Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • Borderland, Part 1  (Belle Isle)

    We flew up to Michigan for the older kid’s fall break from graduate school and we all wanted to see something new. This encompassed both sides of the international border between Michigan’s lower peninsula and the province of Ontario. Essentially this involved the borderlands along the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, and the St. Clair…

  • Interior Alaska, Part 8 (Memorable Signs)

    I’ve discussed a range of attractions from Interior Alaska in the previous seven articles. Today I’m taking a more lighthearted approach. Oftentimes I encounter fascinating, memorable or amusing signage, and for some reason I like to take photographs of them. So here are some of the best examples that highlight and illustrate the trip. Alaskan…

  • Interior Alaska, Part 7 (Richardson Highway & More)

    Next we explored the one remaining direction outward from Fairbanks that we hadn’t seen before, heading towards the southeast on the Richardson Highway. This day-trip took us about a hundred miles down to Delta Junction, where we turned around and came back. I’ll describe points of interest along the route sequentially starting from Fairbanks. In…

  • Interior Alaska, Part 6 (Dalton Highway)

    We made it to Coldfoot by airplane and now we started the long drive back to Fairbanks. It seemed daunting. Most of it would follow the Dalton Highway starting at Mile 175 (route), with the remainder on the Elliott Highway. The James W. Dalton Highway is a rugged working road, built in 1974 specifically to…

  • Interior Alaska, Part 5 (Coldfoot)

    I’ve always wanted to travel north of the Arctic Circle. I came pretty close to it in Iceland but even there I fell a few degrees short. So this was a major objective of the latest journey. My wife got her half-marathon in Fairbanks, I got my arctic visit, and we both shared our bucket…

  • Interior Alaska, Part 4 (Parks Highway)

    Fairbanks is by far the most populated area of Interior Alaska so it made a great base for launching day trips. Our first adventure led southwest on the Parks Highway. I assumed Denali National Park and Preserve and the Denali State Park influenced the highway’s name. However, it actually referred to George Parks, an Alaska…

  • Interior Alaska, Part 3 (Greater Fairbanks)

    Eventually we ventured away from downtown Fairbanks and started venturing towards the edges of town. Now, to be certain, Fairbanks isn’t a huge town so the “edges” were pretty close. However, I didn’t have enough room to cover everything in the last article so I had to draw a line somewhere. For this purpose I…

  • Interior Alaska, Part 2 (Downtown Fairbanks)

    We rented an Airbnb house in the historic part of Fairbanks. However historic doesn’t necessarily mean old because Fairbanks only goes back to the beginning of the 20th Century. So a lot of the earlier structures are 1930’s or 1940’s wood-frame homes. A lot look older than their age. The elements are harsh in Interior…

  • Interior Alaska, Part 1 (Golden Heart)

    Fairbanks calls itself the Golden Heart of Alaska, a nod to its gold-rush past, its geographic placement deep within Interior Alaska, and presumably its demeanor. It’s the second largest metropolitan area in the state but it also feels like a small town. And that’s to be expected because even though it’s Alaska’s second largest metro,…

  • Arc of Columbus, Part 2

    The quest to add new Ohio spots to my county counting list continued, padding my efforts from earlier in the day. The wide arc I took around the perimeter of Columbus swung from north, clockwise, now approaching due-east. The route now led into Licking County. Getting Licked Licking wasn’t completely unfamiliar because I’d been there…

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