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I recently fell down the MapCrunch rabbit hole.

The website works like this: a “street view” from Google Maps is displayed at random. You can examine that view in detail or hit the green button to move to the next random street view. Sometimes it’s not even a street. But the result is mesmerizing, inspiring, insipid, surprising, and lackluster all at once.

As a devout traveler, here’s what I love most about MapCrunch, after spending way too much time with it than I’d like to admit: it’s proof that the world (and even oceans) are mostly flat, full of life and vegetation, usually dull, and never ceases to surprise us.

There’s beauty in that. Not as much as the more majestic and captivating land and seascapes. But still worth seeing.