I've been reading a library book of trivia about Washington State. Here are a few of my favorite bits:
1. Since the February 2001 earthquake, Seattle is 5.5 millimeters closer to Vancouver BC.
2. There are 4 cities in the world named Walla Walla. One is in Washington and the other three are in Australia.
3. Dungeness is the largest land spit on earth.
4. Washington has the largest ferry system in North America. It connects 2 peninsulas and 13 islands.
5. July 26 is the most likely date it will be sunny in the Puget Sound.
6. The Olympic National Park is as big as Rhode Island.
7. Washington's Long Beach Peninsula is the longest natural beach in the US.
8. The first Birkenstock store in the US is MJ Feet at Pike Place Market.
9. The Pend Oreille is the largest US river to flow north.
10. Ape Cave, near Mt St Helens, is the nation's longest lava tube cavern.
11. Mt Shuksan, in the North Cascades, is the most photographed mountain in the world.
12. Spokane is farther north than the northern tip of Maine.
13. Snoqualmie Falls is 100' taller than Niagara Falls.
14. Volcanic lava lies a hundred feet below the wheat lands of central Washington.
15. La Push is the westernmost town in the contiguous 48 states.
16. Alaska imports 99% of its fresh milk from Washington.
17. Rattlesnake Mountain (3560') is the world's tallest treeless mountain.
18. Linda Emery, Bruce Lee's wife, was homecoming queen at Seattle's Garfield High School.
19. The Puyallup fairgrounds once served as a Japanese internment camp (Camp Harmony).
20. The first gas station prototype was set up at the Seattle yard of the Standard Oil Company in 1907.
21. Jimmy Carter was at the Sea-Tac Airport when he learned that he had lost the 1980 presidential election.
22. Seattle's Northgate Mall was the world's first covered shopping mall.
23. Almond Roca was created in Tacoma during WWI.
24. The Seattle Police Department was the first in the nation to employ bicycle cops.
25. Washington was the first US state to pass a law prohibiting the forging of digital signatures.
26. The King County prosecuting attorney's office was the first in the country to form a sexual assault unit.
27. The source of the picture of George Washington that appears on the state seal was an advertisement for Dr Jane's Cure for Coughs & Colds.
28. Edward R Murrow attended Washington State College at Pullman; it offered the country's first course in broadcasting.
29. Pilchuk School is the world's only school devoted to glassworking.
30. The Seattle area has the country's highest per capital concentration of boats (1 boat per 5 people).
31. Skywriting was invented in Seattle in 1913.
32. The Okanagan region of Washington produces 90% of the world's supply of baby's breath.
33. Puget Sound is home to the world's largest species of octopus, which grows up to 12' across.
34. Yakima resident Floyd Paxton invented the small plastic squares that keep plastic bread bags closed.
35. Mount Vernon, Washington, is the iris, tulip, and narcissus capital of the world.
36. Power from Grand Coulee Dam's hydroelectric turbines produced the aluminum to build 1/3 of the aircraft the US sent to war in WWII.
37. The Tacoma Dome is the world's largest wooden dome.
38. Mt Rainier is the tallest volcano in the lower 48 states.
39. A species of chewing louse found only in owls is named after a cartoonist from Washington (Strigiphilus garylarsoni).
40. The world's largest flea (0.13") was found near Puyallup.
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