Peru, Indiana and Other Perplexing Place Names

It seems to me that Indiana has an unusually high concentration of places named after other places. When I tried to ask my aunt about this, she didn’t think it was weird that her state has cities named things like Kokomo and Brazil. She brought up the fact that a lot of states have places named after presidents, for example.

Madison county, indiana

But I’m not talking about the various Madison Counties or other places named after notable people or landscape features. I mean the ones named for a very different and far away place for no obvious reason. In Arizona, we have Miami and Florence. Indiana, however, has cities named Peru, Rome, Warsaw, Mexico, Cairo, Dublin, Paris, Alexandria, London, Manhattan, Jordan, Holland, Versailles, Shanghai, Milan, in addition to those above.

Florence, AZ benches
Does that seem unusual to anyone else?

Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space

L.A. Photo Hunt during #BlogHer16!

The first year I went to BlogHer, I challenged myself and fellow attendees to a photo scavenger hunt. It was just a fun way to share what we were seeing of the city and connect.

This year, BlogHer is in LA, and I thought a SoCal photo scavenger hunt would be in order.

Downtown LA

If you’re in Los Angeles this week, see how many of the things on the list below you can spot. Tag photos #LAphotohunt16 on Instagram and/or Twitter.

  1. Palms
  2. Hollywood
  3. Sunglasses
  4. Stars
  5. Traffic
  6. Theme parks
  7. Studios
  8. Waves
  9. Santa Monica
  10. Your choice!

#10 is for whatever else you think belongs on the list.

Since conference schedules tend to be really packed, feel free to take some creative license! (Like I did the last time.)

Hollywood sign

The list has some room for interpretation. “Waves,” for example, could be in the ocean or your hair or when you’re saying hello to friends.

If you’re not going, feel free to post whatever you’re doing this weekend and tag it #notinLAphotohunt16.

Disneyland Anaheim
Afterwards, I’ll share some of the scavenger hunt results here. Can’t wait to see what you find!