What passes for excitement in these parts is seeing not one, but TWO “world’s largests” in one day. In September, we went to the world’s largest DIY Festival, the World Maker Faire, held at the New York Science Center in Queens. It was A. MAZING. But this post is about globes.

On the walk from the parking lot to the main gate, we stopped by the world’s largest globe. The Unisphere in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was built for the 1964-1965 World’s Fair as a symbol of world peace. It is 140 feet high (that’s 12 stories) and 120 feet in diameter. Made of stainless steel, it weighs 900,000 pounds! It is stationery. It is beautiful.

Wearing our goofball T-shirts in front of the Unisphere

Of course, we’ve also seen another BIG globe, specifically, the world’s largest rotating globe, at the DeLorme headquarters in Yarmouth, ME.

Read the rest of this entry »

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

I couldn’t wait to try out our new, matching Go BIG or Go Home T-shirts, which I purchased in a frenzy of blind gooberness while ordering business cards on Vista Print.  It didn’t matter where we went, so long as we could wear the coordinated attire which would brand us fools.

Our gooberifically matching Go BIG T-shirts. I still owe The Boy $2.00 for agreeing to wear it.

The shirts arrived just in time for our trip to Maine, both to attend a college reunion and to see “Eartha,” the world’s largest rotating and revolving globe in Yarmouth. As an added BIG bonus, we also went to the L.L.Bean flagship store in neighboring Freeport. Outside the store stands a 17-foot boot.

Happily, no coercion was necessary to get the four of us psyched for the trip. Matt got to take the new family roadster, a Mazda CX-9, on the open road for a little zoom, zoom, zoom. The Boy got to miss a day of school. The Girl was very excited to stay in a “soyal.” This is the word she’s decided to use instead of the widely-accepted “hotel.” We don’t know how and where she picked this up, but she’s quite certain that this noun describes a place offering overnight lodging.

Our trip to a “soyal” actually became a nifty bargaining chip the week before the trip, as in “If you don’t let me brush your teeth, we’re not going to the soyal.” She’s three. There’s a lot of negotiation happening in the course of a normal day.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

I attended Bates College in Lewiston, ME, and my 20th reunion gave us the perfect opportunity to visit the “Vacationland” state together as a family. As well as distract me from the unsettling fact that it’s been two freakin’ decades since I was a college-aged student.

Conveniently, Yarmouth is on the way to Lewiston, and is also the home to the DeLorme Map Company. The 41-foot globe sits in the company’s glass-enclosed lobby.

Okay, what was so cool about it?

Eartha!

Eartha is immense, so regardless of your age, your first reaction is “Wow!”  To even see the northern hemisphere, you have to take the stairs or elevator to the second and third floor observation balconies.

Read the rest of this entry »