State the Facts Trivia Quiz

Answer: Denali, Alaska

Denali (aka Mt. McKinley) is the highest point in the U.S. at 6,194 meters (20,237 feet) above sea level. Its huge peak towers 17,000 feet above the surrounding plain, making it generally accepted as the largest base-to-summit mountain on Earth entirely above sea level.

The native name translates as "The Great One". Americans named it after President McKinley from Ohio, who was elected with Rockefeller money to prevent Teddy Roosevelt and his party from breaking up the industrial monopolies with anti-trust legislation.

Answer: Death Valley, California

Badwater Basin, in California's Death Valley, is the lowest point in the U.S. at 86 meters (282 feet) below sea level. Located near the Nevada border, Death Valley is also the driest place in North America, and claimed the highest temperature recorded at 134 degrees Fahrenheit, in 1913.

Answer: New Jersey

Although many associate farming in the US with the Midwest or California, New Jersey is designated "the garden state". It has over 10,000 farms, and is a leading producer of berries, peaches, tomatoes, corn, lettuce and other produce. All this despite being the only state, along with Rhode Island, to have more than 1,000 people per square mile according to the 2010 US Census. Have yourself a luscious Jersey tomato and relax at the shore (if you can find a spot).

Answer: Louisiana

The explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier named Louisiana to honor King Louis XIV of France in the mid 1600s. President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana territory from France in 1803, an area comprising 13 modern states, for the absurdly low price of $15,000,000.

This works out to about four cents per acre. What a deal (or steal). Maryland was named in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I of Great Britain. Virginia honors Britain's "Virgin Queen", Elizabeth I. Pennsylvania, meaning "Penn's Woods", is named after the Quaker William Penn, who was granted the tract of land making up the state in 1681, as repayment of a debt owed to Penn's father by the English crown.

Answer: Florida

Although there has been ongoing debate on how to figure coastline distance (the two basic methods differ on whether to count tidal areas), there is consensus that the peninsular state of Florida is number two after Alaska (which has over 6,000 miles of coast) at approximately 1,350 miles. California and Hawaii come next, and Maine is 8th, but can move up to 4th when using the tidal area method. Now you know where to go swimming in the ocean.

Answer: Vermont, West Virginia, Ohio

Alaska, Texas and California are the three biggest states by area. Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island are the three smallest. Montana, New York and Hawaii represent a big, a medium and a small state. The three in the correct answer are ranked in reverse order, Ohio being bigger than West Virginia and Vermont combined. FYI: Alaska- 663,267 sq. miles; Rhode Island- 1,545 sq. miles. What a varied country it is.

Answer: Florida

Historic US Route 66, completed in 1926, traverses 2448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles, passing through eight states, but not Florida. It was immortalized in song by jazzman Bobby Troup, who drove from Pennsylvania to California in the 1940s, and was enchanted by the little towns and grassroots American communities he passed.

Many legendary musicians have covered the song, including Nat King Cole, Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones. The interstate highways have bypassed most of the towns along the route, which is no longer even listed on modern maps.

However, one can still drive the route and visit these towns, many of which have museums commemorating the heyday of Route 66.

Answer: They are the only states whose names begin and end with the same letter

The correct answer is in the names. None of these states is in tornado alley, which colloquially refers to the area in the mid-western US most prone to tornadoes--South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas--although Ohio and Alabama have experienced tornadoes.

By the early 21st century, Arizona led the parade for equality having elected four female governors by 2013, two (Rose Mofford and Jane Hull) having served before the year 2000. Alaska had the unforgettable Sarah Palin in the governor's mansion 2006-2009, before her unsuccessful run for vice president, but none before the turn of the century. Ohio did not elect a woman governor in the 20th century. Alabama elected Lurleen Wallace as a surrogate governor when her husband George, the notorious segregationist, couldn't succeed himself by law in 1967. Thankfully, none of these states, nor any other, had units run by paramilitary organizations for any purpose in 2001.

Answer: Both border North Dakota and South Dakota

Minnesota does border on Lake Superior, is taller than it is wide, and has a crooked northern border with Ontario, drawn through the middle of scores of desolate lakes. Both Minnesota and Montana border North Dakota and South Dakota.

Answer: Oregon

Visit the spectacular Pacific Ocean coastline in Oregon. Check out the fish ladders and waterfalls along the Columbia River. And don't forget to get to Crater Lake, somewhat remote in the interior, but well worth a trip to gaze into the giant crater and also be able to see Mount Shasta in California, over 100 miles away, from high on the crater's rim.