Grand Canyon West, Arizona, USA

What is amazing about Guano Point is how close you can get to the edge of the canyon. Look: no fence, no railing! It would different were it National Park property, but it's not. Grand Canyon West belongs to the Hualupai Indians. [2022]

Grand Canyon West, Arizona, USA

The Sky Walk allows visitors to float like eagles above the Grand Canyon, to look down 3500 feet through the glass platform, and to help provide employment and income for the Hualupai Indian Nation. It opened in 2007. [2022]

Grand Canyon West, Arizona, USA

The land and the eagle are sacred to the Hualapai tribe. Do you see the eagle? His wings are spread, and he's ready to swoop to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, which the Hualapai once farmed? Today, Grand Canyon West is still their land, and they invite you to enjoy it with them with a hearty gamyu. [2022]

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Anchor Cities of Megalopolis: Boston. Boston is the oldest of Megalopolis' anchor cities. It was founded in 1630 as a haven for English Puritans. In fact, all great cities exert ecclesiastical leadership. Trinity Episcopal is just one of 700 churches in Boston. Here, congregants gather outside for the benediction after one of many Sunday services. [2021]

New York, New York, USA

Anchor Cities of Megalopolis: New York. It's recognized as a "jacks of all trades" around the world. Get it? If Megalopolis had a capital, New York would be it. Why? Because it's the city all other cities look up to. Only London is on par. To you, NYC sends hugs (O) and kisses (X). Again, get it? [2022]

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

 

Anchor Cities of Megalopolis: Philadelphia. Game Board Park has to play second fiddle to Love Park across the street: a reminder that Philadelphia has had to play second fiddle to New York City since 1800. But that is what gives Megalopolis such stature: competition among so many large, influential cities. What board game does this piece represent? [2021]

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Anchor Cities of Megalopolis: Baltimore. Fifty million people (one out of six American) live in Megalopolis. Its dominance of the U.S. economy was established centuries ago, and it has held. In fact, wrote Jean Gottmann, in no other place in the world are there so many large cities so close to each other. It's a constellation as unique as that tall ship. Get it? [2021]

Washington, D.C., USA

Anchor Cities of Megalopolis: Washington. Jean Gottmann is the geographer who put Megalopolis on the map. He described it as "the urbanized northeastern seaboard of the United States." Washington and its suburbs were the southern terminus, but most people would now extend it to Richmond, and maybe Virginia Beach. [2021]

St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Kumi-daiko, or Japanese drums, has been part of Japanese culture for centuries, and now it is part of American culture, too. Like it or not, that is what North America does so well. It takes the best the world has to offer and owns it: cultural appropriation notwithstanding! [2021]

Valetta, Malta

Bay windows add floorspace and maximize the potential for natural lighting (and heating) in flats like these. They also increase the possibilities for invigilating the street, even if it is the pets who are keeping watch. Jane Jacobs would approve. [2009]

Mandai, Republic of Singapore

Maps on the landscape always attract attention, and that attention is especially appreciated when it comes from younglings. Why? Because it gets their eyes off their cell phones. But wait. The title of this map is Pokémon Trainers Map. Ugh! Looks like it might drive their attention to their cell phones. [2016]

Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Welcome spring! Soon, the world (or at least the northern temperate latitudes) will look like this again. How privileged was the head gardener who got to live in this cottage to put him close to his work: supervising care of the Princess Street Gardens! The gardens were created about the same time as Frederick Law Olmsted was building Central Park. [2017]

Seoul, South Korea

Even though the chain tried to insinuate itself into Korean culture by transliterating its name into the Hangul script, Hardee's did not last long in the ROK. The first store opened in 1990 and the last store closed in 2004. Now, if we could just get CKE brands to withdraw from Russia, where it operates 15 Carl's Jr. restaurants. [2000]

Cairo, Egypt

Pizza Hut has 85 stores in Egypt. To insinuate itself into local markets, the chain has transliterated its name into Arabic. Remember: Both Hebrew and Arabic are linguistic cousins that are read right to left. P.S.: Thanks again, Pizza Hut, for pulling out of Russia! [2000]

Beersheba, Israel

Pizza Hut has 90 stores in Israel. To insinuate itself into local markets, the chain has transliterated its name into Hebrew, which is read right to left. The company's official logo, in the middle, is in English. P.S.: Thanks, Pizza Hut, for pulling out of Russia! [1997]

Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Follow the street from Central Station to the heart of center city. On each corner is a predatory North American fast-food chain: Tim Hortons, KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut. What does such a corporate landscape say about the Scottish city of Glasgow? P.S.: Tim's has never done business in Russia, but thanks to the other three for pulling out. [2017]

