# Geographical oddities (another thread) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895 "2014-12-10T23:11:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/181 "2014-12-20T04:17:21Z")
The easternmost point in the United States (and, arguably, in North America) is [Semisopochnoi Island, Alaska](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semisopochnoi_Island), which lies at 179°46’ East. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/182 "2014-12-20T04:23:14Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > I reckon the most western of the eastern states is Florida… Yes, but geography works differently there. The further north you go, the more southern it gets… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/183 "2014-12-20T06:28:07Z")
Michigan is on four of the five great lakes – the one it does not touch is Lake Ontario. Ontario is on four of the five great lakes – the one it does not touch is Lake Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/184 "2014-12-20T10:31:16Z")
The Australian mainland is the largest landmass with all of its antipodal points in the ocean. The largest landmass with all of its antipodal points on land is the island of Borneo. Its antipodes are in the Amazon rainforest. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/185 "2014-12-20T11:30:24Z")
Not a big-league oddity, but I was surprised to learn that, in driving from Detroit to Philadelphia, once you hit Pittsburgh you’re only halfway there. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/186 "2014-12-20T14:25:38Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Not a big-league oddity, but I was surprised to learn that, in driving from Detroit to Philadelphia, once you hit Pittsburgh you’re only halfway there. > mmm Fascinating! That could make for an entire sub-category of geography trivia! I’d suspect that there are hundreds of similar situations that would mess with people’s mental pictures of distances and shapes of regions and that sort of thing. Living in Middle Tennessee makes the prospect of finding some of those sorts of things a challenge worth pursuing. Thanks for the idea! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/187 "2014-12-20T14:53:26Z")
Here’s one for those familiar with the “mental geography” of Mexico and Mexicans. People tend to think of Mexico as having three overall regions. “Northern” is deserts and narco-corrido music; the first city that comes to mind might be Monterrey. “Central” is the giant Mexico City metro area, plus cultural “heartlands” like the Bajío and Jalisco. “Southern” is Indian country – half mountainous (Oaxaca, Chiapas), half flat and hot (the Yucatan peninsula). Yet, much of the Yucatan (including its main cities, Mérida and Cancun) is NORTH of much of “central” Mexico (including Mexico City)! This contradiction arose because “north,” “central,” and “south” developed in the context of thinking of the Americas as a whole, when actually Mexico is more an east-west country. Also, when traveling by land, to get from Mexico City to Mérida, yo DO have to start out traveling south-east (but later on you turn north-east). ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/188 "2014-12-20T15:24:53Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Although I’ve lived in California all my life, it isn’t until very recently that I learned its border with Baja California doesn’t run due east and west, but hits the coast about 1/8 of one degree further south of where it starts on the outskirts of Yuma, AZ. This was done to include all of San Diego Bay in the U.S. . . Yes, this is part of the explanation for post #16 above. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/189 "2014-12-20T16:19:21Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Yes, this is part of the explanation for post #16 above. Hey, **guizot** noticed my post! Yay. 🙂 And now to further feed my ego, here’s post #16 below, which relies on the fact that the CA-MEX border has a tilt to it. > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > You’re in the center of the city of Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico. What’s the first foreign country you hit if you go due north? Due south? Due east? Due west? > > The US, for all 4 directions. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/190 "2014-12-20T19:40:43Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Just an idle curiosity based question: Is there any place on Planet Earth where the old adage/saying “You can’t get there from here” is true? **Yes!** [spoiler]\*Everywhere! \*😃 Think about it: You can’t get from your couch to the fridge 10 feet away. As soon as you take the first step, you’re not on the couch anymore. Yet you didn’t get to the fridge. That beer is still waiting! Take another step, and you’re not there anymore, either. And so on and so on and so on… Yeah, its a stupid saying, but its kinda funny.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/191 "2014-12-20T19:45:19Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > **Yes!** > > [spoiler]\*Everywhere! \*😃 > > Think about it: You can’t get from your couch to the fridge 10 feet away. As soon as you take the first step, you’re not on the couch anymore. Yet you didn’t get to the fridge. That beer is still waiting! Take another step, and you’re not there anymore, either. And so on and so on and so on… > > Yeah, its a stupid saying, but its kinda funny.[/spoiler] Too close to **Zeno’s Paradox** to be a knee-slapper, but cool nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/192 "2014-12-21T01:34:01Z")
