Pearl Harbor on Oahu

7 November 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Pearl Harbor and Ford Island © U.S. Navy - Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan Lavin

Pearl Harbor and Ford Island © U.S. Navy – Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan Lavin

Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands are now a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The U.S. government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet and the right to maintain a repair and coaling station for ships here in 1887. The surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941, led the United States to declare war on the Empire of Japan, making the attack on Pearl Harbor the immediate cause of the United States’ entry into World War II.   read more…

Gulf Islands in Canada

2 November 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Environment Reading Time:  10 minutes

View from Baynes Peak on Saltspring Island © Michal Klajban/cc-by-sa-4.0

View from Baynes Peak on Saltspring Island © Michal Klajban/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Gulf Islands is a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia. The name “Gulf Islands” comes from “Gulf of Georgia“, the original term used by George Vancouver in his mapping of the southern part of the archipelago and which before the San Juan Island dispute also was taken to include what have since been called the San Juan Islands. While geopolitically divided, the San Juan Islands and Gulf Islands geologically form part of the larger Gulf Archipelago.   read more…

Brisbane in Queensland

22 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Queenslander architecture © Kgbo/cc-by-sa-4.0

Queenslander architecture © Kgbo/cc-by-sa-4.0

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city of Queensland and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of South East Queensland, which includes several other regional centres and cities. The central business district is situated within a peninsula of the Brisbane River about 15 km (9 mi) from its mouth at Moreton Bay. Brisbane is located in the hilly floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between Moreton Bay and the Taylor and D’Aguilar mountain ranges. It sprawls across several local government areas, most centrally the City of Brisbane. The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite.   read more…

Lāhainā on Maui

13 August 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

© PaulT (Gunther Tschuch)/cc-by-sa-4.0

© PaulT (Gunther Tschuch)/cc-by-sa-4.0

Lahaina (Hawaiian: Lāhainā) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States, and includes the Kaanapali and Kapalua beach resorts. As of the 2020 census, Lahaina had a resident population of 12,702. The CDP encompasses the coast along Hawaii Route 30 from a tunnel at the south end, through Olowalu and to the CDP of Napili-Honokowai to the north. As Lahaina sits on Maui, a relatively small island with limited developable area, its real estate is some of the most expensive in Hawaii.   read more…

Mendocino in California

17 July 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© flickr.com - Lee Coursey/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Lee Coursey/cc-by-2.0

Mendocino (Spanish for “of Mendoza“) is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California, United States. The name comes from Cape Mendocino 85 miles (137 km) to the north, named by early Spanish navigators in honor of Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain. Despite its small size, the town’s scenic location on a headland surrounded by the Pacific Ocean has made it extremely popular as an artists’ colony and with vacationers. Mendocino is located 10 miles (16 km) south of Fort Bragg at an elevation of 154 feet (47 m).   read more…

Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean

8 March 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Marina Taina in Pape'ete © Remi Jouan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Marina Taina in Pape’ete © Remi Jouan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Tahiti (previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Australia. Divided into two parts, Tahiti Nui (bigger, northwestern part) and Tahiti Iti (smaller, southeastern part), the island was formed from volcanic activity; it is high and mountainous with surrounding coral reefs. Its population was 189,517 in 2017, making it by far the most populous island in French Polynesia and accounting for 68.7% of its total population.   read more…

Easter Island in the Polynesian Triangle

30 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

15 standing moai at Ahu Tongariki © Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/cc-by-sa-3.0

15 standing moai at Ahu Tongariki © Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/cc-by-sa-3.0

Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui; Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.   read more…

Solana Beach in California

17 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Timeforkindergarten/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Timeforkindergarten/cc-by-sa-4.0

Solana Beach (Solana, Spanish for “warm wind”) is a coastal city in San Diego County, California. Its population was at 12,941 at the 2020 U.S. Census, up from 12,867 at the 2010 Census. The area was first settled by the San Dieguitos, early Holocene inhabitants of the area. The area was later inhabited by the Kumeyaay, who set up a village they called Kulaumai, on the southern banks of the San Elijo Lagoon. During the Spanish colonial era, trails heading north near Solana Beach crossed inland to avoid the marshes and inlets of the area.   read more…

Kamehameha Highway on Oahu

22 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Palm trees along the beach at Punalu'u Beach Park © Famartin/cc-by-sa-4.0

Palm trees along the beach at Punalu’u Beach Park © Famartin/cc-by-sa-4.0

Kamehameha Highway is one of the main highways serving suburban and rural O‘ahu in the U.S. state of Hawai‘i. Informally known as Kam Highway, it begins at Nimitz Highway near Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, serves the island’s older western suburbs, and turns north across the O‘ahu Central Valley to the North Shore. At the North Shore, Kamehameha Highway heads northeast around the northern tip of O‘ahu, then southeast to and just beyond Kāne‘ohe Bay on the windward coast. The road was named after King Kamehameha I. A short detached segment of the Kamehameha Highway exists for a few blocks in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kalihi. This segment runs as a short extension of Dillingham Boulevard from Pu‘uhale Road (near the O‘ahu Community Correctional Center) to exit 18B on Interstate H-1. This section was contiguous with the rest of the highway before the construction of the H-1 viaduct.   read more…

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