONSIDERABLY SINCE THAT TIME. Email traffic began to pick up late last summer on the DC-Beer Listserv. Another brewpub was about to open in the rolling hills west of Charlottesville. Of course, Breweries and brewpubs had been sprouting up…
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Quantico: the Ultimate Gated Community
Imagine a community ringed by an impenetrable perimeter, a compact neighborhood patrolled vigorously around the clock by highly-trained armed guards, motivated by mission and granted the full authority to challenge intruders with lethal force if necessary. The privacy afforded by this level of security could only be the exclusive domain of the ultra-rich and privileged,…
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Nasty Commutes
The Washington Post published a recent article on bad commutes, “A Dubious Distinction: The Longest Ride in U.S.” This was considered so significantly newsworthy that it appeared on the front page of their print edition on February 3, 2009. They determined that the sufferers of the worst average commute in the United States live in…