Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Tag: Beach

  • Grand Case

    Island of Saint-Martin / Sint Maarten (March 2011) We used the town of Grand Case on the French side of the island as our base while exploring St. Martin. We selected Grand Case for reasons that appealed to us. We’re not much into crowds, resorts, casinos or all-night festivities which tended to rule-out the Dutch…

  • 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…

  • Big Bay on Madeline Island

    Ashland County, Wisconsin, USA (August 2007) With the exception of the immediate boundaries of La Pointe, the most popular spots on Madeline Island were the adjacent state and town park along Big Bay’s sandy hook. “Popular” was a relative term however. We never felt crowded anywhere on the island. We found Big Bay State Park…

  • Antelope Island State Park

    Davis County, Utah, USA (July 2011) Look at a map of the Great Salt Lake. It’s nearly cleaved through its eastern third by a mountain range, some of which is submerged below the waters. The northern section is a peninsula, the Promontory Point. The southern section is an island, Antelope Island, although it sometimes joins…

  • Canandaigua Lake

    Canandaigua, Ontario Co., New York, USA (August 6, 2003) The Finger Lakes Region is amazingly beautiful. There are many different publicly accessible beaches and parks. We spent the day touring around Canandaigua Lake. Later we stopped at the north end of the lake in the town with the same name, for a little swimming and…

  • Waikiki Beach

    Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA (October 1997) We stood at what had to be the ultimate Hawaiian tourist spot, on Waikiki Beach (map) with Diamond Head in the background. Most visitors looked to be Japanese, or honeymooners, or both. We appeared in the background of several dozen Japanese wedding videos totally by accident. We were never…

  • A Winter Day at the Beach

    Rehoboth Beach, Sussex Co., Delaware, USA (Photos from 2004, video from 2008) Sometimes we just have to get out of the house and do something during the middle of winter. It felt like we’d been trapped inside for months and we were starting to get a little stir-crazy. Regular readers will know that we don’t…

  • LA With a Toddler

    Los Angeles, California (June 2004) Our little guy first touched the Pacific Ocean near the Santa Monica Pier (map). Dad got to carry him right next to the water and then run back when the waves came. Nobody else was around on this quiet morning with perfect weather. All was fine with the world. Third…

  • Various Points Around Juneau

    The City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, USA (August 1995 & July 2000) Mount Roberts The Mount Roberts Tramway  delivers visitors 1800 feet up the side of the mountain, above Juneau (map). On a clear day the view extends for miles along the Gastineau Channel. Snow still clings to mountaintops in July. Trails radiate from…

  • Duck

    Several years ago, and I don’t recall exactly when, I wrote an entire Twelve Mile Circle article without using a single Google tool. I found it incredibly frustrating, nearly impossible. The article got buried somewhere in the archive and I don’t remember the title. Just trust me. I didn’t enjoy it. Apparently I didn’t learn…