(For the View From Your Window contest, the results below exceed the content limit for Substack’s email service, so to ensure that you see the full results, click the headline above.)
Highlights from this week’s contest:
A VFYW from the Moon.
Magnetic birds — literally.
A funny origin story of the alley-oop.
The world’s biggest nut.
Adorable dog pics from three more sleuths.
First let’s hear from the winner of last week’s contest, who used to live in the building next to the VFYW building:
Wow, incredible news! I’d love a copy of the book, thank you! Winning the VFYW someday was definitely in my bucket list, and winning with a view that brings so many memories to me makes it extra special.
I want to add some color to Roman Diaz 300 — “that reddish building besides the one where the picture was taken from” in last week’s contest. Back in 2009, I was living in Connecticut. I had a great job in finance and everything was going well for me professionally, but at home, my marriage was falling apart. After the divorce was finalized in 2009, I decided I needed a change of scenery, so I quit my cushy job, sold all my things, and went back to Chile, which I had left back when I was 16. My ex-wife and I had no kids together, so this wasn’t that hard of a decision, but my family and friends all thought I was crazy anyway.
I landed at my brother’s apartment, which was in this “reddish” building, on the fourth floor specifically. A few weeks later, a studio apartment opened up in that same building on the 15th floor, so I rented it. Unlike last week’s window, this apartment had a direct view towards the Andes, which was completely unbelievable. I wish I could find a picture of it, but if I find one, I’ll send it. The apartment truly had the most ridiculous view for something like $300 USD a month.
It was in this apartment where I lived through 2010’s mega-earthquake in Chile. I was fully awake when it happened around 3AM, because some friends and I were having a party. Suddenly the couch started moving up and down, as if on some kind of demented theme-park ride.
This apartment was also where my brother and I got the idea to start a software company, which he is still running and which has customers all over Latin America and Spain. Most importantly, I was living here when I started dating the person who would become my wife. We eventually moved back to the US and, after a lot of stops and detours, somehow ended up living in Puerto Rico. We still remember that apartment in Chile very fondly, and she got a kick out last week’s coincidence just as much as I did.
From the runner-up in last week’s contest: “Looks like I’ll always be the bridesmaid, never the bride.” Fear not!
Another followup comes from our super-sleuth in Berkeley (who writes our cinema report each week):
Last week you called me “the ever-reliable.” This week, though, maybe not so much. I started feeling under the weather and couldn’t engage the brain during what would normally be my best movie-sleuthing time. So while I assembled the skeleton of a report during the weekend, I’ll be surprised if it becomes much more than skin and bones by the time I hit send on Wednesday night.
And as for next week and the one after that: We’ve got us a ticket for an aeroplane!
We’re flying somewhere for the first time since Covid. And the dates of the trip aren’t conducive to my being able to give the next two contests much more than cursory attention. I hope they won’t be in places I’ve been looking forward to reporting on with great anticipation.
His movie report this week (way down below) starts with a brief mention of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: “You can’t get me to watch that movie just because a paltry amount of it was shot ten miles away from this week’s window, even with Jesse Eisenberg in the role of Lex Luthor.” But what about the bearded-blogger cameo at the 0:59 mark of this clip?
Not the bearded dude on the left, next to Neil deGrasse Tyson, but rather:
On to this week’s view, our super-sleuth in West Orange writes:
Kid illnesses and childcare gaps spelled no time for window-searching lately, but this view grabbed my attention and, it turns out, didn’t end up taking too long. I suspect lots of people will crack this one, which at first glance looks daunting — it’s so generic! — but on closer inspection, it has lots of little clues.
Here’s a previous winner in Malvern, PA:
So here I am on a rainy Sunday, two days after carpal tunnel surgery (on the non-scrolling left hand!), with Philadelphia sports teams disgraced and absent from TV, the Premier League on international break, awaiting a summons to NYC for the arrival of grandchild #2, feeling bad that I’ve been too busy/lazy to attempt your challenge for months ...
... then you serve us the perfect easy contest for my return to the fray!
A much different reaction comes from a sleuth in San Luis Valley:
You gotta be kidding me!
