Google Sightseeing » Arizona

The best of Google Maps: Circles, Paintings, and Rude Messages

Chris Hannigan — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:24:00 +0000

It’s often the simplest things that get the biggest laugh around here, and when we open the GSS suggestion box it’s easy to get overwhelmed with small zingers that get a nice chuckle. So that’s just what we did for another episode of The best of Google Maps.

Rude messages

Not everything can make the cut obviously, but things like this painting of a naked woman on top of this building near Phoenix, AZ are certainly eye-catching. Thanks to GSS reader prmckinney for sending it in.

Henry sent us a friendly message in New Zealand that, well, gets directly to the point.

Or you could be like this guy near Austin, Texas who loves to express his satisfaction with American president Barack Obama! Make sure you notice the detail of the middle finger! Thanks to Chris S.

Lookalikes

At times just the strange artefacts of Google Maps itself are amusing! Take a look at this rather unfortunately shaped road near the Newcastle FC stadium sent to us by Chris. On the more natural side, Pamela sent us this lake in Alberta, Canada that looks, well, pretty much exactly like a rat.

Signposts for the sky

Rooftops can be an easy target for “on-the-fly” messaging. Marc sent us a link to a huge “Amazing Race” finish line painting on the final approach path to LAX. The wildly popular American reality show has used Los Angeles as the finish line before, but it does seem odd that they actually put a channel and time on it. Maybe it’s just a huge billboard instead?

Quetzal sent us the letter Z carved into the desert next to a highway in Coahuila, México, which is apparently the sign of a notorious Mexican Drug Cartel. On a lighter note, Dawn sent us a link to this extravagant field maze that takes the shape of a steam locomotive!

Mystery circles

Sometimes the most interesting things we see on the ground however are circles. You have the obvious crop circles around the world, but then there are perhaps stranger things out there. For example, any ideas what this little circle in the desert sent to us by Mastboy could be?

Or perhaps this circle off the coast of the United Kingdom? Maybe it could be a beacon of some kind? Thanks to scotty for the link!

In a more mysterious entry, a series of strange circular features have been sent to us from deep in the forests of Maharashtra in India. They’re remote, they’re large, and no one seems to really know where they came from!

The four circles appear to be man-made due to the perfect circular shape and similar size, but no obvious pattern or purpose can be seen. One of the most popular theories are the circles are some sort of ancient water reservoirs, but one could argue how much water needs to be collected in the middle of a monsoon-ridden country!

Some more imaginative people think that ancient aliens visited and made the circles, but they aren’t really a patch on traditional crop circles though.

Even the local villagers in Kumbhale aren’t sure where the circles came from, even though one of them is practically on their doorstep.

Another theory suggests that the circles are “strikingly” similar to meteorite impacts, but the rims of these circles do not appear to share the same crowning effect that occurs near other true craters – and there haven’t been any meteorite fragments found here (although this could perhaps be due to erosion from the monsoons we mentioned).

For some discussion on the circles, including ground level photos, check out this link. What do you think they are? Thanks to Sandesh for sending in this intriguing suggestion.

Locations: Alberta, Arizona, California, India, Mexico, Morocco, New Jersey, New Zealand, Texas, United Kingdom / Categories: Crop Circles, Large Type, Movie Locations, Stadiums and Sport, Weirdness

View in Google Earth

MLB Stadium Tour – National League

Ian Brown — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:44:25 +0000

With the regular season winding down and the postseason approaching, it is time to conclude our look at some of the more unusual features of MLB ballparks. We looked at the American League back in July, so now it’s time for the National League, starting with Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona

While it is hidden by the retractable roof on the satellite view, the new 45-degree imagery reveals what I personally think is the strangest possible thing to have in a sports stadium – a swimming pool!

Granted it seems to be more like a large hot-tub than a swimming pool, but for $100 per person you and 34 of your friends can splash about (or more accurately, crowd together) in probably the most unusual spectator spot in all of sports. It must be great on hot days, though during the worst of Arizona’s summer weather the retractable roof is closed and the massive air conditioning system is turned on.

While Phoenix’s pool is currently unique in the major leagues, a second stadium pool will be available next year when the Florida Marlins move into the new Miami Ballpark¹, seen under construction in Google’s images.

However, in this new stadium the pool may not be the most bizarre aspect. There are plans to have two massive aquariums, totalling over 17m in length, behind home plate!

