Identifying Earth

Judging from the complete lack of guesses on the last four entries in the Unidentified Earth series, and to judge from the lack of response when I mentioned closing down the series last week, I assume that the series has run its course. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted, but nothing lasts forever, right?

Anyway, to give away the last four entries: UI 69 is Chimney Rock in Nebraska. UI 70 is Newgrange, the ancient building in Ireland that aligns with the sun on the solstices; UI 71 is Taughannock Falls, near Ithaca, NY; and UI 72 is the B&O Warehouse beyond the right field wall at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD.

And there we have it. Thanks for playing, folks!

Unidentified Earth #72

OK, we took a week off last week, but now we're back to full strength, or so it would seem...wouldn't it? Hmmmm...anyway.

We have three entries that still have no guesses to them: UI 69 (a location west of the Mississippi), UI 70 (a location in the British Isles), and the last entry, UI 71 (a location in New York State). I know, lame hints, but I'm running low. (And to be honest, I initially didn't even remember what UI 71 was! But now I've remembered. Ha! Hmmmm....)

And here's the new puzzler:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses.

Unidentified Earth #71

We're almost caught up, with the exception of last week's UI 70, a place where astronomical knowledge can come into play, and the preceding UI 69, around which no one has circled the wagons to guess correctly. But UI 68 was pegged as Tintern Abbey, the Wales church-in-ruins that served as inspiration to one of William Wordsworth's more famed poems. Congrats, guessers!

And now for the new puzzler:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses!

Unidentified Earth #70

OK! We have two identifications: UI 66 has been pegged as the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX -- otherwise known as the location of "Mission Control". (Although I'm not sure what the object pictured there is -- some kind of antenna, maybe?) Also, UI 67 was finally pegged as Riverside, IA -- the town that has proclaimed itself the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. Hooray! UI 68 is, however, still Unidentified, which strikes me as a poetic turn of events, and no one has yet shown enough pioneering spirit to peg the location of last week's UI 69. Hmmmm.

And that brings us to the new puzzler:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, folks!

Unidentified Earth #69

We're getting quite the backlog here, all of a sudden: no guesses on UI's 66 or 67, and 68 is still unidentified after one guess. Wow! If you worked at UI 66 during the 1960s and early 1970s, the names of Greek gods would have figured in a lot of your conversations. (To be fair, I don't actually know what the item pictured in UI 66 is, so just nailing the location is fine.) If you live around UI 67, you'd best keep your prized hotrod car locked up lest some young tyro do something stupid with it. And when visiting UI 68, you may discover that your words are worth a lot. OK? (Wow, these are some lame hints.)

Now for the new puzzler:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, please!

Unidentified Earth #68

Wow, we still have zero guesses on the last two puzzlers! UI 66 is a place where, if you work there, you'd best be prepared not to fail; UI 67 is best known for someone born there. Maybe.

And now for the new one:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, please!

Unidentified Earth #67

And here we are! Last week's UI 66 has no guesses, which strikes me as, shall we say, problematic. Hmmmm.

And now for the new puzzler:



Where are we? Rot13 your guesses, please!

Unidentified Earth #66

An anonymous reader pegged UI 65 correctly as the French terminus of the Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel. So we're all caught up! That being the case, we can jump right to the new puzzler.



Where are we? Rot13 your guesses, folks!

Unidentified Earth #65

Once again, I'm a day late. This time, I have an excuse. But I'm not telling you what it is. Ha!

Anyway, the usual bookkeeping first: UI 62 was finally pegged, after a few hints, as Mill Ends Park in Portland OR. This is recognized by the fine folks at Guiness (and not the oatmeal stout people, either) as the world's smallest city park. The park is the bush in the middle of that little concrete thing in the middle of the street. And last week's UI 64 was identified quickly as Biosphere 2 in Arizona. Hooray! We're all caught up.

And now the new puzzler:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, please!

Unidentified Earth #64

OK, I'm a day late on this, but at least I'm still posting the same week, right? Anyway, time for the usual housekeeping: last week's UI 63 was correctly identified, first by a reader who thought it was Cape Canaveral, which was correct in the general sense, and then was pegged down specifically by the second commenter therein as one of the enormous crawler-transporters that carry the spacecraft and their rockets from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pads at Kennedy Space Center. I thought it was incredibly cool that Google Maps had satellite imagery of one of the crawlers on the road. Scotty gets a hundred Quatloos, but Dave gets the remaining 900.

UI 62, however, is still Unidentified. This location is in the Pacific Northwest, and as noted, is the world's smallest example of a certain type of location.

And now, without further ado, the new puzzler! I'm not expecting this one to be terribly difficult:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, folks!

Unidentified Earth #63

Here we go! Last week's UI 62 is as yet Unidentified, with one erroneous, but astute, guess. We're looking at a place that holds a world record in that entry. UI 61 was identified, once we reached the "hint" stage, as Centralia, Pennsylvania, a town that no longer exists because the coal mines underground beneath the town caught fire years ago and have rendered the entire town unfit for human habitation. We actually drove through Centralia years ago, my family and I; it lay on one route we would occasionally take between WNY and the Philadelphia area where my grandmother and aunt lived at the time. The town was dying even then, and it was surreal to see smoke venting from pipes stuck in the ground in an attempt to allow the gases below to escape.

