No point in wasting time. Let’s get Spread Eagle and dive right in…

We hope this Naked Baker is at least wearing a hairnet.

Is there anyone in Southern California who’s up for a Nude Wash¹?

There are five different creeks in the southeastern United States that are Naked. Along Naked Creek in Virginia is Naked Creek Road, which happens to lie across the creek from Moose Bottom Road. What that symbolises, we have no idea.

Leave it to the Netherlands to take things to the next level. The city of Wageningen has an entire Nude street, replete with a Nude auto shop!

Our own Noel Ballantyne brings us this wonderful Muff from Country Donegal²:

Don’t worry, ladies; we’re keeping your interests in mind, too. In fact, we know a place in Sint Maarten specifically geared toward many of your tastes:

If all of this nakedness and nudity is a bit much for you to handle all at once, perhaps we should tone it down and focus on Ass Allround:

Not to get too lewd, but we did uncover a prominent Nipple Knob while compiling this entry. As well, we also caught a Wanker in broad daylight directly on Street View.

Thus concludes what is undoubtedly the most Sexey post ever on Google Sightseeing.

Locations: California, France, Germany, Idaho, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin / Categories: Buildings, Natural Landmarks, Street Views, Weirdness

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Derby Line, USA

The small American village of Derby Line, Vermont actually lies north of the 45th parallel, which is the border between the United States and Canada. The village was first settled back in 1795, when surveying techniques were crude at best¹, resulting in a nearly quarter of a mile error. When the borders were finally adjusted south to their proper locations in the mid-1800′s, Derby Line was reduced to a tiny geographic size of 0.7 square miles (1.8 km2).

Concerned about illegal immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol has tried to close streets which have historically run together with those of neighbouring Stanstead, but they have so far remained open.

If residents cross the border to either country, they’re required to report their citizenship and pay their duties upon their return. Frequent questioning and searches are a normal way of life. Some houses even sit directly on the border itself!

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House was purposely built on the border back in 1904. It was intended for use in both countries, but with today’s heightened border security library guests are required to park on their respective sides of the building (in their country) and sometimes have to report to customs before even entering.

There is a thick black line on the floor that represents the border between the two countries. A note on the library’s website offers this bit of friendly advice for folks who don’t take the line seriously,

“First time visitors and old friends of the Haskell Free Library and Opera House must be aware that the border between Canada and the United States that runs through our building is real and it is enforced.”

According to the picture, it’s entirely possible to read one side of your book in the United States, and the other side in Canada.

© Copyright Haskell Free Library and Opera House and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Bristol, USA

The state line between Virginia and Tennessee often gets lost between the cities of Bristol and Bristol. That’s right; two cities with the same name share the same border in two different states! To be honest, these two cities can really be thought of as one with two governments. In fact, they both share the same downtown district without very many signs that show the actual border along the way.

The cities of Bristol are divided by State Street, which happens to be the border for most of the town. On one side of the road you’re in Virginia, and the other side you’re in Tennessee!

There are some signs located around town to indicate the border between the two states, including this one over State Street which lists the two states on the bottom corners.

The Tennessee side of Bristol is also the home to Bristol Motor Speedway, a 1/2 mile racetrack that is home to numerous NASCAR events throughout the year. The facility is known for being one of the few that routinely sells out all 160,000 seats in advance each year. No wonder it looks more like a stadium than racetrack.

Bristol also claims to be the “Birthplace of Country Music” since it was where the first recordings of country music were made. Maybe that explains the huge guitar we found on the side of the road?

Calexico, USA and Mexicali, Mexico

Being quirky doesn’t always mean dealing with the border itself; sometimes you can just split the name like they did in Calexico and Mexicali!

The Mexican city of Mexicali (MEXIco+CALIfornia… get it?) is the northernmost city in Latin America and the border opposite of Calexico, California (CALifornia+mEXICO… we know you got that one!). As you can see from the satellite imagery, the much larger Mexicali is home to over 900,000 people, and its little sister Calexico just thrives on being across the border from such a large population.

