Panacea, Florida, USA

Adjacent to the Wakulla County Airport is a housing development with a rather unique sales pitch. It's a development with fly-in homesites. However, there doesn't seem to have been much diffusion even though Tarpine and the idea of fly-in homes has been around for decades. [1995]

Seattle, Washington, USA

Maps on the Landscape: Here's one on an awning, trying desperately (using a flag) to tell everyone that Alaska is part of the United States. How interesting: Usually we see maps of the U.S. without Alaska (or Hawaii). In this case we see a map of Alaska without the other 49! [2011]

Kingman, Arizona, USA

Maps on the Landscape: Here's one on a wall, just loving its position at the center of the Kingman city seal. Blank walls make such perfect tableaux for mural maps, miners, and steam locomotives. Mural maps are perfect for unleashing the power of place. [2009]

Pooler, Georgia, USA

Maps on the Landscape: Here's one on a restaurant (actually two). "Taste My Culture" says the sign. That's the attitude we should have about every culture! So, what culture is it that you could taste inside these walls? The culture that gives us mofongo. [2018]

Walla Walla, Washington, USA

Walla Walla may have the largest collection of muffler men in the country thanks to Melody Muffler. These two occupy the space once taken up by fuel pumps. And one is playing a melody on that horn. How appropriate! What is his partner doing? [2019]

Walla Walla, Washington, USA

By 7 pm on Sunday, the downtown stores are closed, the restaurants are flourishing, and the entertainment is starting. Relax and enjoy the evening. [2019]

Walla Walla, Washington, USA

Walla Walla's downtown, complete with a full cast of buskers, must be the envy of small cities everywhere. It fully illustrates one of the principles of urban geography: The farther away a small city is from a large metropolitan center, the more likely it will have a healthy downtown. Shopping must go on locally (or, these days, on-line). [2019]

Tavernier, Florida, USA

Her only duty in life is to accept the mail six out of seven days every week. Where does she work? The Florida Keys, the one place in the world where mermaids might actually be real. [2018]

Gloucester, Virginia, USA

Everyone needs a butler or someone to go out and get the mail. Apparently, this one was un-trainable, though. Not surprising since he seems not to have a head on his shoulders. But, that was three decades ago, in the age before robotics. A.I. is now working miracles on butler bots. [1987]

Millsboro, Delaware, USA

The number of mailmyn attacked by dogs has fallen to under 6,000 per year. But, there seem to be no statistics on dinosaur bites. Would you like to be a letter carrier assigned to this route? Yes, mailmyn. It's just an attempt at gender neutrality. [2008]

Antwerp, Belgium

Such a naughty boy. So naughty, in fact, he's got a beer named after him (see the inset?). One theory is that he began life in Brussels by peeing into a fountain. Then, into his teen years, he moved to Antwerp where he got into the party scene. "Naughty boy': That is what deugniet means. [2015]

Bath, England, UK

Read the window. Then, render it mathematically. Fc = ƒ(region, variety, processing, roast, age, brew method), where F-sub-c stands for Flavor of coffee. Of course the most important independent variable is listed first: region. In a regression equation, it would explain the highest proportion of variance. [2015]

Cuzco, Peru

Every August 19 is National Potato Day. But high summer seems like the wrong season to celebrate the potato, mostly because they always have to be cooked. Summer is for fruits and vegetables that you can eat right out of the garden. Nevertheless, any day of the year is a good one to thank southern Peru for contributing potatoes to the world. [2001]

Saksaywaman, Peru

Look world: no mortar! Just polyhedrons perfectly carved to fit together seamlessly. Here they are forming the buttress for a series of agricultural terraces in the Andes, but it is the same technique used to build Inca cities and ceremonial sites. [2001]

Machu Picchu, Peru

If ever a site deserved World Heritage status, it is Machu Picchu, built in the 1400s as a royal estate for the Inca emperor and abandoned as the Spanish decimated the empire. Fortunately, the conquistadors knew nothing of the emperor's isolated retreat; otherwise, they would have destroyed it. [2001]

Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

What is the most popular item at market? Cheese curds. Only in Quebec! Sure, you can snack on them, but it is more likely you will take them home and turn them into poutine, the signature dish of la belle province. [2018]

