Let's Travel on US Highway 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Houlton, Maine

Route 2 starts in Houlton, which is on the US-Canada border. If you are into history or art, visit the Aroostook County Museum on Main Street. Houlton was the site of a large POW camp in 1944, holding 4000 German prisoners.

Fort Kent, at the top of Maine, is where US Highway 1 begins. Follow it all the way to Key West, Florida. Eastport, the easternmost point in the lower 48 states, is also near the largest whirpool in the western hemisphere, near the Bay of Fundy. Bangor is located along Route 2, and is where the highway veers west towards New Hampshire.

Route 2 goes about 195 miles through Maine. Towards the beginning, it follows the Penboscot River. In the western part of Maine, it passes by several popular ski resorts. Near Sherman, Golden Ridge offers some spectacular views.

Answer: Mount Washington

Mount Washington, at 6288 feet, is the highest point in New England. There are several ways up Mount Washington, most of them expensive. Walking up is an option, but it takes around 5 hours. There is a cog railway, which was built in 1869. Mount Washington is in the Guinness Book as the "windiest place on Earth" with a record wind of 231 MPH; winds at the top can often get over 150 MPH.

Mount Katahdin (5268 feet) marks the end of the Apalachian trail in Maine. Mount Marcy (5344 feet) is the highest point in the state of New York. Mount Greylock (3491 feet) is the highest spot in Massachusetts.

US 2 has a very short run through New Hampshire, only around 35 miles. It goes between Shelburne and Lancaster. You do cross the Appalachian Trail near Gorham and pass by Santa's Village near Jefferson.

Answer: Ben and Jerry's

Ben and Jerry's is world famous for ice cream. It was started by two hippie friends in 1978, who started making ice cream after taking a correspondence course. The factory in Waterbury is one of Vermont's biggest tourist attractions,and the shop next door is one reason why. You can also see the cows - cows are big in Vermont.

Cabot Creamery, not surprisingly, is in the town of Cabot. They are well known for their cheese. Cabot is about 35 miles east.

Rock of Ages is a granite firm, located appropriately in the town of Graniteville. It make headstones and other memorials. Vermont is one of the world's largest sources of Granite. Graniteville is about 25 miles southeast.

Orvis is based in Manchester. They are a world leader in fly fishing equipment, but sell many other products as well. Manchester is around 100 miles south of Waterbury.

Answer: Jacques Marquette

Saint Ignace has a memorial to Father Marquette, which is part of the National Parks Service. It is located in Straits State Park, right at the base of the Mackinac Bridge.

Marquette (1637-1675) teamed up with Joliet to explore what is today Wisconsin, and traveled the Mississippi River all the way to Arkansas. The Jesuit university in Milwaukee is named after Marquette. Joliet has a suburb near Chicago.

Jean Nicolet preceded Marquette by about 50 years. He was the first European to visit Lake Michigan. La Salle traveled ten years after Marquette, reached the end of the Mississippi and claimed the land for France -- setting the stage for the Louisiana Purchase.

Route 2 travels along the northern edge of Lake Michigan, and then follows the Michigan/Wisconsin border. The largest city on the route is Iron Mountain. You travel through the scenic Ottawa National Forest before arriving at the border in Ironwood.

Answer: Bad River

The Bad River reservation is home to the Bad River LaPointe band of Lake Superior Chippewa. They are federally recognized as part of the Ojibwe tribe. The reservation was created by the 1842 treaty of LaPointe.

The Red Cliff reservation is at the very top of the state, near Bayfield and the Apostle Islands. The Lac Courte Oreilles reservation is near Hayward. And the Lac du Flambeau reservation is in the northeast part of Wisconsin; the lake is the headwater of the Wisconsin River.

US Highway 2 only travels about 100 miles through Wisconsin, going through Iron, Ashland, Bayfield and Douglas Counties. One scenic site along the way is Amnicon Falls State Park, which has waterfalls. US 2 exits Wisconsin on the Bong Bridge in Superior (yes, the sign gets stolen frequently).

Answer: Lake Itasca

Lake Itasca is the source of the Mississippi, which ends in the Louisiana Delta over 2500 miles later. Itasca State Park was created in 1891, making it the oldest state park in Minnesota. It contains some of the oldest "old growth" forest in the state, primarily red and white pines. One of the most popular things for visitors is to cross the rocks that mark the start of the Mississippi.

Lake Winnibigoshish and Lake Minnewawa are both in northern Minnesota. Lake Nokomis is in Minneapolis, nowhere remotely close to US Highway 2.

US 2 in Minnesota starts near Grand Rapids. It travels through the Chippewa National Forest. Bemidji has a large statue of Paul Bunyan. US 2 exits near Crookston, when you cross the Red River of the North.

Answer: Rugby

While all four places are along Route 2, only Rugby has the distinction of being the center of North America. It is located about 45 miles south of the Canadian border. The center is marked by a large cairn of stones. The monument is right on US 2. The city celebrates its geographical location with the Prairie Village Museum, which contains 20 reconstructed buildings from the 19th century.

Minot's claim to fame is being home to the North Dakota state fair. Williston has Fort Union National Historic Site nearby. And Grand Forks is the first town you enter in North Dakota; it contains the University of North Dakota.

US 2 travels about 350 miles across North Dakota. Starting at Grand Forks, you pass through Devil's Lake (this could be the one Johnny Cash sings about in "I've Been Everywhere"). Parts of US 2 parallel the Missouri River. The last major town in South Dakota is Williston.

Answer: Waterton Lakes NP

Waterton Lakes and Glacier National Park merge to create Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Glacier National Park was created in 1910. It contains one of the great engineering achievements in the western United States, Going to the Sun Road. The national park still has red tour buses that take visitors around. One of the more interesting sites along US 2 is Goat Lick, where mountain goats come to lick the rocks to get minerals in their diet.

Banff and Jasper are both located along the border between Alberta and British Columbia, while Glacier is in eastern British Columbia.

Route 2 travels over 660 miles through Montana. It passes through several Indian Reservations: Fort Peck, Fort Belknap and Blackfeet. Montana contains one of the highest points along all of US 2 - Maria's Pass, which is 5220 feet high. Meriwether Lewis named it after his cousin Maria. The pass has a 60 foot obelisk honoring former US President Theodore Roosevelt, who was a great advocate of national parks.

Answer: Boundary and Bonner

Boundary, the northernmost county in Idaho, and Bonner Counties. The biggest city along the route is Sandpoint, which is notable for Lake Pend Oreille, the largest lake in Idaho. The Kootenai National Wildlife Reserve is a popular nature spot.

Shoshone and Kootenai are in northern Idaho, but a little further south. Clark and Custer are in the east central part of the state; Custer has Borah Peak (12,662 feet), the highest point in Idaho. Idaho and Lewis can be found along US Highway 12.

US 2 travels 80 miles through Idaho.

Answer: Everett

Everett, Washington is along the Puget Sound, near Whidbey Island. It marks the end of the 2571 miles of US Highway 2. It is about 30 miles north of Seattle. Everett is probably most notable for having the Boeing assembly plant, the largest building in the world by volume -- it is used to assembly aircraft including 747s, 767s and 787s.

Seattle is the largest city in Washington, known for grunge music and Starbucks Coffee. Bellingham is about 20 miles south of the Canadian border, and has the Whatcom river. Olympia is the state capitol, about an hour south of Seattle.

Route 2 enters Washington and heads into Spokane, the largest city in the eastern part of the state. From there, it follows the Columbia River before heading straight west again. It climbs through the Cascade Mountains before reaching the Puget Sound at Everett.