Category: Terrain
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Cape Byron Lighthouse
Byron Bay NSW, Australia (October 1997) Cape Byron is the eastern most point on the continent, where “Australia greets the day.” Strange geographic trivia has always fascinated me, so I dragged my wife as far along the cape as possible. We were running short on time so we missed our goal by a few hundred…
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Assateague Island Lighthouse
Chincoteague National Wildlife Reserve; Assateague Island, Virginia (October 2012) The Assateague Lighthouse (map) is easily accessible and open to the public. A simple trip to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the northern end of Virginia’s Eastern Shore is all that’s required. Drive through the quaint fishing village of Chincoteague and across the causeway onto…
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Fort Knox State Historic Site
Prospect, Maine (August 2009) Before I describe Fort Knox, perhaps I should clear-up something. This place shouldn’t be confused with the “famous” Fort Knox you’ve probably heard of before. You won’t find any gold here although it shares a name with the fort in Kentucky that houses the United States Bullion Depository. No, this Fort…
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Fort C.F. Smith
Defenses of Washington – in Arlington Co., VA (July 2009) Arlington County is fortunate to own the historic remnants of a small Civil War fort as part of a 19-acre acquisition from a private landowner in 1994. In addition to the historic fortification the park includes the restored Hendry House that is available for weddings…
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Barwell Island
Resurrection Bay; Seward, Alaska (July 2010) We rode through Resurrection Bay heading out of Seward on one of those all-day Kenai Fjords excursions. We came there to enjoy the natural beauty of the National Park, both the scenery and the animal life. The ship approached Barwell Island (map) at the opening of the bay and…
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Washington Island and Ferry
Door County, Wisconsin (September 2000) Washington Island sits within Lake Michigan off the northernmost point of the Door Peninsula. It is a continuation of the ridge that forms the peninsula except that a portion of it is submerged, so an island forms where the ridge returns to the surface. No bridge connects this island to…
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Russian River Ferry
Chugach National Forest, Cooper Landing, Alaska (July 2010) The Russian River Ferry is certainly one of the more unusual ferries that I’ve experienced (and I’ve taken rides on many others). It doesn’t function to link communities on opposite riverbanks or to unite a ribbon of asphalt or to provide a shortcut. No, it exists solely…
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Faial – Pico Ferry
The Azores (Açores), Portugal (March 2001) In most cases the quickest way between islands in the Azores is by airplane. However Pico and Faial are exceptions, and are easily accessible to each other by regular passenger ferry service. The ferry runs several times a day and takes about a half an hour. This makes it…
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Ithaca, Part 2 (Waterfalls)
Some sources claimed the presence of “over 150 waterfalls within 10 miles” of Ithaca, New York. I guess it depends on how they’re defined. Even so, waterfalls seemed to pop into view just about anywhere we looked. As numerous T-shirts and bumper stickers around town reminded us, “Ithaca is Gorges.” We squeezed a lot of…
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Cross-Country, Part 8 (Bonus!)
Finally the end. Or was it? We’d driven most of the way across the United States. Then we spent a full week in Phoenix, Arizona. However, we weren’t completely done. Our rental home agreement ended two days before our return flight so we needed to spend a little time somewhere else. Originally my wife figured we could go down to…