This whole area is supposed to be the Baja desert, but in the early 1900s the sand was converted to farmland with the help of new canals made by both Mexicans and Chinese labourers. Some of the canals are connected to the nearby Salton Sea.

From above, Mexicali looks every bit as busy as it is on the ground. One of the most famous features has to be this roundabout known locally (and translated to English) as the “Circle of Death“. The name comes from the fact that, at best, traffic laws are only very loosely followed.

As with any typical U.S./Mexico border town, security is taken very seriously. Take a look at this long straight wall that marks the border between the two countries.

While this post focuses on North America, there are hundreds more quirky border anomalies around the world. Where’s your favourite?

Locations: California, Mexico, Quebec, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia / Categories: Buildings, Stadiums and Sport, Street Views, Weirdness

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The invasion of Normandy (itself known as Operation Neptune) began at 6.30am on the morning of June 6th, and the attacks were spread across five main beaches, codenamed Juno, Gold, Sword, Utah and Omaha which are spread out along an 80km stretch of France’s northern coast. 6,000 vessels joined the attack supported by over 11,000 planes. On D-Day itself troops from Canada, the United Kingdom and the U.S. were all deployed on foot.

The situations at each the beaches were quite different, but the worst casualties were suffered at Omaha Beach – the horrors of which are familiar to many of us through the depiction of the landings in movies and TV shows such as Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. Today the beach itself gives away nothing of its bloody history.

It was the U.S. army who were charged with taking Omaha Beach, and due to the unexpectedly strong defences combined with landing difficulties, at least 2,499 U.S. soldiers died here. Today there are several memorials around the beach at Omaha, including the Normandy American Cemetery Memorial, where there are a total of 9,387 graves.

A temporary cemetery was first established near here on June 8, 1944, and after the war, today’s permanent memorial was established just to the east of the original site. It was here that the opening and end of Saving Private Ryan were shot, and two of the four brothers on whom the film was based are buried here.

From Street View we can also see the 1st Infantry Division monument, an obelisk inscribed with the names of U.S. 1st Infantry Division soldiers who died between June 6th and 24th, 1944.

To the west of the beach is the Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument, a simple granite pylon positioned on top of a German concrete bunker, that was erected by the French to honour the American Second Ranger Battalion who scaled the cliffs here. To the south of the monument lies an area littered with bomb craters that has been preserved almost exactly as it was nearly 70 years ago.

By the end of D-Day the allies had put 156,000 troops ashore in Normandy, at a cost of around 10,000 allied troops, and between 4,000 and 9,000 German soldiers who were killed or injured. There are memorials all over the area to the men and women who died here, such as the Utah Beach American Memorial and the Juno Beach Centre.

Today also marks the tenth anniversary of the opening of the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. Some 70,000 people visit the memorial each year, which features an “English garden”, a life-size statue of General Eisenhower, 13.5 metre (44 foot) tall granite arch, and most importantly, plaques listing the name of every one of the 4,413 allied soldiers who died in the invasion, the most complete list of its kind anywhere in the world.

The foundation behind the memorial are currently engaged in an attempt to compile a list of the names of every service member that participated in Operations Overlord and Neptune.

Wikipedia has a range of articles covering different aspects of D-Day, so why not lose yourself in some history for a while, starting here. Alternatively, read some of the first-hand accounts of the landings available on the 6 Juin 1944 website.

Locations: France, Virginia / Categories: Monuments, Movie Locations

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Over here in Ireland and the UK, we have been known to celebrate with vast quantities of Guinness. Over in the US however, they like large scale annual celebrations involving crazy things like temporarily dying the Chicago River green (which sadly hasn’t yet been captured on Google Earth²).

But in today’s post we’ll be looking at some of the places that St. Patrick has found a permanent home in the USA.

This is St Patrick’s park in Indiana, where they have created a 400 metre long homage to their namesake, entirely in the medium of trees. Which is apt, given how much of the colour green gets bandied around on the 17th of March.

We’ve visited the original Dublin already on Google Sightseeing, but there are at least nine cities called Dublin in the USA alone!