There’s a small part of the Republic Of Ireland called the Drummully Polyp or Coleman’s Island that cannot be accessed via road without entering Northern Ireland. Such things are referred to as pene-enclaves apparently. During the Troubles the oddity was brought up in our parliament. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/193 "2014-12-22T03:13:33Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > I’m not sure I agree with this one… > _Most of_ the state of New Jersey is south of _most of_ the state of New York, but the northern quarter-or-so of the state is west of New York City and Long Island. So wouldn’t the answer be ‘both’? Or perhaps ‘neither’? > Name the 10 countries that share a border with France. > > Spain > Andorra > Belgium > Luxembourg > Germany > Switzerland > Italy > Monaco > Suriname > Brazil > > Because French Guiana is part of the country of France. How about Canada-abuts St. Pierre & Miquelon (someone may have got these, I haven’t read all the posts.) And maybe U.K. which is quite near to Guadeloupe and Martinique. And do they meet in either the English Channel or the Chunnel? ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/194 "2014-12-22T15:57:55Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > There’s a small part of the Republic Of Ireland called the Drummully Polyp or Coleman’s Island that cannot be accessed via road without entering Northern Ireland. Such things are referred to as pene-enclaves apparently. During the Troubles the oddity was brought up in our parliament. There are various strange circumstances attending on the border which divides Ireland – the one abovementioned, is new to me. Of course, there’s the curiosity by which the furthest-north parts of the Republic are further north than the northernmost point of Northern Ireland. A bit of border strangeness which appeals to me, with my interest in railways – and a feature which is now basically, no more – involved the one-time Great Northern Railway of Ireland. This railway company’s system comprised basically the main line Dublin – Belfast, with routes taking off north-westward and westward from intermediate points thereon, as far as Londonderry, and as one point on the Atlantic coast proper. The GNR’s geographical location caused it to be very-hard hit by the establishment of the border in 1921: its system intersected with the border at more than twenty points, often with the nuisance of the setting-up of customs posts / checkpoints. The most extreme instance of this concerned the branch line, maybe 15 miles long (abandoned in the late 1950s) from Clones, hard by the border and just within the Republic, southward to Cavan in the Republic. This line was in close proximity to a particularly wiggly segment of the border. The line crossed the border after a while, traversed a short stretch of Northern Ireland, re-entered the Republic, then exited again to cross another brief stretch of N.I.; crossing the border one final time to terminate in the Republic. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/195 "2014-12-22T16:21:29Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > There are various strange circumstances attending on the border which divides Ireland – the one abovementioned, is new to me. Of course, there’s the curiosity by which the furthest-north parts of the Republic are further north than the northernmost point of Northern Ireland. > > A bit of border strangeness which appeals to me, with my interest in railways – and a feature which is now basically, no more – involved the one-time Great Northern Railway of Ireland. This railway company’s system comprised basically the main line Dublin – Belfast, with routes taking off north-westward and westward from intermediate points thereon, as far as Londonderry, and as one point on the Atlantic coast proper. The GNR’s geographical location caused it to be very-hard hit by the establishment of the border in 1921: its system intersected with the border at more than twenty points, often with the nuisance of the setting-up of customs posts / checkpoints. The most extreme instance of this concerned the branch line, maybe 15 miles long (abandoned in the late 1950s) from Clones, hard by the border and just within the Republic, southward to Cavan in the Republic. This line was in close proximity to a particularly wiggly segment of the border. The line crossed the border after a while, traversed a short stretch of Northern Ireland, re-entered the Republic, then exited again to cross another brief stretch of N.I.; crossing the border one final time to terminate in the Republic. Something in your post reminded me of [an old thing about Calf Paths of the Mind.](http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2007/06/11) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/196 "2014-12-22T18:17:27Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > There are various strange circumstances attending on the border which divides Ireland – the one abovementioned, is new to me. Of course, there’s the curiosity by which the furthest-north parts of the Republic are further north than the northernmost point of Northern Ireland. > > A bit of border strangeness which appeals to me, with my interest in railways – and a feature which is now basically, no more – involved the one-time Great Northern Railway of Ireland. This railway company’s system comprised basically the main line Dublin – Belfast, with routes taking off north-westward