Halfway to the North Pole

Right here you cross an invisible line that circles the entire planet. This is the forty fifth parallel of north latitude, the halfway mark between the equator and the North Pole, and it runs straight across Door County. Stand on it and you are roughly three thousand miles from the warm middle of the Earth in one direction and three thousand miles from the top of the world in the other.

Markers like this stand along the highways, so travelers can pause at the midpoint of the Northern Hemisphere. There is a fun wrinkle to it. Because the Earth bulges at the equator and flattens at the poles, the true halfway point sits about ten miles north of the line.

So the geography is a little poetic, a little imperfect, and entirely worth a photo before you drive on.