UI 58 was also finally pegged as Mt. Sunday in New Zealand, which was the site of the Edoras set for The Lord of the Rings. So, I believe that makes us up-to-date. Time for the new puzzler!



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, please!

Unidentified Earth #62

First, the housekeeping. UI 59 was identified by Aaron as the Beartooth Highway, a road that winds through the alpine country between Montana and Wyoming in the vicinity of Yellowstone. Yay, Aaron! But UI 58 remains Unidentified, although Aaron is again on the right track. Perhaps what is throwing him off is the fact that the objects built here for the filming of the movie that was shot here are now no longer there? Anyway! And thus far, zero guesses on last week's UI 61. I guess we're not burning it up on that one, huh?

And now for the newest installment!



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, please!

Unidentified Earth #61

Time for this week's puzzler! First, the usual housekeeping. UI 60 broke a streak of as-yet Unidentified entries, as Dave in Rocha pegged it fairly quickly as the giant letter 'M' that is maintained on the side of a mountain in Montana, overlooking the University of Montana in Missoula, MT. UIs 58 and 59 are still without guesses, though! Wow. I can imagine why no one would want to visit UI 58, as it is a place where one would find more cheer in a graveyard. UI 59 is rated as one of North America's most scenic drives -- when the road is open, that is.

So here's the new one:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, folks!

Unidentified Earth #60

OK, after a week off last week, UI returns. As of yet, UIs 58 and 59 are without guesses of any kind! If you were to approach UI 58 on horseback, you might hear somewhere in the back of your head the playing of a Hardanger fiddle, while UI 59 looks like one of the most nail-biting drives in North America. Hmmmmm.

And now, the new one:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses if you've got 'em, folks!

Unidentified Earth #59

Well, I'm claiming victory on UI 55. This is a section of the Youghiogheny River in southwestern Pennsylvania, which is referred to locally as "the loop", for obvious reasons. This is one of the most popular whitewater boating rivers in the northeast, and the run here begins just below the falls at Ohiopyle and then proceeds seven or eight miles downstream. Alternatively, boaters can park in Ohiopyle and do just "the Loop", taking their boats back out at the far end of the Loop and hiking back up to their cars. Fun wow!

And I have no guesses for UI 58, either, so time for hints. This site was a movie location. If you were to approach the fictional locale filmed here, you should not expect a warm welcome.

With that, we come to the newest installment:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, folks!

Unidentified Earth #58

Well, we have two of three of the last installments Identified: UI 57 is the Matterhorn at Disneyworld (unlike the real Matterhorn in Switzerland), and UI 56 is a railroad bridge over Lake Britton in California. The bridge is more famous for appearing in a movie set in Oregon: fictional Castle Rock, Oregon, to be precise. This is the trestle where Gordy and Vern nearly perish under the wheels of a train in Stand By Me.

UI 55, however, is still Unidentified! OK, OK, I made this one way too hard -- although a good guess was offered on the comments for another entry (it's not Brady's Bend). The only way anyone will get this is if they're into whitewater rafting, kayaking, or canoeing. Doo de doo de doo...and now for the new puzzler!



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, please!

Unidentified Earth #57

OK, so thus far we have no guesses for UI 55 or UI 56. So, more hints: UI 55 is in Pennsylvania, while UI 56 is more famous for appearing in a movie as being in a state other than where it actually is.

And now for this week's puzzler:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, folks!

Unidentified Earth #56

UPDATED: Link fixed.

OK, I think I'll be able to get back on schedule with Unidentified Earth now that life is seemingly (!) on the verge of returning to normal sinus rhythm here at Casa Jaquandor. As of this writing, there are exactly zero guesses for UI 55, so I probably made that one a wee bit too hard. So here's hint number one: this location is in a state that borders New York. We'll start narrowing it down, OK?

And meantime, here's the new puzzler:



Where are we? Exact name isn't required, but at least naming the state this is in and the significance of this locale is, for full award of some random number of Quatloos. Rot-13 your guesses, as always, please!!!

Unidentified Earth #55

I know, it's been a few weeks since I got round to continuing this series, for which I apologize. Anyhow, UI 54 was the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, which was designed by that guy who likes to crumple a ball of aluminum foil and then tell his clients, "Yeah. Build it like that."

And now for the new puzzler. This one may be difficult! For full credit, I'll need the local referent of this spot.



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, please!

Unidentified Earth #54

Last week's entry turned out to be pretty easy, apparently: it is Uluru, otherwise known as Ayer's Rock, that really big, well, rock in the middle of the Australian Outback. Also, UI 52 was identified as the Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago's Millennium Park. Several incorrect guesses thought it was a pool of water, but a careful look at the relections reveals that the surface of the object is convex and not flat, as a pool of water would be. Anyway, congrats to the winners!

And now for this week's entry:



Where are we? Rot-13 your guesses, folks!