London, England, USA

Have you ever looked at a tree trunk as a canvass? First, look at the bark. London planetrees are best at mottling their bark. Second, look at the ivy. English ivy is best at turning the canvass green. Third, look at the shadows. Lamp posts are best at providing light, but in this case they're casting shade: enigmatic, just like art should be. [2015]

Ekalaka, Montana, USA

On one week-end every August, townsfolk and nearby ranchers assemble for a celebration of life in Southeast Montana. The good news is that the town's population has increased by a few dozen since the last census. The bad news is that it is only about one-third of what is was at its peak in 1950.[2019]

Ekalaka, Montana, USA

"The Days of '85" is how the people of Ekalaka celebrate their founding. The auction comes just after the parade and before the rodeo. What is auctioned off? Two townsfolk. The highest bidders get to douse them with ice water. Proceeds go to paving sidewalks around the new hospital. Not bad for a county seat of little more than 300 inhabitants. [2019]

Ekalaka, Montana, USA

What's going on here? Somebody is getting doused with ice water (complete with ice cubes), and.everybody else is smiling. To figure it all out, come back tomorrow! [2019]

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Sometimes murals are better than an art gallery. Better in the sense that a visible outside wall democratizes the interpretational experience, all the while challenging us to figure things out. The fire extinguisher is Chinese red and the flag emblem is that of 'Red China.' What did Escrif mean when he put 'Emergency Only' at the bottom? [2013]

Fennimore, Wisconsin, USA

Are bikers extraterrestrials? That seems to be the question posed by this mural with its silhouetted E.T. theme. But, there is also an E.C. theme there: Extra Chronological. When you are out on the open road, time and the universe stand still. [2019]

Folly Beach, South Carolina, USA

John Wayne and Clint Eastwood: together again on a wall for all to see them standing tall, getting ready for a brawl. Does a mural like this betray the demographics of this tourist town? How old do you have to be to even remember all those spaghetti westerns? [2012]

New York, New York, USA

Filling in the potholes: Isn't that what we all spend our lives doing? The highway of life runs smooth for a while, then we see a rough spot ahead and hope it is not a pothole large enough to swallow us up. If it is, we get out the shovel and try to fill it in before we cross. Or do we navigate our way around it and say a prayer for the next person coming by? [2018]

Anita, Iowa, USA

The Pillsbury doughboy seems to have been nailed to a telephone pole, but he still seems so happy. At 54 years old, he is probably happy about how well he has defied aging. Now an historic figure, he seems to belong along a historic highway. [2019]

Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland's skyline builds, step by step, from the warehouse and old ferry terminal on the waterfront to the eye-catcher known as the Sky Tower. Now that we've seen it through the eyes of a sail-boat skipper, let's go up and see if through the eyes of a "sky jumper." [2006]

Jakarta, Indonesia

Let's bring back the colonial era! Can't you imagine these bikes on the streets of Amsterdam? In case you are not 'in the know,' Batavia (now Jakarta) was the capital of the Dutch East Indies, now called Indonesia. Kota Tua is the place in Jakarta where the colonial era lives on. [2016]

City Centre, Gibraltar

Here is what Main Street in Gibraltar looks like. The only puzzle is its name. In this British colony, why wouldn't the main street be called High Street? Theory: Gibraltar's business district did not evolve along a highway. Highways lead somewhere; Gibraltar is a dead end. [2015]

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Compare Christianity's Roman Catholic cathedrals to Hinduism's Tamil temples. Just as Christian architecture may have reached the pinnacle of magnificence with the Gothic cathedral, Hindu architecture may have reached the same point with the temples of southern India and Sri Lanka, after which the Sri Kandaswamy Kovil was modeled. [2011]

Punda, Willemstad, Curaçao

Curaçao's floating market doesn't really float, but the boats that dock along the wharf do. Much of the fish and and bushels of fruits and vegetables used to come from Venezuela, which is only 60 miles away. That may not still be happening. [2017]

Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

What would George Ferris think if he came back today and saw what had become of his invention, the Ferris Wheel? It has become universally loved and seems to always be in fashion. The first Ferris Wheel appeared at the World Columbian Expositon in Chicago in 1893. [2009]