This new ballpark will give a total of four stadiums with retractable roofs in the National League. Another is in Houston, where thankfully the roof is shown open and we can see the grounds crew mowing the grass.

The Astros’ ballpark is also built on the site of a former train station and is named for juice manufacturer Minute Maid. Tying these two facts together, a large model train – with a car full of oranges – runs along the stadium wall whenever a home run is scored and whenever the Astros win a game.

The final retractable roof is at Miller Park in Milwaukee.

While Google shows the roof open, we’re unfortunately not able to see the slide used by the team mascot after each home run, so take a look at it in this YouTube video. Sponsored by a local theme park, this new slide is perhaps more friendly than the one at the team’s old stadium where the mascot – who is still named Bernie Brewer – slid into a giant beer mug!

One of the more feature-laden parks in the National League is the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati².

At the entrance to the stadium is a large limestone carving called The Spirit of Baseball.

On the north side of the stands is The Gap – an open section allowing views of the city’s downtown. On the south side a pair of smokestacks commemorate the paddle steamboats which used to ply the Ohio River which runs beside the stadium³. Nearby is a Toyota truck on top of an elevator shaft. This can be won by a fan if a home run ball happens to hit a sign between the smokestacks, though I’ve not been able to discover if that has ever happened yet.

Google’s new 45-degree imagery gives us great views of ballparks in some cities, including San Francisco, where certain rotations show the stands full and a game in progress!

Along the left-field wall we can see the 24m long Coke bottle, giant mitt and miniature ballpark that make up this stadium’s family zone. And we can see kayakers in San Francisco Bay, hoping to be able to scoop up home run balls that occasionally leave the stadium!

Further south in California, the San Diego Padres play at Petco Field, where the notable feature is a century-old warehouse that was originally intended for demolition, but was restored and incorproated into the design. The Western Metal Building now houses team offices and luxury suites and the corner of the building is coloured yellow to act as the left field foul pole.

To the north of the stadium is “The Park at the Park” – accessible to the community for most of the year, and for which very cheap tickets are sold on game days.

Another stadium with a giant Coke bottle is Turner Field in Atlanta. It’s too bad that we can’t see the other huge advertising icon – a robotic cow (YouTube video) which does the ‘tomahawk chop’ motion used by the Braves’ fans.

In Pittsburgh, the Pirates honour some of their most famous players with statues outside the stadium: Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Honus Wagner. A fourth, for Bill Mazeroski, has been added near the south-west corner of the stadium but the Street View car visited before it was constructed.

Google’s satellite images caught the buzz of game day at a couple of stadiums:

In Philadelphia, at Citizens Bank Park, we find batting practice underway and the stands filling up while crowds of people head in to the stadium. Meanwhile, others are still in full tailgate mode in the busy parking lots.

Meanwhile in Washington it appears as though the game may be just getting underway with the stands partly full and lines of people still at the gates on the north side of the stadium.

Some notes about the other National League stadiums:

Coors Field in Denver has the highest elevation of any ballpark, with a row of seats near the top of the stands supposedly indicating the ‘mile high’ level – the nickname often used for this city. I think the row of purple seats can just about be made out in this image.

In New York, the Mets play at Citi Field and honour their home town with a ‘Big Apple‘ which lights up for every home run.

The Chicago Cubs play at historic Wrigley field, where we see batting practice in progress.

In St Louis, the 45-degree imagery shows a lot of activity at Busch Stadium. However, the field is not setup for a game, and there are crowds of people around the perimeter and the dugouts, so it may have just been tour groups visiting, or an open house.

While in Los Angeles, we can see Dodger Stadium both with and without grass.

Every stadium can be explored in more detail in the appropriate team’s section on the MLB site, and Wikipedia has good information as well.

Doubtless to be given a corporate name sponsorship before the start of the 2012. ↩
Not a claim to be particularly patriotic, but sponsored by an insurance company. ↩
There is also a replica paddle wheel outside the stadium. ↩

Locations: Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin / Categories: Buildings, Crowds, Large Type, Stadiums and Sport, Street Views, Structures

View in Google Earth

Navigating Aircraft Navigation

Chris Hannigan — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:01:51 +0000

Ever wonder how airline jets navigate the Earth from 30,000 feet on a cloudy day? The road maps provided by Google Maps wouldn’t be that relevant after all. The fact is most flights use radio navigation or GPS to find their way, and the radio navigation beacons they use are often visible in Google’s aerial and satellite imagery.

