This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[freebrickproductions]

Forget if I ever mentioned it, but Huntsville, AL, is closer to Dayton, OH, than it is to Orlando, FL, at least by road.

This is what I would have assumed. Tennessee and Kentucky are "skinny" whereas Alabama and Florida are not.

Part of why I brought it up is that I was talking to a British person I know who at least has a vague working knowledge of the US (due to traveling to conventions and the like), and he proceeded to have a bit of a confused expression while trying to mentally map-out where things were relative to each other.

[JayhawkCO]

I think one that might confuse some people is that Denver is closer to Detroit than it is to Seattle, via road.

[Rothman]

Forget if I ever mentioned it, but Huntsville, AL, is closer to Dayton, OH, than it is to Orlando, FL, at least by road.

This is what I would have assumed. Tennessee and Kentucky are "skinny" whereas Alabama and Florida are not.

I second the lack of amazement on this one, although I did like the recent Canadian/Bostonian one.

[JayhawkCO]

Just saw this one and thought it interesting. The five different colored bands all have equal population.

[Rothman]

Just saw this one and thought it interesting. The five different colored bands all have equal population.

Not so surprising.  Too bad the nutty guy that built Brasilia's quixotic ambitions never came to fruition about settling the interior.

[hbelkins]

The "mighty" Hudson River is only 315 miles long and discharges 21,900 ft³/sec into the ocean at its mouth. Most of its length is an ocean estuary created by glaciation.

The White River (AR/MO) is 733 miles long and its discharge into the Mississippi is 26,180 ft³.

White River?  Never heard of it.

Remember the Clinton "Whitewater" scandal of the 1990s? Its name came from the White River.

[Scott5114]

The "mighty" Hudson River is only 315 miles long and discharges 21,900 ft³/sec into the ocean at its mouth. Most of its length is an ocean estuary created by glaciation.

The White River (AR/MO) is 733 miles long and its discharge into the Mississippi is 26,180 ft³.

White River?  Never heard of it.

Remember the Clinton "Whitewater" scandal of the 1990s? Its name came from the White River.

It is also the river that is impounded to form Table Rock Lake just outside of Branson. The dam was closed to begin filling Table Rock after the new, higher MO-13 bridge over the lake was finished, but before MHTD was done demolishing the old truss bridge. The lake unexpectedly filled so quickly that the old bridge was inundated before MHTD could even get all of their equipment off of it. All of it, along with the bridge, is still at the bottom of the lake, and you can see video on YouTube of divers exploring it.

[JayhawkCO]

The largest national park in the European Union is in South America.

[pderocco]

The largest park in the continental US isn't even a national park, it's the NY state Adirondack Park.

[Rothman]

The largest park in the continental US isn't even a national park, it's the NY state Adirondack Park.

Alaska's not on the continent?

Also have to be very careful with the Adirondack Park's size since not all land within the Blue Line is protected.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I thought the Chilean coast was perfectly North-South, but it actually slants West the further South one goes. It turns out San Carlos de Bariloche, in the Argentinian Andes, is further West than Iquique on the Northern coast of Chile.

[JayhawkCO]

Sydney is closer to Tromsø, extreme northern Norway, than it is to Helsinki.

[Rothman]

Sydney is closer to Tromsø ,extreme northern Norway, than it is to Helsinki.

Wonder if this one matters from which point to which point one measures in each of the municipalities.  It's somewhat close.

[JayhawkCO]

Sydney is closer to Tromsø ,extreme northern Norway, than it is to Helsinki.

Wonder if this one matters from which point to which point one measures in each of the municipalities.  It's somewhat close.

At least from the airports of each, Tromsø is about 67 miles closer.

[JayhawkCO]

There are six state capitals farther west than Los Angeles.

[bing101]

There are six state capitals farther west than Los Angeles.

Yes I understand what you mean like Carson City, Sacramento, Honolulu, Juneau, Salem and Olympia are all state capitals located west of Los Angeles. 

[JayhawkCO]

There are six state capitals farther west than Los Angeles.

Yes I understand what you mean like Carson City, Sacramento, Honolulu, Juneau, Salem and Olympia are all state capitals located west of Los Angeles.

I think it's not intuitive to most people that Carson City and Sacramento are both west of LA.

[JayhawkCO]

I think it's not intuitive to most people that Carson City and Sacramento are both west of LA.

And to expound on this, LA is on the coast, and most people think of the East and West Coasts as nominally vertical, so, Sacramento, being 100 miles inland "should mean" it's east of LA.

And then Nevada, being east of California, means its capital "should be" east of LA. And, add the fact that your average American doesn't know where Carson City is within Nevada, and it would certainly be less than intuitive.

[kphoger]

most people think of the East and West Coasts as nominally vertical

I think there are ten state capitals farther east than Miami.

[Road Hog]

The first night I spent in LA I thought holy crap, the sun sets early here, and it was the middle of July on full PDT. The Pacific Coast curves way east in SoCal..

[Rothman]

There are six state capitals farther west than Los Angeles.

Yes I understand what you mean like Carson City, Sacramento, Honolulu, Juneau, Salem and Olympia are all state capitals located west of Los Angeles.

I think it's not intuitive to most people that Carson City and Sacramento are both west of LA.

The fact this geographic oddity has been repeated to me over the decades since I was in elementary school makes it quite intuitive.

[vdeane]

And to expound on this, LA is on the coast, and most people think of the East and West Coasts as nominally vertical, so, Sacramento, being 100 miles inland "should mean" it's east of LA.

And then Nevada, being east of California, means its capital "should be" east of LA. And, add the fact that your average American doesn't know where Carson City is within Nevada, and it would certainly be less than intuitive.

And to further expand on it: San Diego is east of Spokane.

[kphoger]

San Diego is east of Spokane.

San Diego is south of Spokane. 

[bing101]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Samoa

American Samoa is actually the most southern point of the United States. One would guess Texas, Florida or Hawaii as the Southern most point of the United States if you consider only the states and not the federal territories of the country.

[Scott5114]

And, add the fact that your average American doesn't know where Carson City is within Nevada

One of our wiki regulars lives in Carson City and has lots of horror stories of customer-service people assuming that he can just nip down to Las Vegas to conduct some trivial bit of business.