See for yourself: Dublin, California; Dublin, Georgia; Dublin, Indiana; Dublin, New Hampshire; Dublin, North Carolina; Dublin, Ohio; Dublin, Pennsylvania; Dublin, Texas; and Dublin, Virginia.

In New York City we find St. Patrick’s Cathedral, a spectacular Neo-Gothic cathedral in midtown Manhattan that has become ingrained in Hollywood movie history, after being featured in several movies including 2002′s Spider-Man.

So, where else has St. Patrick and the influence of Ireland made a lasting impression around the world?

Happy Paddy’s day!

Thanks to Chris R.

Locations: California, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia / Categories: Buildings, Large Type, Movie Locations

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While there are several claims to be the world’s largest maze, the most legitimate seems to be the Peace Maze, in Northern Ireland – which is officially recognised by the Guinness book as the largest permanent hedge maze in the world.

The path of the Peace Maze is 3.15 kilometres (2 miles) long, and contains many features symbolic of The Troubles; most notably a divide which has to be crossed to get to the end.

There are many non-permanent mazes, often created from corn or other plants. This one outside York claimed to be the largest when it opened with a Star Trek theme in 2006, but in the current view it is somewhat smaller.

At Temple Hall Farm Regional Park near Leesville, Virginia, there’s a maze celebrating 100 years of flight.

Across the country near Olympia, Washington, a TV fan has clearly paid homage to his favourite series by creating this CSI themed maze.

Back in England, we have a Monster Maze at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm in North Somerset. Like many maze owners, the people in charge here make grand claims about their maze’s importance – but in truth this is just one of many attractions that claim to be the world’s longest hedge maze.

Finally here in Conholt Park, Wiltshire, we find what might be the most bizarrely shaped maze ever – a giant foot! (Perhaps this is related to the World’s Largest Fingerprint?)

See our Maze category for loads more interesting mazes!

Thanks to Marc Armstrong, DJ Swammi, Kel, Jim Culp, john and Chris Branagan.

Locations: England, Northern Ireland, Virginia, Washington / Categories: Large Type, Mazes

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Despite their name, Carolina Bays can also be found in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and northcentral Florida. They vary in size from one to several thousand acres, and are often gathered in groups. Many are filled with water and named as lakes, but most contain vegetated wetland.

Most striking however, is that every single one is invariably aligned in almost exactly same direction – which has led some people to claim that they might be the result of a meteor impact. It would have to have been a pretty serious impact, as there are estimated to be over 500,000 of them. This is Lake Waccamaw, north Carolina, which is widely considered the largest Carolina bay.

George Howard (a bit of a Carolina Bay fanatic), has created an exhaustive KML file that marks the location of many thousands of the bays in North Carolina. This image was taken in Google Earth, and shows the white outlines that have been used to mark the locations.

So, who here can solve the mystery of the Carolina Bays?

You can read more about Carolina Bays at Wikipedia. Thanks to Keith Wright, david and Ogle Earth.

Locations: Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia / Categories: Natural Landmarks, Weirdness

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Even more incredibly, the first location to receive the new X-ray and infrared thermal imagery is none other than The Pentagon! Click on the thumbnail images, or load up Google Earth to see these undocumented layers.

The Pentagon recently blocked Google from capturing Street View images of US military bases, but Google have now hit back thanks to a loophole in the law. Because space falls outside of international jurisdiction, the US government is powerless to stop Google’s satellites looking inside America’s highest security building!

Google haven’t made a statement yet so this feature is still completely unofficial, meaning we don’t know when it might be rolled out for the rest of the world. However, imagine the repercussions for global privacy if the X-ray and infrared images were combined with the Live images in Google Earth that we reported on this time last year…

Locations: Virginia / Categories: Buildings, Site News

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• Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Anchorage, Alaska
• Austin, Texas
• Cleveland, Ohio
• Fairbanks, Alaska
• Little Rock, Arkansas
• Madison, Wisconsin
• Nashville, Tennessee
• Rockford, Illinois
• Richmond, Virginia
• Spokane, Washington
• St. Petersburg, Florida
• Tampa, Florida

Finally, Google have also added imagery for the few roads that run through Yosemite National Park, California, which enables us to see some pretty stunning scenery.

