This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[The Nature Boy]

Maybe this has been done but I was playing around with Google Maps and found this:

By car, New York City is closer to Portland, Maine than it is to Buffalo. (314 miles vs. 352 miles)

[jeffandnicole]

Yep - there's a whole lot of things that don't seem right until you look at a map.

Cape May, NJ is south of Baltimore & the northern-most points of Virginia.

[mgk920]

I always find it interesting in that Memphis, TN is farther west than Madison, WI.

Mike

[SignGeek101]

By linear distance, it's farther to travel from Kenora Ontario to Toronto Ontario (same province), then Jacksonville Florida to Toronto (it's about the same distance by car).

Canada's most southern point is farther south than the border with California and Oregon.

EDIT: fixed a bit of a typo

[Big John]

Reno, NV is further west than Los Angeles, CA.

Pensacola, FL is further west of Washington Island, WI.

[txstateends]

Still blows me down that the distance of I-10 within TX is greater than the distances on I-10 to either coast from TX.

[Tom958]

Dalhart, TX is closer to parts of twenty three states than it is to its own state's capital.

[corco]

Dalhart, TX is closer to parts of twenty three states than it is to its own state's capital.

23? Shenanigans. More like eight or nine

[CNGL-Leudimin]

12 plus two Mexican states, actually . There is even a part in extreme southwestern Iowa that is closer to Dalhart TX than Texas capitol is.

Despite being in Southwestern Europe, I actually live just North of the latitude of Cape Cod.

Edit to add that Virginia actually reaches farther West than West Virginia.

[roadman65]

Staten Island, NY is closer to NJ than it is to the rest of its own state.

Pennsville , NJ is New Jersey's westernmost point and yet is west of Allentown, PA.  Also west of Carbondale, PA further north being several miles west of Milford on US 6.

[triplemultiplex]

Travel in a straight line in all four cardinal directions from Superior, Wisconsin and the next state you hit will always be Minnesota.

Try finding another place like that; it's really hard.

[hotdogPi]

Travel in a straight line in all four cardinal directions from Superior, Wisconsin and the next state you hit will always be Minnesota.

Try finding another place like that; it's really hard.

Except for south.

Which state do you hit before Minnesota?

[noelbotevera]

Travel in a straight line in all four cardinal directions from Superior, Wisconsin and the next state you hit will always be Minnesota.

Try finding another place like that; it's really hard.

Except for south.

Which state do you hit before Minnesota?

Never mind; my previous post is an error.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Travel in a straight line in all four cardinal directions from Superior, Wisconsin and the next state you hit will always be Minnesota.

Try finding another place like that; it's really hard.

Jungholz in Austria. Head in all four directions, the first country you will cross into is Germany. Actually Jungholz would be an enclave if it wasn't for that point that connects it to the rest of Austria.

Except for south.

You haven't gone too far South. Zoom out.

[GaryV]

Detroit is closer to Philadelphia and Washington DC than it is to Ironwood MI in the western UP.

[vdeane]

Quebec City is closer to Washington DC than it is to Blanc Sablon (just barely in the same provence).

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Travel in a straight line in all four cardinal directions from Superior, Wisconsin and the next state you hit will always be Minnesota.

Try finding another place like that; it's really hard.

Lesotho, San Marino, and Vatican City.

[1995hoo]

Travel in a straight line in all four cardinal directions from Superior, Wisconsin and the next state you hit will always be Minnesota.

Try finding another place like that; it's really hard.

Baarle-Hertog, maybe? Or at least there are several Dutch areas completely surrounded by Baarle-Hertog.

[CtrlAltDel]

Travel in a straight line in all four cardinal directions from Superior, Wisconsin and the next state you hit will always be Minnesota.

Try finding another place like that; it's really hard.

Jungholz in Austria. Head in all four directions, the first country you will cross into is Germany. Actually Jungholz would be an enclave if it wasn't for that point that connects it to the rest of Austria.

Except for south.

You haven't gone too far South. Zoom out.

The southernmost part of Superior will hit Michigan first when heading east.

[roadman65]

Cincinnati, OH is closer to Galveston, TX than El Paso is.

Of course anyplace in Texas can be closer to other cities in far away states than its own.  Even I-10 is shorter from the TX- NM State line to Los Angeles than it is to the other border where I-10 crosses from Texas into Louisiana.

[pianocello]

To a non-Michigander, it would seem odd that the first country you hit when you're going south from Detroit is Canada.

It still blows my mind that all of Great Britain is north of the northernmost point of the continental US.

[mhh]

At the border crossings between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, the U.S. is to the north and Canada is to the south. If you travel from Detroit in any cardinal direction except west, the first foreign country that you reach will be Canada.

[GaryV]

The southernmost part of Superior will hit Michigan first when heading east.

Correct, just like the western portions of Detroit would miss Canada when going due south.

[empirestate]

Travel in a straight line in all four cardinal directions from Superior, Wisconsin and the next state you hit will always be Minnesota.

Try finding another place like that; it's really hard.

Greenwich, CT, apparently. It was a Car Talk puzzler.


iPhone

[The Nature Boy]

Travel in a straight line in all four cardinal directions from Superior, Wisconsin and the next state you hit will always be Minnesota.

Try finding another place like that; it's really hard.

Greenwich, CT, apparently. It was a Car Talk puzzler.


iPhone

I almost challenged this but then I saw that the eastern tip of Long Island, NY IS due east of Greenwich, CT.