Category: Weather
-
Biloxi Lighthouse
Biloxi, Mississippi (April 2010) The Biloxi Lighthouse (map) is a symbol of the city, of hope and resilience in the wake of major hurricanes that have scoured the Gulf Coast for centuries. This is perhaps the most easily approachable lighthouse of any I’ve visited. Anyone can take Interstate 110 directly to the heart of Bilox…
-
Madeline Island – Bayfield Ferry
Crossing to Lake Superior’s Madeline Island, Wisconsin (August 2007) We drove north up the peninsula from Ashland but we still had to find a way across the Chequamegon Bay to Madeline Island. No road connected Bayfield (map) to La Pointe (map). With only 200 year-round residents, it simply wasn’t practical to build a towering suspension…
-
Ferry to Beaver Island, Michigan
Charlevoix to Beaver Island Ferry Beaver Island, Michigan, USA (September 2000) There are two ways to get to Beaver Island (map), by air or by boat. We took the ferry from Charlevoix at the northwest corner of Michigan’s lower peninsula (map). Regular service was provided by the Beaver Island Boat Company although the schedule varied…
-
Cross-Country, Part 6 (The Western Half)
The first half of the drive seemed almost routine as it ran through terrain familiar to a lifelong resident of the eastern part of the United States. However we still had a couple of days to go and we began moving into unfamiliar territory. Here I captured a wide swath of previously unvisited counties straight through the…
-
Cross-Country, Part 5 (The Eastern Half)
We actually did a lot more than collect new counties and visit zoos. After all, we sat in a car for five days! I needed to stop every couple of hours to stretch my legs. Sometimes we timed our layovers to see something interesting and sometimes things had a way of finding us. The open…
-
Cross-Country, Part 1 (The Plot Thickens)
Don’t get me wrong, I loved our trip to Australia and New Zealand last summer. I already want to return there and someday I will. However, my relentless need to count counties took a serious hit in 2018 as a direct result. My map barely changed as the year progressed. I gave up on the…
-
Australasian Adventures, Part 1 (Preparations and Arrival)
Finally, after months of anticipation and planning, the time came for our trip to Australasia. I took suggestions from the Twelve Mile Circle audience and tried to incorporate them wherever I could. We ended up spending a week in New Zealand and a week in Australia. Those who follow the 12MC Twitter account already know…
-
Rockies Loop, Part 2 (Hikes)
I did my best to stay active during our Rocky Mountains trip as I explained in the previous installment. The entire trip revolved around the outdoors. That became something of a gamble during a transitional period between seasons. Snow still covered higher elevations. Meanwhile, prevailing wind patterns threatened us with afternoon rainstorms more characteristic of…
-
Finishing West Virginia, the Premise
Sometimes events don’t unfold as one might hope. This weekend I planned to capture six remaining West Virginia counties that I’d not visited before. I figured April would be a safe time of year with beautiful springtime weather and minimal traffic. That dream will need to be deferred for a little while longer. The route…
-
Out of Season
A strange sight confounded my older son as we walked through a warren of shops near the Santa Fe Plaza during our recent New Mexico trip. He spotted a year-round Christmas store. It didn’t register on my mind until he pointed it out, I guess because I’d seen plenty of them before. Although, as I…