Your Personal Geographic Extremes

[Lisnaholic]

This thread is an excuse for people who would like to remember / talk about places they have been. If it goes according to plan, I'll put up a question about one particular geographic superlative, then, after a few days, put up another. Here's the starter question:-

What is the most Northerly place you have ever visited?

For me, it's a village on the coast of Scotland, about 30 miles north of Loch Ness.



The streets are narrow, the older houses are of dark stone, and there isn't a lot to do except walk along the beach:-



In a photo it looks peaceful, but actually there's a near-constant wind blowing off the sea: you have to lean against if you want to walk straight and you have to shout to have a conversation because the wind whips the words away out of your mouth the minute you speak. Additionally, there is an RAF base nearby, so the roar of the wind is punctuated by an even louder screaming of jet fighters coming in fast and low over the beach. On the plus side, it must be some of the cleanest air I have ever breathed in my life!
So a walk along the beach is exhilating rather than peaceful, and leaves you feeling the way you feel after a concert or disco: you get home and with a sudden sense of relief realise you can relax and talk at normal volume again.

This isn't a competition, but if it were, this would be a key statistic: the village I visited is at about Lattidude 57.5° N.

OK, so how far north you guys bin ?

[Toy Revolver]

probably about 50 miles north of vancouver near the straight of georgia

i didn't take any pictures but i remember it was really beautiful

i looked for some images that seem close to what i remember



i remember getting high and laughing a lot - i was with a friend from seattle

we didn't have a car - i honestly don't even remember how we got up there - i think we took busses and ferries

[Psy-Fi]

Glasgow, Scotland. I was going to say Montreal, Canada but looking at a world map it shows Glasgow as being further north. Definitely would like to return to Scotland for a visit at some point before I croak.

[Marie Monday]

I had the same thing, I thought it would be Canada but it's the Isle of Skye in Scotland for me

[jimmy jazz]

Middlesbrough, which was very run down but charming in a way.

Manchester or Blackpool next. Blackpool I liked, again it is also shit but I had a good time. Met an absolutely lovely Scouser who got me some hash and we smoked in some dealer's flat. I probably wouldn't go back though tbh.

Manchester I don't like. I'm not sure there is a more overrated place in England than it. A generalisation but the people are some of the moodiest fuckers I've ever met.

Been to north Wales a lot. Has a rep of being hostile to English people but I never experienced it tbh.

[Lexi Darling]

For me it would be Washington Island, Wisconsin, a small island right off the thumb of the "mitten" that is my home state. I went there in the summer of 2002 on a family vacation to Door County, a very famous tourist attraction up here. Fond memories of that trip, the second of three times I've been there.

[Rubber Soul]

If I'm looking at my Google map right, I'd say Seattle, Washington. Exception for a quick excursion to Montreal, I pretty much have stayed in the States.

[Guybrush]

I've been to the north polar ice sheet north of Svalbard in the summer of 2007 at 80-something degrees north. It was about as far north as we could get by boat.

Sometimes the ice is very broken up, but it wasn't in 2007. There was some broken up sea ice, but then we just met a solid sheet that stretched on into the horizon. It looked like this.

I saw a polar bear, we caught some amphipods and of course I got a quick dip in the ocean 🙂 my coldest bath actually as the water was -0.5Cs by the ice's edge.

[Lisnaholic]

Interesting to see how several of us feel that one place is more to the north than another although a look at an atlas proves us wrong. It's a reminder that even the simplest kids atlas is absolutely packed with information that mankind has laboriously accumulated since the days of ..er... when maps weren't very accurate.

Great photo of the ice sheet, Guybrush! For you to have actually stood on one of these things makes you the clear winner of "most northerly". I also liked the way that some of your memories were tied up to "What drugs I was doing at the time" 

My plan is to do the other points of the compass, but mixed up with other questions to keep things less predictable. In fact the new question can't even be proved with an atlas , because it's subjective:-

What is the most attractive city you have ever visited?
(A daytrip should be a minumum requirement, I feel, but if you were blown away by the view during an airport transfer or changing trains, go for it!)

[Lexi Darling]

Maybe not my absolute number one and I guess it depends on how one defines "attractive" but in terms of aesthetics I'll give a shout out to Columbus, Indiana. Hometown of an old friend of mine, I went there in the summer of 2009 as part of a big trip for a music festival. The city has a lot of public art installations and artistic architecture which I think is super cool, and I have fond memories of the visit.

[Toy Revolver]

Maybe not my absolute number one and I guess it depends on how one defines "attractive" but in terms of aesthetics I'll give a shout out to Columbus, Indiana. Hometown of an old friend of mine, I went there in the summer of 2009 as part of a big trip for a music festival. The city has a lot of public art installations and artistic architecture which I think is super cool, and I have fond memories of the visit.

ain't never even heard of it

[Lexi Darling]

ain't never even heard of it

It's unfortunately probably most well known these days for being the hometown of Mike Pence. Definitely a place I wouldn't want to live, but it's cool for the public art.

[Lisnaholic]

ain't never even heard of it

I'm sure Mrs. Waffles will give you more travel deets so you can plan your trip, TR. Mike Pence's hometown!!Even I'm tempted.





Nice looking place, Mrs. Waffles 

[Toy Revolver]

those J6 protesters chanting "hang mike pence" really warmed my cuckles

[Rubber Soul]

That's not Columbus, Indiana, Lisna. The Indiana Columbus is a lot smaller than the skyline you're showing which happens to be Columbus, Ohio, a city I've been in quite a bit.

Most scenic city though, for me, happens to be San Francisco, Callifornia. Especially with the Victorian houses.