432 PARK AVENUE – NEW YORK CITY

432 Park Avenue is a residential skyscraper at 57th Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, overlooking Central Park. The 1,396-foot-tall tower was developed by CIM Group and Harry B. Macklowe and designed by Rafael Viñoly. A part of Billionaires' Row, 432 Park Avenue has some of the most expensive residences in the city, with the median unit selling for tens of millions of dollars. At the time of its completion in 2015, 432 Park Avenue was the third-tallest building in the United States and the tallest residential building in the world. As of 2023, it is the sixth-tallest building in the United States, the fifth-tallest building in New York City, and the third-tallest residential building in the world.

432 Park Ave. New York, NY

CHISUMLE-DEMCHOK ROAD AKA UMLING LA ROAD

 

In 2017 Chisumle-Demchok Road was constructed in Ladakh, India between Chisumle and Demchok villages passing through Umling Pass in the Himalaya Mountains. As the road ascends to a height of 19,300 feet in the vicinity of Umling Pass, it becomes the world’s highest motorable road.  Of note is that Chisumle-Demchok Road is at an altitude that is higher than the Mount Everest Base Camp.

THE KARAKORAM (KKK) HIGHWAY

The Karakoram Highway, known by its initials KKK is an 810-mile national highway which extends Hasan Abdal in the Punjab province of Pakistan to the Khunjerab Pass in Gilgit-Baltistan, where it crosses into China and becomes China National Highway 314.  The Karakoram Highway is the highest paved international road in the world. It is also the highest border crossing in the world, at an elevation of 16,000 feet. For comparison, Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Western Europe, is 15,780 feet and Mount Whitney, the highest point in the 48 contiguous US states, is 14,468 feet.

THE IRTYSH RIVER

The Irtysh is a river in Russia, China, and Kazakhstan. It is the chief tributary of the Ob, and at a length of 2,640 miles, it is the longest tributary river in the world.  The Irtysh and the Ob River together constitute the world’s seventh longest river system.  From its origins as the Kara-Irtysh (Black Irtysh) in the Mongolian Altay mountains in Xinjiang, China, the Irtysh flows northwest through Lake Zaysan in Kazakhstan, meeting the Ishim and Tobol rivers before merging with the Ob near Khanty-Mansiysk in western Siberia, Russia.

GOAT CANYON TRESTLE

Goat Canyon Trestle is a wooden trestle in San Diego County, California. At a length of 597–750 feet, it is the world's largest all-wood trestle. Goat Canyon Trestle was built in 1933 as part of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway, after one of the many tunnels through the Carrizo Gorge collapsed. The railway had been called the "impossible railroad" upon its 1919 completion. It ran through Baja California and eastern San Diego County before ending in Imperial Valley. The trestle was made of wood, rather than metal, due to temperature fluctuations in the Carrizo Gorge. By 2008, most rail traffic stopped using the trestle.   To resist Goat Canyon's high winds, it was built with a 14° curve. Additionally, the bridge was built without nails.

TRESTLE AS SEEN FROM THE SOUTHEAST IN 2016

JEFF DAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS

Jeff Davis County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,996. The county is named for Jefferson Davis, who served as the 23rd United States Secretary of War in the 1850s, and as Confederate president.  Jeff Davis County is recognizable for its unique shape; it is a pentagon that has no north–south nor east–west boundaries, save for a six-mile line serving as its southern boundary. It is the only county in the United States that touches a foreign country (Mexico) at a single point.

JEFF DAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS

BUSTER BOYD BRIDGE

The Buster Boyd Bridge is a four-lane automobile bridge spanning the Catawba River/Lake Wylie between Lake Wylie, York County, South Carolina and Steele Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The bridge carries/connects SC 49 and NC 49.  The Buster Boyd Bridge is the only bridge in which North Carolina is on the southern end and South Carolina is on the northern end. In other words, if you are travelling across the bridge from South Carolina into North Carolina, you are travelling south and if you are travelling from North Carolina into South Carolina, you are travelling north.

BUSTER BOYD BRIDGE