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[onelovedread]

What are some in geographic facts your neck of the woods or your country that you find odd, unexpected, or just plain interesting? Here are some crazy ones in the United States.

1. Cairo, IL is closer to Birmingham, AL than it is to Chicago, and equidistant from Little Rock, AR as it is from Indianapolis.

2. Amarillo, TX is closer to Denver than it is to Austin, and closer to Cheyenne, WY than it is to Houston.

3. El Paso, TX is closer to San Diego than it is to Houston.

4. Across the southern United States, everything from Pecos, TX to Dothan, AL is located in the Central Time Zone.

5. Though South Carolina barely has any mountains, its highest point is higher than the highest point in Pennsylvania.

6. From its westernmost point to its easternmost point, North Carolina is over 500 miles long.

7. The Las Vegas metropolitan area is only served by one Interstate, not counting local spur routes. The Austin metropolitan area is only served by one Interstate, period.

8. New York and Philadelphia have no direct Interstate connection (yet).

9. The distance between the summit of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States, and Badwater Basin in Death Valley, the lowest point in North America, is only 86 miles.

10. The northern border of Missouri is located at roughly the same latitude as Pittsburgh, while the southern border of the Missouri bootheel is located at roughly the same latitude as Raleigh, NC.

11) Both Rome Italy and Istanbul Turkey sit due north latitudinally of Pittsburgh

12) London, England and Calgary, Canada are at similar latitudes.

13) There is a part of Kentucky that can not be reached by land except from another state (caused to ground sinking during a major earthquake.)

14)The western tip of Virginia is west of Detroit.

15) Reno, Nevada is further west than Los Angeles.

16) It's further from one end of Tennessee to the other than it is from Tennessee to Canada.

17) The Panama Canal is east of Miami.

18) If you go straight south from Buffalo, you'll eventually end up in the Pacific Ocean.

19) The southernmost tip of Canada lies south of a part of Ohio - and 25 other states.

20) There is a portion of Washington state that no one can drive to except by leaving the US, entering Canada, and re-entering the US.

21) Kalawao County, Hawaii, population 90, admits no new residents, and a special permit is required to visit. It is the second-least populous of any county in the US. (the least populous being Loving County, TX,) and was once used as a quarantine for people with Leprosy.

It would be nice if you geography fans could add some more facts to these from your side of the world.

[Dave in Tenn]

Love these unexpected little facts.  I'm not sure I can add any, but I can attest to #16 as I've driven it many, many times.  Several in snow storms.   

When I first took my job that required much travel, my first assignment was to Irving, Texas...between the two very close cities of Dallas and Ft. Worth.  I did not really know how far it was going to be.  I had simply used the atlas to map a route.  But in my mind, Texas was a looooong way away from west Tennessee, so I left at 4:00 in the morning to make sure I could get there at a reasonable hour.  The first road sign I saw on the expressway that mentioned Dallas, was just past Texarkana shortly after I had stopped for a little breakfast about 8:00.  I don't remember how many miles it was, but it was close enough that I passed through Dallas and hit Irving before noon.  I could have slept in, eaten a leisurely breakfast at home, and still gotten to Irving in time for supper. 

That was back when a GPS was a big, thick Rand McNalley Road Atlas and a finger.  "I'm right about...HERE."

OIK...here's an unofficial geographical fact:  If you leave the center of Chicago driving south on a road which is NOT an expressway, by the time you leave what is still the Chicago metropolitan area, you will wish you'd taken the expressway.   

[cjwood]

interesting information there johnchris.  with regards to the second part of #7, if that is austin, tx that is being referred to, i can attest that we do indeed only have one interstate that serves the metro area, BUT, there are several other major texas highways, not to mention toll roads, loops, etc. that serve our increasingly growing metro area.  that's why i always enjoy driving on the country roads through the hills to visit my sister's living outside of town.

claudia

[gregorydc]

Here's a little known argue point for a few. Kansas has more surface acers of water than Minnesota "the land of 10,000 lakes"  weird huh

[onelovedread]

Another 3 tidbits:
Los Angeles is moving North at the same rate your fingernails grow.

Montreal, Canada is an island.

Denver International Airport is larger than the island of Manhattan

[Rhys 🕊]

New Zealand has many volcanoes. Auckland city with over 1 million population is built on 49 dormant volcanoes, known as Auckland Volcanic Field.  White Island is the most active volcano with the last eruption from March to September 2000. The largest ski resorts, Whakapapa and Turoa, are built on Mount Ruapehu, which had its last eruption on 25 September 2007.

Yay I don't live in Auckland

Rhys

[Extol]

Huzzah! I love geography! And I like these surprising facts and bits of trivia. A few others, mostly about population:

--There are 10 cities in India--and 11 in China!--that have more people than Chicago.

--More people live in El Paso, Texas than in Wyoming.

--While Minnesota is called the land of 10,000 lakes, Alaska has around three million lakes. I would guess this is easily more than the other 49 states combined.

--Columbus is the largest city in Ohio, with more people than Cleveland and Cincinnati combined.

--The largest city in the San Francisco Bay area is not San Francisco or Oakland...it's San Jose.

[onelovedread]

Great, Extol. Now here's the first "test" question: What is the only city in the U.S. that borders two states on either side? Essentially, the western border of this state is at the city's western border, and it's eastern border is the border of another state?

Easy one!

[Extol]

That sounds like Warshington. Am I correct?

I'll think of some more fun facts later. 

[cjwood]

johnchris, would the answer to your test question be texarkana?

claudia

[Rhys 🕊]

Wow. America must be bigger than I thought

[onelovedread]

Hey Extol, Washington DC is technically correct.  However I was looking for Weirton, West Virginia.
I wasn't just looking for a city that touches 2 states. There are many cities and municipalities that fit the bill.
However, Weirton touches a state (OH) at its western end and another state (PA) at its eastern end. It "touches" its own state, WV, to the North and to the South.
Almost all other cities touching 2 states do so in the same general direction or in an L-shape of 2 adjacent cardinal points ( Memphis is an example), not opposite cardinal points as in Weirton.

The city of Weirton is located at  40°25′N 80°35′W(40.4086, -80.5760). It extends from the Ohio border on the west to the Pennsylvania border on the east at a point where the northern extension of West Virginia is five miles across.

Therefore, it is the only city in the United States that borders two other states on two sides, and its own state on the other two sides.

Weirton is across the Ohio River from Steubenville, Ohio, and about 35 miles west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, along U.S. Route 22. (Pittsburgh International Airport is less than 30 miles away.)

[Extol]

Ah, thanks! I misunderstood the question, although I admit I wouldn't have gotten it anyway! 

[darren]

is it true that there is a place where one can b in 4 states at one time? Sorry, here in the U.S.

[gregorydc]

Yes it is called four corners out west. I believe it is colorado,nevada, arizona and new mexico if I am not mistaken. My parents took a trip out there a couple of years ago.

[RogerH]

Close Greg, it's actually Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.  Much of this area is in the Navajo Indian reservation.

[darren]

thanks guys

[gmik]

i just got back from maui and they say that they are farthest place from any land mass