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Starbucks is headquartered in Seattle. Using the distance decay model, predict the first foreign country into which Starbucks expanded. Using the same model, predict the city. Today, Starbucks does business in 83 countries. Strike that: 82 countries. Thanks, Starbucks, for pulling out of Russia! [2010]

New Bern, North Carolina, USA

Pepsi, unlike its older brother, low-keyed corporate murals. Certainly, there was none on the wall of Caleb Bradham's pharmacy in New Bern, "the Birthplace of Pepsi Cola." Until 1898, Pepsi was known as "Brad's Drink." See the historical marker? P.S.: Thanks, Pepsi, for pulling out of Russia! [2021]

Houma, Louisiana, USA

Coca-Cola murals were especially prominent in the rural South and Appalachia. If a town had a drug store (with a soda fountain, of course), it probably had a Coke advertisement outside. For many decades now, many have been rediscovered and some have been brought back to life. P.S.: Thanks, Coke, for pulling out of Russia! [2009]

Jamesport, Missouri, USA

The first Coca-Cola mural goes back to 1894 in . . . you guessed it! . . Georgia, not far from Atlanta. After that, corporate murals became one of the preferred methods to advertise the "delicious and refreshing drink." The total number of murals has been estimated at 16,000. P.S.: Thanks, Coke, for pulling out of Russia! [2008]

Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, USA

The Baby Boom Generation might remember when Coca-Cola sold for a nickel, but they certainly don't remember when it contained cocaine (extracted from the coca leaf), thus inspiring the name we know it by today. P.S.: Thanks, Coke, for pulling out of Russia! P.P.S.: You might also enjoy Geographically Yours Welcome. [2014]

Orange, Texas, USA

Concrete oranges, all painted by local artists, dot the landscape of Orange, Texas. They recall the city and county of Orange and the acres of orange groves that contributed to the area's economic base before the citrus industry shifted further south. This one greets visitors to the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot, which is now a museum. [2022]

Eastville, Virginia, USA

If you have visited the Eastern Shore of Virginia, you have seen some fine examples of "connecting architecture." The locals describe it as "big house, little house, colonnade, and kitchen." They also think it is unique. Why do you think such architectural ideas were so popular in on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay? And why no connected barn? [2022]

Old West Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA

Along the Connecticut River are many examples of New England "connecting architecture," sometimes described as "big house, little house, back house, barn." Yes, that garage probably started as a barn. Why do you think such architectural ideas were so popular in New England? Could the snow on the ground be a clue, or is it more complex than that? [2022]

White River Junction, Vermont, USA

If Vermont and New Hampshire ever merge, White River Junction will be the capital of the new state. Why? Because it is so centrally located. That centrality was initially provided by the junction of the Connecticut and White Rivers; then, it was reinforced first by the railroads, and then by the junction of I-91 and I-89. [2022]

Hartford, Connecticut, USA

It is so bold and creative that you can't miss it. That's how the Women's Empowerment Center wanted it, and that's how artist Micaela Levesque painted it. The mural honors Justice Ginsberg and four other women. Do you recognize First Lady Michelle Obama? Justice Sonia Sotomayor? Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso? Vice-President Kamala Harris? [2022]

Springfield, Massachusetts, USA

"Stand With Ukraine": Those words, along with blue and gold ribbons, quickly became part of the American landscape when a re-assembly of the Soviet Union began, thanks to "mother Russia." The people of Ukraine don't deserve this, and the people of Russia don't deserve to be led by a President who has turned back the clock an entire century. [2022]

New York New York, USA

Banksy, the world's foremost graffiti artist, still lives in the shadows of the pop-art underworld. Geographically Yours could not pass up a chance to see a curated collection of his art (unauthorized, 'vandalous,' photographic). In 2008, London's CCTV mural appeared and disappeared almost instantaneously. But, apparently, more than my photograph survives. [2022]

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

She wants to look as bright as the morning on Jackson Square. Does she know that the square's namesake may have held her ancestors as slaves? Andrew Jackson had nearly a hundred slaves at his Tennessee plantation, some of whom he took to the White House with him. [2022]

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Yesterday, everybody in New Orleans was acting like a horse's ass. Today, they are confessing their sins and promising good behavior for the next forty days. Who's riding that stead? Andrew Jackson, positioned in the middle of Jackson Square. The original inhabitants of North America consider him a horse's ass. Do you know why? [2022]

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Medieval harlequin history is preserved in Mardi Gras celebrations, which culminate today, the day before Ash Wednesday. An old French spelling, hellequin, associates these madcap performers with the underworld and the night-riding demons who live there. Today is the last day to put those demons behind you, for tomorrow begins the season of Lent. [2022]