There are many types of radio beacons that are still in use today, but the majority are called VHF omnidirectional radio range or VORs. There are VOR stations all around the world, and given how widespread they are, you may well have passed one by without realising. The most common shape of the ground station resembles something of a bowling pin on a circular building. Pilots use the signal which is broadcast from these towers to fly to and from stations, therefore navigating across the sky.

Most beacons are located either at the airport, or placed out in far-away regions to avoid any interference on the signal. Some examples of these remote beacons include the Mitbee VOR in Oklahoma and the McComb VOR in Mississippi.

Take a look at the Babylon NDB (Non-directional beacon) on Long Island near New York. This beacon is situated right in the middle of a densely packed neighbourhood, and since it is only used as a directional beacon and not an omnidirectional range, it doesn’t have the classic bowling pin shape like the VORs. Due to the congestion around this beacon the FAA has declared its signal unusable beyond 15 nautical miles, which isn’t very far at all from a pilot’s point of view.

It’s not unusual to find beacons in very remote and rugged areas of the west of the US as well. Remember, some of the aeroplanes flying over these sparsely populated areas still need beacons to navigate, and thanks to this we see some interesting locations for these VORs. Out in the barren desert we can find beacons like the Sod House VOR in Nevada and the Peach Springs VOR in Arizona.

If you start looking deep in the mountains however, beacons like the Salmon VOR in Idaho and the Red Table VOR in Colorado (which is almost completely buried under the snow!) can be found. Notice how the Red Table VOR is painted in dark colours to contrast with the snow.

Pilots use these different types of beacons to navigate across the sky when they can’t see the ground. For example, let’s say we were going to pilot an aeroplane from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Orlando, Florida. If we chose to use radio beacons for navigation, we could depart to the north using Fort Lauderdale’s own VOR as an initial direction (flying away from it), then switch over and fly towards the Palm Beach VOR as our initial waypoint.

After we cross over the Palm Beach VOR, a slight turn to the west and radio beacon frequency change would allow us to lock onto the Vero Beach VOR, then another shallow west turn and switch would take us directly to the Orlando VOR. During this entire flight, we would not need to see the ground at all (until we land anyway) just as long as we have functioning navigation equipment in the cockpit.

Aviation beacons are all around us, but the reality is that radio navigation is quickly becoming a thing of the past. With technological advances like GPS navigation, existing radio beacons are more commonly being used as a waypoints rather than actual navigation aids. For more information on aircraft instrument navigation, be sure to check out Wikipedia. If you would like to try and fly to a VOR yourself, try this free web based simulator.

Thanks to Runway Finder for helping me locate some of the above beacons.

Locations: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma / Categories: Aircraft

View in Google Earth

San Francisco Volcanic Field (Volcano week 6)

Chris Hannigan — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:26:35 +0000

There’s a hidden fact about northern Arizona that many non-residents don’t know. The landscape is littered with more than 600 volcanoes, many of which tourists drive right by without a passing glance, as they continue on their way to any of Arizona’s better known natural landmarks. The San Francisco volcanic field¹ is more the 4,700 square km (1,800 square miles) in size, and contains volcanoes ranging in age from less than 1,000 years to over 6 million years old.

Looking at it from above using Google’s terrain view, the sheer number of volcanoes popping up in one spot make the ground look like it has a bad case of acne!

The numerous volcanic eruptions over the years have led to the ground being covered in lava and ash, and the black tinge this gives the landscape is clearly visible from ground-level.

Further north however, the ground turns grey beginning to somewhat resemble a lunar landscape!

One of the most notable eruptions occurred around 71,000 years ago resulting in the creation of S P Crater, and the subsequent lava flow created one of the most beautifully contrasting landscapes in the area. S P Crater’s real name is Shit Pot Crater thanks to a colourful “old west” rancher who thought the crater resembled a pot of overflowing excrement. The name stuck but mapmakers choose not to use its full title on account of it being too rude².

The most recent eruption took place on near the east side of the volcano field at Sunset Crater. Best estimates date the eruption around 1080-1150 AD, well within the time the area was inhabited by Native American Indians.

Multiple lava flows poured from Sunset Crater to the northwest and northeast, while smaller vents extending along a fissure sent lava rolling down to the east. Today, a road runs through the lava fields and around the base of the crater itself, granting us some great sights from street view.

Shortly after the eruption of Sunset Crater, the surroundings to the north were inhabited by Ancient Pueblo People³ because the resulting volcanic ash produced a fertile ground for agriculture. Numerous pueblos were built, some of which still remain standing today.