Here’s El Capitan, a 910 metre vertical rock formation that’s a popular challenge for rock climbers, and some spectacular Giant Redwoods living up to their name!

Read the full story at the Google Lat Long Blog, read more about El Capitan and Giant Redwoods at Wikipedia.

Locations: Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin / Categories: Natural Landmarks, Street Views

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But what is it really? RAF Feltwell is currently used by the United States Air Forces Europe, and Alan suggests that this could be some sort of satellite calibration test card for the US ‘Son of Star Wars’ missile defence programme!

Naturally a MoD spokesperson quoted in The Metro newspaper suggested that this is simply a “motorcycle range”¹, but interestingly there are another two of them side by side at the absolutely massive US Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia².

Alan’s website has more details on various crazy conspiracy theories, and the Metro went with the “proof of aliens” headline – so we’re left without a definitive answer so far. What do you think these things are for?

Locations: England, Virginia / Categories: Large Type, Weirdness

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Starting with the largest, the undisputed Queen of the seas is the USS Enterprise, which takes the title of being the largest naval vessel on Earth (or water!), with a massive length of 342.3 metres.

Enterprise is moored up alongside the almost-as-large USS Harry Truman and Roosevelt. Like the other seven of the Nimitz class carriers, these are 333m long. Roosevelt, nicknamed ‘Rough Rider’, was responsible for nearly 5000 tonnes of bombs dropped during the first Gulf War.

The Naval Station at Norfolk, Virginia, where these three ships reside when not on active duty, is actually the largest naval base in the World, with 75 ships calling it home – as well as having, incidentally, a huge amount of car-parking spaces!

The USS George HW Bush is the last in Nimitz class, before the new Ford class carriers start being built, and is named for former President Bush. Costing a whopping $4.5 billion, this 333m carrier is on track to be delivered this year. She is seen here in construction at the Northrop Grumman shipyard, also in Norfolk.

(You can see a Microsoft Live Maps birds eye view of it in construction here, but sadly it still isn’t compatible with Safari!)

Back in 1957, the largest naval vessel ever built was the Forrestal Class USS Ranger, which measures 319m and is capable of carrying up to 90 aircraft aboard.

Ranger is seen here with Forrestal class USS Independence and the Kitty Hawk class USS Constellation, which have all been decommissioned to the Naval Air Station in Bremerton, WA.

Now taking the role of the Sea, Air and Space museum in New York City, the USS Intrepid saw service from World War 2 right through to 1974, including in the Vietnam war, where planes would often be launched from her in intervals as small as every 26 seconds!

In late 2006 Intrepid was dragged out of the Hudson river’s mud (with considerable effort) and transferred to Staten Island for repair work. She is expected to be back on display in September.

The most noticeable of Intrepid’s aircraft is the Lockheed A-12, the precursor to the SR-71 Blackbird which is famed for flying from New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes! You might recognise the plane from ‘I am Legend’, where Will Smith’s character spends time hitting golf balls from her wing.

She may be just a wee tiddler at 214m (this photo shows a comparison between a Nimitz class ship and the HMS Illustrious), but it would be wrong to not include at least one British vessel! HMS Invincible was decommissioned in 2005, and is seen here at Portsmouth Harbour. She’s definitely going nowhere – you can see her propellers lying on the deck!

She was superseded by HMS Illustrious – found in dry-dock in Rosyth having a refit, which was completed last year. In 2014, the first of the new Queen Elizabeth class carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to enter service, at a much more substantial 274m in length. HMS Prince of Wales will join her in 2016.

Previosuly on Google Sightseeing: Carrier Landing Practice Runway and Landlocked.

Thanks: Andrew, Kevin, tsw and many, many others!

Locations: England, New York, Virginia, Washington / Categories: Structures, Theme Parks, Watercraft

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