Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • Exploring the Mitten, Part 3 (Gladwin)

    Michigan contained a lot of square-shaped counties within the Mitten. Surveyors laid them down neatly like that for settlers in the mid 19th Century. Gladwin County fit the same basic definition, with rolling farmland eventually replacing much of the forest (map). Not much differentiated it from surrounding counties although it had some nice lakes. We…

  • Exploring the Mitten, Part 2 (Two Great Lakes)

    The upper tier of the mitten sits between two of the Great Lakes: Huron and Michigan. That means the farthest someone needs to travel to hit an immense body of water is maybe 75 miles (120 kilometres). Generally, unless situated directly atop the midpoint, a given location will sit even closer than that to at…

  • Exploring the Mitten, Part 1 (Pivot)

    My county counting hadn’t gone so well this year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. I did manage to make that one brief trip to Pennsylvania to complete the state. There I picked up a dozen new counties. Not bad. However, that hardly moved the needle overall. I knew one more opportunity loomed as the summer…

  • Sydney Skyline

    As Viewed from the Taronga Zoo (October 1997) After twenty hours of flight from the east coast of the United States, we reached Australia, and arrived in Sydney with fourteen hours of jet lag to make up. We took this photograph from the north side of Port Jackson at the Taronga Zoo Sydney. From that…

  • Along Sydney Harbour

    Within the Royal Botanic Garden (October 1997) My wife sat on a wall along Farm Cove in the Royal Botanic Garden on a beautiful Spring day (map). The Sydney central business district formed a great backdrop behind her. Weather reports from home told of an unusually cold and rainy Autumn day back in the States…

  • Australian Brewery Coasters

    Coasters Collected in the Wild (October 1997) Anyone who knows me understands that I like fine tasting beers. Naturally we had to visit brewpubs and breweries, and try as many different varieties as available. Lord Nelson The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel bills itself as the oldest hotel in Sydney, dating back to the 1840’s (map).…

  • Australia’s Blue Mountains

    The “Three Sisters” Rock Formation (October 1997) The Great Western Highway left Sydney and headed up through the Blue Mountains. Echo Point laid perhaps an hour and a half from Sydney near the town of Katoomba. This offered excellent views of the Blue Mountains and the “Three Sisters” rock formation (map). Every tourist who travels…

  • Jenolan Caves

    Australia’s Blue Mountains (October 1997) We pushed further into the Blue Mountains to the Jenolan Caves complex (map). The park offered several cavern options and we chose an “adventure” tour. I was a little skeptical. I figured it couldn’t really be all that adventurous. Boy, was I wrong. We both considered this activity one of…

  • Brisbane at Sunset

    Queensland, Australia (October 1997) Next we flew up the coast to Brisbane, Queensland. We stayed with my wife’s friend who used to be her co-worker before she decided to move to Australia. However, I won’t post her name on the Internet because she might not appreciate it. We never would have gone to Australia if…

  • Atop Mt. Coot-tha

    Atop the Summit (October 1997) My wife and I rented a car, and drove the short distance from Brisbane to Mt. Coot-tha. An overlook provided excellent views of Brisbane. It also offered a convenient place to grab a cup of coffee. Later we drove out further to Mt. Nebo, then down through the Samford Valley,…

Latest Comments

  2. Park ranger at Chalmette (New Orleans) Battlefield let me pull up the Union Jack 20 years ago. My dad would…

  4. Dr Howder delivered me Feb 20 ,1935. Also my two sons 1957,1960. He was also my family doctor. I lived…

  5. In April/May 2025, I took a trip from home (south-central Missouri) to the 100th Meridian on the “River Road” west…