Washington, Facts and Trivia

 

   1. The state of Washington is the only state to be named after a United States president.
      
   2. Seattle is home to the first revolving restaurant, 1961.
      
   3. Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union.
      
   4. Washington state has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states combined.
      
   5. Washington state's capitol building was the last state capitol building to be built with a rotunda.
      
   6. Everett is the site of the world's largest building, Boeing's final assembly plant
      
   7. Medina is the home of the United States wealthiest man, Microsoft's Bill Gates.
      
   8. The Northwestern most point in the contiguous U.S. Is Cape Flattery on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.
      
   9. King county the largest county in Washington was originally named after William R. King, Vice President under Franklin Pierce; it was renamed in 1986, after civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
      
  10. Microsoft Corporation is located in Redmond.
      
  11. Before it became a state, the territory was called Columbia (named after the Columbia River). When it was granted statehood, the name was changed to Washington, supposedly so people wouldn't confuse it with The District of Columbia.
      
  12. The highest point in Washington is Mount Rainier. It was named after Peter Rainier, a British soldier who fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War.
      
  13. The Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge at Evergreen Point is the longest floating bridge in the world. The bridge connects Seattle and Medina across Lake Washington.
      
  14. Washington is the birthplace of both Jimi Hendrix (Seattle) and Bing Crosby (Tacoma).
      
  15. The oldest operating gas station in the United States is in Zillah.
      
  16. Washington's state insect is the Green Darner Dragonfly.
      
  17. The world's first soft-serve ice cream machine was located in an Olympia Dairy Queen.
      
  18. Starbucks, the biggest coffee chain in the world was founded in Seattle.
      
  19. Spokane was the smallest city in size to host a World's Fair. - 1974
      
  20. The state capital is Olympia, and the largest city is Seattle.
      
  21. As of the 2000 census, the state population was approximately 5.9 million and the state work force numbered about 3.1 million.
      
  22. Residents are called "Washingtonians" (emphasis on the third syllable, pronounced as tone).
      
  23. Washington is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west; Oregon to the south (the Columbia River forming most of this border); Idaho to the east and British Columbia, Canada to the north.
      
  24. Puget Sound's many islands are served by the largest ferry fleet in the United States.
      
  25. The forests of the Olympic Peninsula are among the rainiest places in the world and the only rainforests (such as the Hoh Rain Forest) in the continental United States
      
  26. The first European record of a landing on the Washington coast was by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta in 1775, on board the Santiago, part of a two-ship flotilla with the Sonora.
      
  27. The Lewis and Clark expedition entered the state on October 10, 1805.
      
  28. The first settlement in Washington was New Market (now known as Tumwater) in 1846.
      
  29. In 1853, Washington Territory was formed from part of Oregon Territory.
      
  30. Washington became the 42nd state in the United States on November 11, 1889.
      
  31. Early prominent industries in the state included agriculture, lumber, shipping, fishing, salmon canning and mining.
      
  32. By the turn of the 20th century, Aberdeen had the distinction of being "the roughest town west of the Mississippi" because of excessive gambling, violence, extreme drug use and prostitution (the city remained off-limits to military personnel into the early 1980s).
      
  33. The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during World War I and World War II, and the Boeing company became an established icon in the area.
       
  34. During the Great Depression, a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia river as part of a project to increase the production of electricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest dam in the United States.
      
  35. During World War II, Seattle was the point of departure for many soldiers in the Pacific, a number of which were quartered at Golden Gardens Park.
      
  36. In eastern Washington the Hanford Works atomic energy plant was opened in 1943 and played a major role in the construction of the nation's atomic bombs.
      
  37. In 1980, the northeast face of Mount St. Helens exploded outward, destroying a large part of the top of the volcano.
       
  38. As of 2004, Washington's population included 631,500 foreign-born (10.3% of the state population), and an estimated 100,000 illegal aliens (1.6% of state population).
      
  39. The six largest reported ancestries in Washington are: German (18.7%), English (12%), Irish (11.4%), Norwegian (6.2%), Mexican (5.6%) and Filipino (3.7%).
      
  40. Washington is home to many innovative Internet companies, including Amazon.com, Classmates.com, Whitepages.com, and Marchex.
      
  41. The percentage of non-religious people in Washington is the highest of any state, and church membership is among the lowest of all states.
      
  42. The state of Washington is one of only seven states that does not levy a personal income tax.
      
  43. Property tax was the first tax levied in the state of Washington and its collection accounts for about 30 percent of Washington's total state and local revenue.
      
  44. In 2004 Washington ranked first in the nation in production of red raspberries (90.0% of total U.S. production), hops (75.0%), apples (58.1%), sweet cherries (47.3%), pears (42.6%), Concord grapes (39.3%), and Niagara grapes (31.6%).
      
  45. There are 140 public airfields in Washington, including 16 state airports.
      
  46. Washington is home to four of the five longest floating bridges in the world: the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and Homer M. Hadley Bridge over Lake Washington, and the Hood Canal Bridge connecting the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas.
      
  47. Three ships of the United States Navy, including two battleships, have been named USS Washington in honor of the state.
       
  48. United Airlines was originally owned by the Boeing Airplane Company.
      
  49. Popular games Pictionary, Pickle-ball, and Cranium were all invented in Washington.
      
  50. The town of Artic was to be named 'Arta' after the wife of the town founder. The application was misread and resulted in the unusual spelling of the word Artic.
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Seattle Washington

 

Topography

 

Seattle is located between Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and Lake Washington. West beyond the Sound are the Olympic Mountains; east beyond Lake Washington and the Eastside suburbs are Lake Sammamish, the Issaquah Alps, and the Cascade Range. The rivers, forests, lakes, and fields were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. Opportunities for sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking are nearby and accessible almost all the year.

 

The city itself, somewhat like San Francisco, is hilly [2], though not uniformly so. Like Rome, the city is said to lie on seven hills; Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Beacon Hill, & Queen Ann being a few. The hilliest areas are near an isthmus in the city center, away from the chief harbor, an inlet of Puget Sound called Elliott Bay. The geography of Downtown has been reshaped by regrading projects, a seawall, and the construction of an artificial island, Harbor Island, at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway.

The man-made Lake Washington Ship Canal incorporating four natural bodies of water: Lake Union, Salmon Bay, Portage Bay, and Union Bay. The canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington.

 

An active geological fault, the Seattle Fault, runs under the city. Although neither the Seattle Fault nor the Cascadia Subduction Zone have caused an earthquake since the city’s founding, the city has been hit by four major earthquakes: December 14, 1872 (magnitude 7.3); April 13, 1949 (7.1); April 29, 1965 (6.5); and the Nisqually Earthquake of February 28, 2001 (6.8). The Cascadia subduction zone poses the even greater threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, particularly Downtown and in the Industrial District, which is built on fill.

 

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 369.2 km² (142.5 mi²),GR1 217.2 km² (83.9 mi²) of which is land and 152.0 km² (58.7 mi²) water. The total area is 41.16% water.

 

Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located in the U.S. state of Washington between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, about 96 miles (155 km) south of the United States–Canadian border in King County, of which it is the county seat.

 

Seattle was first settled November 14, 1851, by Arthur A. Denny and his crew, which would subsequently become known as the Denny party. Its first name was New York, then Duwamps, then finally it was renamed Seattle after Chief Noah Sealth who was chief of the two tribes living in the area ("Seattle" is an anglicized rendition of his last name). As of 2006, the city had an estimated population of 582,454 and an estimated metropolitan area population of approximately 3.3 million. Seattle is the hub for the Greater Puget Sound region. Its official nickname is the Emerald City, the result of a contest by a civic-minded association in the early 1980s to designate a pleasant nickname for the city;the name alludes to the lush evergreen trees in the surrounding area. It is also referred to informally as the Gateway to Alaska, Queen City, and Jet City, due to the local influence of Boeing. (Seattle-area band Queensrÿche also wrote a song called "Jet City Woman".) Seattle residents are known as Seattleites.