and westward from intermediate points thereon, as far as Londonderry, and as one point on the Atlantic coast proper. The GNR’s geographical location caused it to be very-hard hit by the establishment of the border in 1921: its system intersected with the border at more than twenty points, often with the nuisance of the setting-up of customs posts / checkpoints. The most extreme instance of this concerned the branch line, maybe 15 miles long (abandoned in the late 1950s) from Clones, hard by the border and just within the Republic, southward to Cavan in the Republic. This line was in close proximity to a particularly wiggly segment of the border. The line crossed the border after a while, traversed a short stretch of Northern Ireland, re-entered the Republic, then exited again to cross another brief stretch of N.I.; crossing the border one final time to terminate in the Republic. I have a post on my blog [that might interest you](http://irishmemory.blogspot.ie/2013/02/aboard-partition-express-1948.html). You’re probably aware too that there was a spur line to Fintona that was horse drawn right up until the line was closed in the 1950s. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/197 "2014-12-22T20:38:34Z")
I can’t find any images of it online, and for all I know they changed things, but the city boundary of Rochester NY circa 1980 looked very weird. For one thing, the city threw off two “pseudopods” to the East and West, each relatively narrow yet a couple of miles long. It wasn’t until I looked at old city maps and learned more about the history of the town that I realized those pseudopods flowed the path of the Erie Canal as it came into Rochester and left it, passing right through downtown on the bridge that now stands next to the Rundel library building. When the canal was re-routed south of the city, and became the New York State Barge Canal, the ditch went dry (and part of it was used for the Rochester Subway, until that closed). But the city kept ownership of the land the canal was on. Another pseudopod stretched directly northward, only one block wide, until it got to Durand-Eastman Park on Lake Ontario. I figured that it was some weird legal thing, that Rochester felt it had to have a continuous run of land up to the park to maintain ownership, and couldn’t have it sit as a separated entity. As I say, I can’t find these boundaries on online maps, which seem to be simplified. It could be that neighboring towns absorbed the ex-Erie Canal traces, but I see that Rochester still controls Durand-Eastman. . ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/198 "2014-12-22T20:55:34Z")
Okay, here it is on Google Maps: https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.1854746,-77.6165028&z=12&output=embed&dg=ntvb&q=Rochester,%2BNY&cid=183219017944167570751414131306856310302 You can see the thread connecting the City to Durand-Eastman Park at the top, and one of the “pseudopods” to the left (west) that used to carry the Erie canal, but the matching one on the right (east) isn’t there anymore. However, to make up for it, there’s another weird pseudopod extending East from the city over to Irondequoit Bay. I don’t remember that one. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/199 "2014-12-22T23:55:22Z")
The [Harbor Gateway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbor_Gateway,_Los_Angeles), aka the Shoestring Strip, is a narrow strip of land which belongs to the City of Los Angeles which connects the rest of the city with the harbor in San Pedro. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895/200 "2014-12-23T07:34:18Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The [Harbor Gateway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbor_Gateway,_Los_Angeles), aka the Shoestring Strip, is a narrow strip of land which belongs to the City of Los Angeles which connects the rest of the city with the harbor in San Pedro. For me find the Gateway itself isn’t such an oddity. It’s intuitively obvious why that strip of Los Angeles is there: to include the port with the contiguous city limits. San Diego has the exact same thing so that it can have a land port with Mexico–(but with San Diego, [the “shoe string strip” is within the Bay of San Diego](https://www.google.com/maps/place/San+Diego,+CA/@32.6275738,-117.0594577,12z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x80d9530fad921e4b:0xd3a21fdfd15df79?hl=en)!) I find it more of an oddity that there’s [a little strip of land entirely inside of this Gateway strip of the City of Los Angeles which is _ **NOT** _ the City of Los Angeles](http://s22.postimg.org/b9893lto1/gateway_unincorporated.jpg). It’s just south of the 405 along Normandie, between 190th and Del Amo. It’s one block wide and about four or five blocks long, consisting mostly of industrial plants (such as the American Polystyrene Corporation, with a few other things, like a lone bar, “imaginatively” named “[The Office](https://plus.google.com/110817182047745156947/about?gl=us&hl=en)”)–and I don’t think a single residence. These five blocks thought they were so special that not only did they refuse to incorporate with the City of Los Angeles (or with the cities of Torrance and Gardena, which probably would have taken them) but they refused to even join the area of the main other incorporated land between L.A. and Carson, which is only about 500 feet away. I mean, who the hell do they think they are? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities-another-thread/706895.md?page=11)