Let’s practice writing some delicious descriptions together with the help of Google Maps!
GeoGuessr is a website where you’re thrown into a random spot in the world on Google Maps streetview, and you have to try and guess where you are.
During the last stream, chat and I played a game of GeoGuessr, and just like when we’ve done this before, we were given five random locations anywhere in the world.
For each one, we had to write a short description of the area, trying to make it as vivid and detailed as possible.
Here’s some highlights of what me/chat came up with for each location, with some of my favorite phrases bolded.
Location #1: Da Nang, Vietnam
Me:
The metallic dock screaked and scraped with every contortion of the loading cranes. They dropped shipping containers the size of semi trucks, stacking them like wannabe skyscrapers. Man-made dreams insignificant compared to the endless mountains and ocean engulfing them on either side.RealSayakaMaizono:
Faded yellow looms tall, watchers wait within, where at magnets call, precious cargo makes landfall. Soft ocean waves shiver under passage of giant ships, containers rich with goods; bolted, roped and clipped, ferried far from lands unknown, make metal moans. But heavy machinery stands before gorgeous pines and fauna’s floor, this shipping dock galore.Justintoonz:
Steel beams screeched to a halt; water kissed the concrete shore. It was a scene serene and silent, and the wind bore – bore the scent of lore and scorn, scorn of a hard days work.gameon123321:
The sea, a pastel blue-green, silently laps the wood and concrete deck. The sound of machinery is dull this far away; taxicab-yellow cranes groan as they ponderously turn, boxes bump and thump as they sit on sleeping ships. They jut out at the sky, which bites back with salt.
Location #2: Hobbiton Village, New Zealand
Me:
Lavender lollipops popped up from the green-painted grass, licked by the wind tumbling down the supple slopes. A lording tree perched atop each one conducted the currents of warm scents with their myriad hands and fingers, gently wafting spiced breezes into the small homes carved into the hills.RealSayakaMaizono:
There, at the peaceful shire, lived little men called Hobbits, free from ire, or sorrow, ever merry morrow, as sunlight licked rolling hills and falls, as squawking hen’s call. Their little feet clothed with hair and soles of leather, that whatever the weather, rain or shine, their joy a sign of simpler lives. Portly bellies flow with wine; at banquets fit to dine.Justintoonz:
Heavy clouds overshadow the verdant countryside below. Little folk hip and hop down the well-trodden paths that serpentine through the gently sloping hills. Trees grow like elongated hands outstretched as if to scrape away the gray sky; benevolent protectors of the land.
Location #3: Paratunka, Russia
Me:
The stone basin ate up everything and spat it back out. Chunks of ice, blackened obsidian, spewing it down the side of nature’s massive cereal bowl with the force of a thousand fire hoses. Moss carpets soaked up the liquid like mold, stretching up and over the other unseeable side.Justintoonz:
The waterfall rushed like a roaring running in a thunderstorm. Rocks clashed, crashed, then cracked in its torrential wake, before, at length, they met their fate at the rapid’s base. A graveyard of dust, half-melted snow, and the washed up remains of those unfortunate enough to be caught in its force.Joe_G89:
Green moss grew on the stone like earthen pubic hair. Mother nature never shaves. In a crevice between two boulders, a loud waterfall gushed and crashed against rock. Unlucky visitors slump away drenched from the deep pleasures of nature.
Location #4: Samaria Gorge, Greece
Me
Some rocks speak. They reverb with low, deep echoes of all they have witnessed. Their history stains them charred amber as they grow to the size of the sky. The trees that grow nearby, with soft white bristles, are an offering — a slice of their eons of wisdom.Justintoonz:
The heat beat upon their backs. Shirts soaked in sweat. Dust blurred their visions. Their lips were cracked and bleeding; throats desirous for moisture. For a bite to eat. Crags of rock rose around them, a natural prison, a beast ready to consume. Plants and animals—few though they were—dwindled in the shadow of their earthen rulers.
Location #5: St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Me:
The stone pier jettisoned out into the water like a patterned turtle shell, its fossilized rocky neck stretching to the shore of the bushy island. Like prickly fungus growing on fungus, sprouting from the middle of an otherwise squeaky-clean appendage. Wrap a salty washcloth around it and wiggle away.
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