The largest of these pueblos was called Wupatki, and at over 100 rooms, it was quite possibly the largest pueblo anywhere in the area during its time. Some of the actual pueblo building remains standing today, and from the satellite maps we can see other structures like a ball-court. The region is thought to have been completely abandoned by 1225.

The volcanoes in the San Francisco volcano field are far from extinct. Scientists agree that with Sunset Crater erupting less than 1,000 years ago, the region is still very much active and another eruption could happen in the future. However, as with all things volcanoes, no one knows exactly when that might be. Until that day, you can visit the area in your car (right up to the base of the volcano) or get out and hike⁴. I recommend going at any time other than summer though, because it gets unbelievably hot out there!

Which is nowhere near San Francisco, CA. ↩
Some of you may be thinking that this sounds a little inconsistent with previously cited mapmaking policies, but that’s the best information we can find! ↩
Specifically the Sinagua, Cohonina, and Kayenta Anasazi tribes. ↩
Just watch out for critters! ↩

Locations: Arizona / Categories: Abandoned, Volcanoes

View in Google Earth

Skyspaces, by James Turrell

Ian Brown — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:50:48 +0000

James Turrell is an enigmatic American artist known for playing with the viewer’s concepts of light and space. His creations include an ambitious series of works called Skyspaces, of which Roden Crater is the most notable example where a series of structures which are intended to present visitors with carefully controlled vistas of light from the ever-changing sky.

Turrell purchased the extinct volcanic crater in Arizona in 1979, and has spent the subsequent years designing and secretively constructing an observatory. A spectacular central observation chamber is accompanied by at least one other platform, with various aspects giving views of the sun, moon and stars. The vernal equinoxes are also highlighted.

It is believed that this project has been a real struggle for Turrell, with opening dates regularly being set and later postponed¹. Despite the secrecy surrounding the location, a number of people have been granted permission to access the site² via the winding road which climbs the volcanic cone. Others have entered without permission. The New York Times also has a good article about Roden Crater.

Twenty five other Skyspaces are spread across the planet. Some are in natural locations like Roden Crater, but many are in galleries, museums and private buildings. The general concept is similar to the above – a tranquil room which allows people to sit peacefully and observe a limited section of the sky through an opening in a wall or the ceiling – an experience many find to be inspirational or meditative.

We’ve listing a few of them below, and challenge our readers to find the others (listed on Wikipedia) and provide links to them in the comments!

There are two Skyspaces in northern England: Deer Shelter at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Kielder Skyspace near Kielder Water in Northumberland.

Sky Pesher³ at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis may not be much to look at from Street View, but their website gives a good sense of the beauty found inside.

Tending, (Blue), found in Dallas, has an attractive stone exterior, but again the real beauty to be found in these locations can only be seen from the inside – where the Street View car hasn’t ventured… yet!

The current plan is to open in 2011. ↩
The images and (soundless) video linked to here are included on a large number of pages. I’m not sure where they originated. ↩
Wikipedia defines Pesher as ‘a Hebrew word meaning “interpretation” in the sense of “solution”‘. ↩

Locations: Arizona, England, Minnesota, Texas / Categories: Buildings, Monuments, Natural Landmarks, Street Views, Structures

View in Google Earth

Touring Earth’s Impact Craters

Chris Hannigan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:39:07 +0000

Looking up at the moon, one of the most striking visible features has to be the sheer number of impact craters around its surface. These giant holes in the ground are made by asteroids and comets flying through space and then crashing into our little satellite.

Of course many of these are easy to see without any special equipment, so for many years scientists on Earth wondered if we can see them all so easy up there, why can’t we see them down here on our planet? Then along came aerial photography…

GSS visited some of the most recognizable impact craters on Earth already, including Barringer Meteor Crater in the United States and Manicouagan Impact Crater in Canada, but updated and enhanced imagery makes these sites worth a second visit.

We start our tour with the largest verified impact crater on Earth, Vredefort Crater in South Africa. Measuring a staggering 250 – 300 km (155 – 186 miles) across, this crater was formed over 2 billion years ago by an asteroid estimated 10 km (6 miles) in size.

Today, the most recognizable feature of the crater is the northwest rim that created the mountains near the town of Parys. Vredefort was also added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2005.

Our next stop is a crater in Northern Ontario, Canada near the city of Sudbury. The Sudbury Basin was formed by a meteorite impact 1.85 billion years ago, creating a round 250-km (155 miles) crater.

Subsequent geological processes like tectonic plate movement then stretched into its current oval shape, which is hard to see on the satellite image. However, the crater shape is strikingly obvious when using Google’s terrain mapping. It is the second largest verified impact site on the planet.

Perhaps the most famous meteorite impact of them all is the one that slammed the Earth in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, and also is the one that scientists believed killed 75% of the species on Earth including the dinosaurs¹.

About 65 million years ago, a 10 km (6 mi) wide meteorite slammed into the Earth and created a 180 km (110 mi) wide crater centered just off the coast of present day Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico. Today, the south to southeast rim can still seen with Google’s satellite maps if you know where to look. The Chicxulub crater is the third largest verified impact crater on the planet.

Be sure to check out the other GSS articles on impact craters and other natural landmarks, including the Kebira Crater. Check Wikipedia for more information about the Vredefort Crater, Sudbury Basin, or the Chicxulub Crater. Since there are so many sites around the Earth, we’ll be sure to have more crater articles soon!

Although the debate rages on about what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, the astroid impact theory was recently deemed the most likely. ↩

Locations: Arizona, Mexico, Ontario, Quebec, South Africa / Categories: Natural Landmarks, World Heritage Sites

View in Google Earth

Trick of the Eye (Trompe l’oeil)

Alex Turnbull — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:32:44 +0000

Trompe-l’œil, or Trick of the Eye, is a long-established art technique where an artist uses very realistic imagery to create the illusion that the things shown in the image are actually three dimensional.

The technique has been popularised on the Internet in recent years by pavement artists such as Julian Beever and Edgar Mueller, but as far as we’re aware, their creations have never lasted long enough to be captured by any of Google’s cameras. However a number of buildings around the world have been adorned with large Trompe-l’œil murals, many of which which can be seen on Street View – if you can get to exactly the right spot…

This massive mural on the Lani Nalu Plaza building in Honolulu features Hawaii’s last monarch, Queen Lili’uokalani, alongside Duke Kahanamoku, the father of modern surfing. The figures are shown on a towering wave that threatens to crush three onlooking children.

Mana Nalu mural by John Pugh

From the right angle the effect is so realistic that when some passing firefighters first saw the mural, they actually rushed over to save the children. Don’t believe this isn’t 3D? Look how the illusion is completely shattered by moving only a few metres down the road!

Mana Nalu mural by John Pugh

Sometimes trompe-l’œil can have practical applications too. In Paris, the Saint-Georges Theatre was transformed from a featureless modern carbuncle into a stylish original building, simply with the addition of some convincingly realistic paintwork.

Saint-Georges Theatre by Dominique Antony

Some of the largest murals in the trompe-l’œil style have been made by Richard Haas, such as at 1211 North LaSalle Street, Chicago, where in 1980 he converted a plain 16-story 1929 building into a gargantuan tribute to Chicago School architecture.

Three sides of the building are covered in trompe-l’œil – here we can see the south face, which uses elements from several Louis Sullivan creations and includes a “reflection” of the Chicago Board of Trade Building in the painted windows.

Homage to the Chicago School by Richard Haas

Another artist working in the same medium is Eric Grohe, who converted the plain exterior wall of a shopping wall into a realistic sweeping vista onto a stunningly realised Niagara Falls.

Niagara by Eric Grohe

However in terms of sheer realism, we’ll have to come back to John Pugh, whose publicly visible work we’ve managed to find in several other places.

Siete Punto Uno (7.1) by John Pugh (created to commemorate the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake)

Bay in a Bottle, Santa Cruz, California, by John Pugh

Standin’ on the Corner Park, Winslow, Arizona, by John Pugh

There are hundreds more examples around the world – what other trompe-l’œil murals do you know of?

Locations: Arizona, California, France, Hawaii, Illinois, New York / Categories: Buildings, Monuments, Street Views

View in Google Earth

The True Story of London Bridge

Alex Turnbull — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:01:31 +0000

This rather innocuous-looking bridge over the River Thames is the latest in a long line of bridges to stand on this spot and lay claim to the name London Bridge.

This current bridge opened in 1973, but a bridge has existed at or near this very spot since the Roman occupation of the area, around 2,000 years ago. There were a number of bridges during this time, but it wasn’t until 1209 that a truly great bridge was erected.

