Sunday, February 7, 2016

More Pointless U.S. Geography Nerdiness: Extreme Northwest/Southwest Etc. Points of the U.S.

NorthwestNeah Bay, Washington
NortheastGrand Isle, Maine
SoutheastMiami, Florida
SouthwestPoint Conception, CA

Neah Bay certainly felt extremely northwesty, with a backdrop of dense pine forest, gray overcast over gray waves stretching to the horizon in front of me, and (no joke) a centuries-old Native American annual canoe race the day I was there. Miami feels southeasty in terms of climate and landforms but culturally it's a combination of Northeastern in-migrants and Latin Americans with nary a Southern accent or antebellum attitude to be found. Point Conception doesn't feel very much like the Southwest in terms of the American conception of cactus and mesas and Wile E. Coyote landscape; in fact this is where the northern and southern currents along the CA coast meet, producing dangerous whirlpool currents, and there's usually a pretty stiff wind meeting the cliffs there to give the (wet-suited) surfers their nice sets, even when it's sunny. Oddly, although I hail from the Northeast, the only one I've never been to (probably like many Northeasterners) is Grand Isle, Maine.

This doesn't count Alaska and Hawaii of course. Because they don't count, because they're dumb.

I am likely at high risk for being one of those weird people who goes to integer latitude-longitude intersections (the closest one to me, 38N and 122 W, is on Willow Pass Road just outside Concord) but that could never happen to me man!

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