I just want to say that this week’s VFYW illustrates something important that I’ve learned from reading you guys for over a decade: humility. If I’d never come across VFYW, and someone showed me this image, I’d have bet a LOT of money that nobody could possibly figure out where this photo was taken. But I would have lost. I’m sure at least one of your super-sleuths will figure it out, but it’s like a magic trick that seems utterly impossible — until they do it.
Chini reveals the right window, if you can squint hard enough:
A previous winner takes a stab:
Akron, Ohio? I got instant hometown recognition vibes from this one. I did a quick check of Marathon gas stations in Akron and could not find one that matched, so it’s likely some other similar place. Wherever it is, gas prices sure are low compared to California!
Here’s the super-sleuth in San Mateo:
The Marathon gas station is in [redacted], a very small city with a population of about 7,784. That suggested the transformation for this week’s Reimagined: we’re going to magically transport the gas station (together with its Food Center) to the middle of New York City, keeping the trees:
Or maybe it should be in Times Square — and the speed limit is still 30 MPH:
He follows up with more remixes— and reveals the type of building the view photo was taken from:
Now that we’ve seen what the Marathon gas station looks like transported to New York City (population about 1,000 times that of [town redacted]), I thought we should see what the gas station would look like in a town with a population about 1,000 times smaller. There’s no convenience store because there are almost no people, but there is still an US Post Office across the street from which the picture was taken:
But why limit ourselves to the Earth? What about transporting the Marathon gas station to the moon? The US Post Office is still there, and the speed limit is still 30 MPH:
That encourages me to submit a VFYW photo of my own. This one was taken from Mare Crisium on March 2, 2025, somewhat after 08:34 UTC, by the Blue Ghost lunar lander. Let’s see if Chini can figure this one out!
The Intrepid Couch Traveler gets punny:
I’m not sure my heart is really in this contest. I think I’ll just go out on a ledge and mail it in this week.
You may groan now.
The groan’s meaning will soon become apparent. Our super-sleuth on the UWS names the right state:
Wait — are we in an Ed Ruscha painting?
OK, maybe not. But the only clue I’m able to decipher at all is the license plate, which I’m reasonably sure is from Michigan. If that’s correct, it narrows our choices down to 823 Marathon stations — though only the ones in an area busy enough to have a 30-minute parking zone across the street. Theoretically doable ... just not by me.
Over the years, I’ve spent a LOT of time in Michigan, particularly with clients in downtown Detroit and various parts of Troy. So for the hell of it, I’m going to say that this is a Marathon station on Big Beaver Road in Troy, Michigan ... a street that introduced me to the concept of the Michigan left (left turn, that is). Very confusing for a New Yorker.
Can’t wait to see how the superer-than-I sleuths figure it out! Thanks again for a fun contest!
“The contest was a bit evil this week,” says the super-sleuth in Bethlum:
Marathon has close to 8,000 sites in the US, so that license plate with our friend Dusty had to be of assistance. Ohio has the most Marathons, and its plate is not like the one we see. Michigan is second in number of stations, and there we go! The plate is a Michigan plate, but that still leaves us with 823 possible locations. Gah!
The Raleigh super-sleuth compares the plates:
From the weekly super-sleuth trio in Vancouver, WA:
This week’s view ended up being satisfying — but began as dread. After identifying the license plate as Michigan, I thought we would have a “marathon task” of wading through the countless gas stations in Michigan, with memories of our “Dollar General” search that ended in failure for us (contest #446).
Our super-sleuth in Yakima writes, “This week, only 7,400 Marathon stations to choose from”:
Providing a similar map is “the a-maize-ing sleuth in Ann Arbor”:
At first glance I thought: Oh No! Not Again!! I was triggered by the wicked slog last December to find the Dollar General Store that was next to a post office.
Then I saw the Michigan license plate and breathed out: Chris is benevolent after all.
Not so fast! There are still 700+ Marathon gas stations in Michigan — 9% of the total in the US:
There’s a sign — “GRA??” — on the right side of the photo. Not Grass Lake, which has only one Marathon gas station and was easily falsified. But if it’s Grand, God help us: Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, Grand Traverse Tires and Exhausts ...
Like the Song says: Ain’t It Grand?