The Medieval London Bridge took a seriously lengthy 33 years to build, but it would have been pretty impressive in its day, as it was completely covered in shops set in the base of buildings seven stories tall!

For 600 years the Medieval bridge was a bustling and relatively safe haven in the centre of London, but eventually it was decided that it was too old, narrow and decrepit¹ to serve Londoners any longer, and that it should be replaced.

In 1799 Thomas Telford proposed a bridge with a single iron arch that would span the entire river, but it was rejected due to worries about feasibility. The bridge that was finally completed in 1831 was built 30 m west of the Medieval one, and was designed by Scots civil engineer John Rennie.

By 1896 the “New” London bridge had become the busiest point in London (with around 9,000 people crossing every hour), so it was widened by 4 metres to combat the acute congestion. On the disused railway track at the old Swelltor Quarry on Dartmoor, you can still see left over granite pillars that were quarried as part of this process, but never used.

Unfortunately the bridge couldn’t cope with the extra weight – after widening, it began to sink by about 3 cm every 8 years, meaning that yet another new bridge would be required.

However, instead of knocking the bridge down, in 1967 the City of London council hit upon the brilliant idea of putting the bridge up for sale; and on 18 April 1968, Rennie’s bridge was sold to the American entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch of McCulloch Oil for $2.4m dollars, and subsequently moved, brick-by-brick to Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

The story goes that McCulloch mistakenly believed he was buying (the frankly much more desirable) Tower Bridge, but of course this has been vehemently denied. Regardless, the reconstructed London Bridge forms the centrepiece of a English-style theme park that has since become Arizona’s second most popular tourist attraction, being only less-visited than the Grand Canyon.

(London Bridge was previously featured back in 2006 before the advent of Street View).

Which would explain the origins of the associated nursery rhyme very neatly. ↩

Locations: Arizona, England / Categories: Bridges, Monuments, Theme Parks

View in Google Earth

Shiprocked on the Highway to Hell (Desert Week 2)

Evan Brammer — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:35:16 +0000

Welcome to the second annual GSS Desert Week! In time-honoured tradition, we’ll mostly be posting about deserts. For about a week!

It appears that snow has fallen in hell! At least it has along “The Devil’s Highway“. Let’s take a drive down former US Route 666 to see what kind of trouble we can get into.

Beginning in the mile high state of Colorado and running south through the Sonoran desert, the demonically-named road ends in Douglas, Arizona along the Mexican border.

This highway was of course named for bearing the Number of the Beast, but a high number of vehicular fatalities attached a stigma to the road that persists, despite it having been renamed in 2003. This may have been due in part to a serious bout of “chronic sign theft“.

Theft along the Devil’s Highway you say? To be expected for sure!

There’s definitely some sort of dark magic happening on the highway, as you can see in this aerial shot south of Gallup, New Mexico, where the road has been sliced into two parts, which run alongside but never into each other¹!

While the route number and nickname draw many tourists on their own, many often stop by to see another spectacular sight, the Shiprock rock formation (Wikipedia). It’s close enough to the road that even the Street View car got a good look!

“The day it snows in hell” appears to have arrived in this shot as well, as there is clearly snow on the ground right in the middle of America’s hottest desert.

Like Route 666, the Sonoran desert stretches from the Mexican border to Colorado; covering an impressive 311,000 square km. It’s home to dozens of mammal, fish and amphibian species, hundreds of bird species, and thousands of native bee and plant species; as well as America’s only population of Jaguars!

It is also the only place in the world the famous saguaro cactus grows, despite being an international symbol for deserts.²

Route 666 and the Sonoran desert are in an area of extremes. In the day the sun scorches down on all weary travellers. At night the heat dissipates to the point that there is often snow on the ground by morning. You fall asleep sweating, you wake up freezing.

So consider yourself warned. The desert is is desolate, rugged, and rough. But come on! If you’re going to travel the Devil’s Highway, you going to face some evils, right?

Most likely an image stitching issue with Google. ↩
For the life of me I could not find a streetview image anywhere of a saguaro cactus. If you find one, post a link in the comments and I’ll update the post. ↩

Locations: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah / Categories: Deserts, Natural Landmarks, Street Views

View in Google Earth

Top Ten Confusing Place Names

Ian Brown — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:59:42 +0000

Following the example of Alex’s Rudest Place Names post, I hereby present my top ten confusing place names.

For each of these sights, I picture a confused driver arriving in town, rolling down the car window and asking a passer-by “Can you tell me where I am?”

10. Smile, KY