This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[NWI_Irish96]

And (though this seems familiar, probably noted before), Felt is closer to Denver and Santa Fe than to its own capital city.

That doesn't seem to "defy conventional wisdom" to me at all, considering I grew up in a Kansas town that's more than 100 miles closer to Denver than Topeka.

Along those lines, though...
Jackson, WY:  closer to Boise, Salt Lake City, or Helena than it is to Cheyenne.

Indianapolis is my closest state capital, but three others are all < 40 miles farther.

[Scott5114]

Along those lines, though...
Jackson, WY:  closer to Boise, Salt Lake City, or Helena than it is to Cheyenne.

I imagine there's lots of these in Wyoming, considering that Cheyenne is unusually off-center for a state capital. (Not to imply that state capitals are usually in the dead center of the state like my own is, but they're also not usually down in an extreme corner of the state like Cheyenne is.)

[JayhawkCO]

Vegas is considerably closer to Phoenix than Carson City if we're looking at bigger cities.

[Takumi]

(Not to imply that state capitals are usually in the dead center of the state like my own is, but they're also not usually down in an extreme corner of the state like Cheyenne is.)

Imagine if Williamsburg was still Virginia's capital. Richmond is a bit off-center, but Williamsburg is a bit more conspicuously so. With Virginia's geographical center being in the absolute middle of nowhere in Buckingham County, a place like Appomattox or Scottsville or even Charlottesville (cue rage from those who have spent years in Blacksburg) would be closer to that.

[kphoger]

Our nation's capital is rather off-center, isn't it?

[Scott5114]

Our nation's capital is rather off-center, isn't it?

I remember reading an Andy Rooney essay where he advocated moving the national capital to Lebanon, Kansas, not just because it would then be in the center of the country, but also so that, like anyone does when they move, the government would be forced to go through all of the junk it's accumulated over the past 200 years and get rid of a lot of it.

[webny99]

Our nation's capital is rather off-center, isn't it?

It's pretty central on a north/south axis... but not even close on an east/west axis.

Kansas City would be pretty good location if the capital were to ever move.

[tchafe1978]

Our nation's capital is rather off-center, isn't it?

It's pretty central on a north/south axis... but not even close on an east/west axis.

Kansas City would be pretty good location if the capital were to ever move.

It was fairly centrally located when the country was founded and the site of the capital was selected, however.

[zachary_amaryllis]

Baltimore is not in Baltimore County.

When looking up transportation maps in Georgia, I found to great confusion that Macon is not in Macon County.

And Richmond, Virginia isn't in Richmond County.

But Baltimore isn't in Baltimore County because it's an independent city that is surrounded by Baltimore County.

Yeah, that's the point.  In Texas there numerous cities that are not in their namesake counties, but it's a naming issue which is a different case.  The Baltimore thing is one of the few instances that I can think of where the namesake county is just outside the city because the city was basically carved out of the county.  Different than a consolidated city/county like St. Louis and Denver.

St Louis is exactly the same thing as Baltimore. In 1877 the city of St Louis seceded from St Louis County to become an independent city.

Denver has two independent cities (Denver and Broomfield, the latter becoming independent in 2001), but none seceded from a county of the same name.

Broomfield was a hot mess before they became their own county. There was a little sliver of it, that had to go to Greeley to register cars etc, because it was in Weld County. Aurora keeps trying to do the same thing since it's in 2 or 3 different counties.

[JayhawkCO]

Aurora keeps trying to do the same thing since it's in 2 or 3 different counties.

Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas for the record.

[oscar]

Our nation's capital is rather off-center, isn't it?

I remember reading an Andy Rooney essay where he advocated moving the national capital to Lebanon, Kansas, not just because it would then be in the center of the country, but also so that, like anyone does when they move, the government would be forced to go through all of the junk it's accumulated over the past 200 years and get rid of a lot of it.

President Trump tried a super-small beer version of that, moving a small office in the Agriculture Department to Kansas City, expecting that the office could downsize, especially since some employees would quit rather than make the move (for sensible reasons, such as spouses who worked in other Federal jobs that couldn't move to KC).

This was done so late in the President's term that, IIRC, it didn't stick with the change of administrations, though still with some heartburn among the affected employees.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Our nation's capital is rather off-center, isn't it?

I remember reading an Andy Rooney essay where he advocated moving the national capital to Lebanon, Kansas, not just because it would then be in the center of the country, but also so that, like anyone does when they move, the government would be forced to go through all of the junk it's accumulated over the past 200 years and get rid of a lot of it.

President Trump tried a super-small beer version of that, moving a small office in the Agriculture Department to Kansas City, expecting that the office could downsize, especially since some employees would quit rather than make the move (for sensible reasons, such as spouses who worked in other Federal jobs that couldn't move to KC).

This was done so late in the President's term that, IIRC, it didn't stick with the change of administrations, though still with some heartburn among the affected employees.

The Bureau of Land Management was also temporarily relocated to Grand Junction, CO, which was also reversed after the turnover.

[ethanhopkin14]

I spent a good several hours in Cimarron County last spring. Went to two of those tripoints and hiked Black Mesa, the highest point in Oklahoma (which, perhaps unsurprisingly, is almost on the New Mexico border). It's a fascinating world out there - extremely remote and with terrain you wouldn't normally associate with Oklahoma. Boise City has something like two gas stations, the well known county courthouse roundabout, and not much else.

