VFYW: Home To Hooters And Cultists

Two types of boobs for contest #368.

(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.)

Heads up that we’re going to institute a new rule for the window contest: the deadline for entries is now every Wednesday at midnight (EST). As the VFYW has progressed, more and more sleuths have been sending last-minute entries — which can suddenly pile up on Friday after Andrew and I publish the main Dish, so even when I get most of the results compiled and edited before Friday, many more hours of work for me remain. That can be super exhausting after a long week of Dishing. So, Wednesday at midnight, procrastinators!

A new married team is hooked on the contest:

Happy Saturday, Chris! Our second-ever submission here — which quickly follows our initial submission with last week’s contest. Indeed, you’re successfully looping in us newbies with these past few views!

Another writes, “I look forward to reading all the other sleuths’ contributions this weekend and to learn more about cocktails, food, movies, music, animals, history and other items of interest associated with this VFYW.” In his technical search, our super-champ in Berkeley was frustrated at first:

My knee-jerk reaction to this view was “Not fair!” — I mean, almost the entire foreground is an uncompleted construction site. That means no matter how new or old this photo is, none of the available satellite views will show this scene and its bizarre, twisty mass of metal the way we’re seeing it.

A previous winner wonders, “Could that red building be Atlantis resort?”

I don’t feel confident, but I got nothing else. My real feeling is Florida, but I couldn’t match it up from Daytona all the way around to Tampa. I also thought maybe Australia, so I did a quick look at Sydney and Melbourne, but didn’t see it. So I’ll just say Nassau, Bahamas, where the Atlantis is located. As usual, the contest was a huge challenge.

Last week’s view was fun for me, because I was in Indy (Carmel). It’s the first time I was near the location of the contest while learning about it — made it more interesting.

Our super-sleuth in Chattanooga has Savannah on his mind:

This is where palm trees and oaks grow near bridged islands, and it could be some kind of port. (Because it’s still Lent, I can’t ask Google what’s up with rollercoaster-like sculptures near ports.) But I’m taking the opportunity to use the fact that this was posted on St Patrick’s Day to share this rollickingly good piece from The Bitter Southerner on the tradition of St Patrick’s Day revelry in Savannah, Georgia.

Our Tucson super-sleuth notes, “I wasted a lot of time searching Orlando, thinking this has to be a new Disney ride.” This next sleuth was seeing a different theme park:

From our super-sleuth in Yarrow Point:

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I was one of the many sleuths who was fooled a few weeks ago by those Austrian avalanche nets that I thought were vineyard trellises. But I’m not fooled this week! What at first appeared to be a metal rollercoaster under construction is something different entirely …

A. Cheesehead adds, “At first glance I thought that was a rollercoaster under construction, but looking closer, what I thought were the tracks are not smooth, so this appears to be a support for some sort of canopy”:

Another state from this sleuth:

This view could be from the OWA Resort Park in Foley, Alabama — maybe from the Marriott located there. It looks to be late in the construction phase of that park, with Orange Beach looking out to the distance. Maybe the body of water is Wolf’s Bay? I have never been to the park/resort, but my wife and I have driven by it a few times for vacation. I certainly don’t know what room the photo is from, but it really looks like it could be there, with the tall Orange Bay Condos in the distance. Probably wrong, but I gave it a shot.

A previous winner focuses on the construction equipment:

This week’s picture features a Genie S-85 XC telescopic boom lift, which appears to belong to Herc rentals. Herc has a number of branches in the USA and Canada, so that’s not narrowing down location very much.

A sick sleuth nearly gets the right state:

I’m laid up with COVID, so you’d think I have all the time in the world to research this week, but I’m just converting O2 to CO2 and rolling over every once in a while to eat something. Sun is a great healer. So is the Paxlovid.

Anyway, this smacks of the Gulf Coast with the bridge and the types of trees and lack of elevation. Maybe Florida somewhere, but why not Biloxi, Mississippi? I used to live in Columbus, MS many moons ago, plus when I was 13, I had a great summer romance with a girl who moved from Biloxi, so why not.

Back to my festering in bed.

Here’s Chini with a clear view:

He adds, “Has there ever been a view that more screamed a single state’s identity from the rafters? The moment I saw it I was tossed back in time to a warm summer morning, dressed in matching clothes with my brother, nearly bouncing out of the hotel bed waiting to see Mickey … ”

Our super-sleuth in Kingston names the state: