They're Watching

Apparently, all those "paranoid" "delusions" I've been having -- you know, the ones where I'm being secretly photographed while going about my daily activities -- aren't completely unfounded! I knew it!

Alaskanmama sent me a message last night entitled "You're a Google STAR!" And inside were these three screenshots:






Soren and I have been immortalized (in internet terms) on Google Maps Street View!!!!!!!! Freaking sweet! Apparently I was zoning out on that particular walk, and missed the car driving by with the big 360-degree camera mounted on top. I was probably looking at a really fascinating pile of moose poop at the time.

It's so exciting to be in Street View! Even if it is some random corner of Anchorage that no one will ever look at (except Alaskanmama, apparently). You can see the pictures by going to maps.google.com and typing in "1786 Scenic Way, Anchorage, AK", then clicking on the Street View link, and then rotating the view counterclockwise a couple times. And then, assuming I know you as well as I think I do, you will type in your own address and look for yourself.

Off the Grid

So, I promised I'd write about Anchorage's "grid" "system". Like all sensible cities (i.e. not Boston or Providence), Anchorage is laid out as a grid of numbered avenues and lettered streets. So if you wanted to do something like drive from O Street & 15th Ave to O Street & 7th Ave, you should just be able to drive down O Street for 8 blocks, right?

HA!

Here's what you actually have to do:



The grid, as you can see, is broken up pretty much all over the place, and that combined with all the one-way streets means that you actually have to Mapquest things like "O St & 15th Ave to O St & 7th Ave". Additional points of interest on the above map:

A) Note that this is O Place, as opposed to O Street.

B) This tiny nub of N Street doesn't even line up with the rest of N Street. According to the street-naming conceit in Galveston, TX, this would make it "M 1/2 Street". Which would be awesome.

C) Our house! Hi!

Here are a couple other nice driving situations, both within 8 blocks of our house. God only knows what's going on in the rest of this city.



The above image shows what you must contend with if you're heading west on 15th Ave. You're bopping along from K Street, hoping to get to M Street, when WHOA WHAT you find that you're being forced onto Minnesota Street! If you want to get to M and 15th, silly, you have to turn right on K, left on 13th, left on L, and then right onto a street which looks like a bike path but which is actually 15th Ave. Once you've passed K on 15th, you have no choice but to get on Minnesota and go up half a mile until you can turn around. The best part, though, is that once you've turned around and you get off Minnesota, the first intersection is 15th, and if you turn left on 15th, you end up right back on Minnesota again! Not that I've ever done that.

Next:



Above, you will see what you have to do to get from 1600 Scenic Way to 1700 Scenic Way. It's not so much that there are two sections of Scenic Way that aren't connected -- it's just that Scenic Way becomes a completely different street, and then a second completely different street, before it changes back to Scenic Way. I think it's called Hidden Lane because Scenic Way is hidden underneath it or something.

Anyway, it was hard to adjust at first, but once you know you have to get directions for pretty much any trip between two points, you learn to live with it.