So did I last summer, and saw all three tri points in one day. It took way longer than I thought.

[empirestate]

Our nation's capital is rather off-center, isn't it?

It's pretty central on a north/south axis... but not even close on an east/west axis.

Kansas City would be pretty good location if the capital were to ever move.

Denver is already essentially the capital of the West. It even feels a bit like DC in spots.

[Bruce]

Our nation's capital is rather off-center, isn't it?

It's pretty central on a north/south axis... but not even close on an east/west axis.

Kansas City would be pretty good location if the capital were to ever move.

Denver is already essentially the capital of the West. It even feels a bit like DC in spots.

For the Mountain West, maybe. Certainly not for the West Coast.

[Rothman]

Our nation's capital is rather off-center, isn't it?

It's pretty central on a north/south axis... but not even close on an east/west axis.

Kansas City would be pretty good location if the capital were to ever move.

Denver is already essentially the capital of the West. It even feels a bit like DC in spots.

For the Mountain West, maybe. Certainly not for the West Coast.

Denver feels a world away from SLC.

[kphoger]

Our nation's capital is rather off-center, isn't it?

I remember reading an Andy Rooney essay where he advocated moving the national capital to Lebanon, Kansas, not just because it would then be in the center of the country, but also so that, like anyone does when they move, the government would be forced to go through all of the junk it's accumulated over the past 200 years and get rid of a lot of it.

President Trump tried a super-small beer version of that, moving a small office in the Agriculture Department to Kansas City, expecting that the office could downsize, especially since some employees would quit rather than make the move (for sensible reasons, such as spouses who worked in other Federal jobs that couldn't move to KC).

This was done so late in the President's term that, IIRC, it didn't stick with the change of administrations, though still with some heartburn among the affected employees.

The Bureau of Land Management was also temporarily relocated to Grand Junction, CO, which was also reversed after the turnover.

You've got to admit:  there's just something that feels right about an Ag office being in the Midwest, and about the BLM being west of the Front Range.

But now I'm wondering:  how often does this type of office relocation happen?  Never?  Occasionally?  Every few years?

It must have stunk for the people who had to relocate twice...

[kphoger]

Denver feels a world away from SLC.

Grand Junction feels a world away from SLC.

Yay or nay?

[JayhawkCO]

Denver feels a world away from SLC.

Grand Junction feels a world away from SLC.

Yay or nay?

For that matter, SLC feels a world away from most of central and southern Utah.

[webny99]

I'd venture that Denver and SLC might not feel so far apart if they weren't 370 miles apart as the crow flies and over 500 miles apart by road.

[abefroman329]

But now I'm wondering:  how often does this type of office relocation happen?  Never?  Occasionally?  Every few years?

Within the DMV?  At least once a lifetime, probably.  A friend of mine is a retired Air Force JAG, and in the 8ish years he was located in DC, he had to have had at least four different office spaces - one at the Pentagon, one at Andrews, one at Fort Meade, and one or two leased office spaces in NoVA.

From DC to another part of the country?  Well, doesn't it make the most sense to have, say, the USDA in DC when the head of the agency (the Secretary of Agriculture) is in DC, and their boss (the President) is in DC?

It must have stunk for the people who had to relocate twice...

I don't think anyone had to move at all.

[kphoger]

I'd venture that Denver and SLC might not feel so far apart if they weren't 370 miles apart as the crow flies and over 500 miles apart by road.

But I think it's more than that.  Earlier, I posited that GJ seems worlds away from SLC, yet it's less than a 300-mile drive.

I haven't spent a huge amount of time in that part of Colorado, though, so I may be wrong in my impression.

[kphoger]

I kind of feel like GJ is the edge of Colorado World™, Fruita is in the borderlands, the Toontown wall is somewhere near Mack, and nothing exists west of mile marker 8.

[JayhawkCO]

I kind of feel like GJ is the edge of Colorado World™, Fruita is in the borderlands, the Toontown wall is somewhere near Mack, and nothing exists west of mile marker 8.

Even GJ feels miles apart from Denver. Basically anything west of Glenwood Springs and north of Montrose has a completely different feel, with the exception of the Grand Mesa and surrounds.

[webny99]

I'd venture that Denver and SLC might not feel so far apart if they weren't 370 miles apart as the crow flies and over 500 miles apart by road.

But I think it's more than that.  Earlier, I posited that GJ seems worlds away from SLC, yet it's less than a 300-mile drive.

I haven't spent a huge amount of time in that part of Colorado, though, so I may be wrong in my impression.

I don't know, I don't doubt that's true, but it seems like it would also be true of many 300-mile drives. 

Re-reading my post, I can see how it reads like "they're just really far apart", but I was actually meaning to emphasize the difference between the physical distance and the road distance. In other words, would it still feel like such a long distance if there was a direct interstate connection between the two?

There's also the fact that the largest mountain range on the continent lies primarily between those two cities, so it's bound to feel a little different one on side than it does on the other. That doesn't explain Grand Junction, but then again, one could probably make a case that GJ seems worlds away from Denver, too (edit: but don't take it from me  ↓  )

Even GJ feels miles apart from Denver.