 

Seattle is often regarded as the birthplace of grunge music, and has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption; coffee companies founded in Seattle include Starbucks, Seattle's Best Coffee, and Tully's. There are also many successful independent artisanal espresso roasters and cafes. Seattle was the site of the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization, and the attendant demonstrations by anti-globalization activists. Researchers at Central Connecticut State University ranked Seattle the most literate city in America in 2005. Moreover, a United States Census Bureau survey showed that Seattle has the highest percentage of college graduates of any major U.S. city

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle%2C_Washington ...I know you like putting pictures in the forum...here are some very good ones..     WE Love You Barbara .  was born in Seattle Washington on May 15^th, 1953.  My grandparent’s emigrated from Europe.   My dad’s mom came from Northern Italy in the mountains and his dad came from southern Italy, near the central area.  My mom’s dad was from Sweden and her mom was from Italy, but she was born in Russia and mostly of German descent.  There was a rumor that my dad’s descendents escaped from the Spanish Inquisition and that we were from Jewish descendants.

 

It is important to me to tell you that my dad’s parents were very poor and his dad was a street sweeper with 8 children.  My mom’s parents were not as poor as my dad’s folks, but were not well off.  Her dad was an electrician.

 

Mom and Dad met in New York.  Mom lived in Brooklyn, New York and Dad lived in Tenafly, New Jersey.  They got married very young, 20 and 22. This was the time of the Great Depression.  They had my oldest sister Norma, my brother Peter and my sister Tina.  I am the youngest.   My dad’s sister put him through Interior Design College.

 

My dad was a work-aholic and married to his job.  This was very hard on my mom and the rest of us kids.  It was really tough growing up for me.  I am very thankful for being brought up in a Catholic School and church.  Moral values are very important to have.  My left eye crossed when I was in kindergarten and was very devastating to me.  I couldn’t see out of my left eye anymore.  I got an operation when I was 8 and it corrected my eye but it was still weak and it made reading very tough.  I was very depressed from my eye problem and family life.

 

I started taking ballet classes when I was 42 years old.  I quit ballet when I was in the second grade because I was too depressed to do it.  I have been taking ballet for over 10 years now and getting better at it!  Ballet is one of those things that takes a lot of time to learn.  You cannot learn ballet overnight.  Your body needs to evolve when learning ballet.

 

I was not successful.  I was always struggling all my life.  I had a 19 year relationship that was a very bad product of the 70’s.  Thank God I left that one!  I live alone now with my 2 cockatiels Baby and Beenie.  I love all animals very much.  I am especially interested in birds since owning Baby and Beenie.  Baby is 10 years old and Beenie is 3 ½ years old.  I help my Mom and sister 2 days a week, and I work at home on Internet Marketing the rest of the week.  I have been struggling with this for 4 years now and got scammed a lot in the process.  I know better now.  My ballet classes help me build my self confidence.  Ballet classes have also helped my left eye work very well and my left side.  I am right handed and tended to ignore my left side a lot because of my vision.

 

I left my bookkeeping job in August 2000.   I worked at this company for 16 years.  9 years as a warehouse, cleaning person and 7 years as a bookkeeper.  I had to leave because of too much verbal abuse.  Anyway, now I am working on getting ahead with Internet Marketing.

 

I recently have written my own newsletter and blog http://tinyurl.com/3728pv

Recently, I wrote a parrot blog http://tinyurl.com/2ucvgf

 I have been studying a lot about RSS Feeds and Marketing http://tinyurl.com/2479ms and applying it to my marketing.  Email marketing is not as popular now because of spam, so I joined Quikonnex http://tinyurl.com/35zxcm Quikonnex is a place you can view channels (like RSS feeds) or publish channels or feeds.