Berkeley also got dizzy:
Who knew so many cities, towns, and villages in Michigan are named Grand Something? There’s Grand Beach (pop. 310), Grand Blanc (pop. 7,784), Grand Haven (pop. 11,045), Grand Island (pop. 35), Grand Junction (pop. 4,135), Grand Ledge (pop. 7,838), Grand Marais (pop. 234), as well as the mononymous Grandville (17,094). And of course Grand Rapids (pop. 200,117). I only learned about all those others after paying Street-View visits to every single Marathon gas station in the greater Grand Rapids area (several times each).
The ecotourism super-sleuth in Alaska goes with “Grand Rapids — a proximity guess”:
This view felt a little like the Dollar General Deja View, and I could not bring myself to virtually visit some 800+ Marathon gas stations in Michigan — worse yet if the blurred license plate was a red herring and I’d need to check others in neighboring states. I recruited Valya, but she also couldn’t find a hook to get us closer. I had donated an hour of my life looking at gas stations when the following image popped up, which I took as a sign to abandon all hope:
To at least provide some content if we do happen to be in Michigan, let’s mention the Iron Belle Trail, which has biking and hiking routes that appear to be about 70% complete. When completed, the hiking trail will be about 1,200 miles long, while the biking route will be about 825 — and both slice northwest across the state from Detroit up the thumb and over to the Upper Peninsula. The route is largely overlaid with the North Country National Scenic Trail (an east-west trail from VT to ND), but with connectors to Belle Island (in the middle of the Detroit River) and Ironwood (at the UP-Wisconsin border).
The only caveat that I’ll mention is that crossing the Mackinaw Bridge is a problem unless you happen to time it with the annual Bridge Walk or semi-annual bike tours. Bicycles and pedestrians are not permitted on the bridge at other times. Below is a trailer-version video about the routes; and here’s a longer one with more scenics.
From the A2 Team in Ann Arbor:
When we saw the Michigan license plate in the photo, we had a sinking feeling: while we have been living in Michigan for 25 years, we have failed miserably at contests from Michigan, including Muskegon, Muskegon again, Detroit, and Kalamazoo (the Ann Arbor photo was our submission, that doesn’t count). I don’t even remember Jackson.
All of these, however, were before we acquired super-sleuth status (I assume; I haven’t kept track). Nevertheless, another failure would be deeply embarrassing, so the stakes were high.
So what do we have to go on? A building that says “Grand ... ” and a Marathon gas station. Well, and a general impression that the Michigan plate is not a red herring. Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, Grand Blanc pop up quickly in a Google search as places in Michigan, but that led nowhere. Grand Valley? Nope. Searching along the Grand River? Nothing.
Instead, we ultimately got here with a brute force approach of checking Marathon gas stations in Michigan, of which there are many. A bit more systematic sleuthing could have lead to the location much more efficiently, though, because this is the second time in a month — after Fond du Lac, WI — that we’re looking at a public library in the Midwest that would give away part of the town’s name.
Here’s the Intrepid Couch Traveler with yet another clue:
The van logo in the background is a Consumer Energy truck. Easy? God no. They serve almost the entire state:
Our super-sleuth in Sagaponack sees a different kind of van:
Another fun contest, lots of little clues — like the license plate, the Frontier Internet van (so we we’re likely in Michigan) and that blurry Episcopal Church sign:
Here’s Yakima again, confirming that the van is from Frontier:
Yet another clue is flagged by Chicagoland:
Amazing ... no red herrings at all. The Michigan license plate is exactly that. The Marathon gas station is exactly that.
The distinctive Detroit Tigers “D” logo in the gas station window precludes the possibility of this being a random Michigan car in, say, California. There doesn’t even appear to be any notable time-shifting, as all the relevant details in the view are also in the street view images along this street. It’s just pure bread crumbs leading directly to the view.
The Raleigh super-sleuth notes, “The Tigers were eliminated from the MLB playoffs last night in an epic 15-inning battle against the Seattle Mariners.” A clue I should have blurred out is revealed by the super-sleuth in Durham, UK — and his visual shows the Tigers “D” as well:
This one seemed impossible — there are crazy numbers of Marathon gas stations in the US — but you were kind enough to leave the number “115” in view:
A first-time sleuth reveals the right town in Michigan:
I’ve been looking at Views From Your Window for years, but I’ve never ever come close to finding the location. But this week, WOO! THE ADRENALINE I’M FEELING RIGHT NOW IS WORTH THE SUBSCRIPTION ALONE.
A few tip-offs:...
