2021 Travel the World - Week 30

I started a 50-week series in 2019 that I called Travel the World. Each week of the series I visited a randomly-selected country, sharing bits of information about that country. I then chose one tidbit of information about that week's country as inspiration for a card. As I explored those 50 countries in 2019, I knew I would continue on until I've visited every one of the 195 countries in the world, so I continued the series in 2020 and here I am in 2021, the third year of traveling the world. 

This week's country is...

United States of America

In 1783, the United States became the first country to gain independence from a European power

There is no official language in the United States. The most commonly spoken language is English, followed by Spanish.

The Missouri River is the longest river in North America. The river derives from Montana, located at the base of the Rocky Mountains, and flows for approximately 2, 341 miles before it empties into the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis, Missouri. The Missouri River and the Mississippi River combine to create the 4th longest river system in the world.

Approximately 85% of Americans use the internet.

Statistically speaking, no job in the United States of America is more deadly than that of the president. Think about it: 45 men have held the title. Four of those men were assassinated in office (Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, James A. Garfield, and William McKinley), while four died of natural causes (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren Harding, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt). That's a rate of almost 18 percent, or nearly 1 out of 5 who died on the job.

Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president the country has had.

President Lincoln, who was assassinated on April 14, 1865, had signed legislation to create the U.S. Secret Service hours before he headed to Ford's Theatre. However, the Secret Service wouldn't have saved Lincoln had it been created in time—the original purpose was to combat widespread currency counterfeiting. It wasn't until 1901 that its M.O. was to protect the president.

American's eat approximately 100 acres of pizza every single day. Annually, around 300 billion pizzas are sold in the good, 'ole U.S.A. Not only that, but a reported 93 percent of Americans have eaten pizza within the past month. The biggest spike in delivery sales of pizza occurs around the Super Bowl.

The average American throws away 4.4 pounds of trash daily.

Oregon's Crater Lake is 1,943 feet deep, which makes it the deepest lake in the United States, as well as the ninth deepest lake in the entire world. 

Atlantic City has the world's longest boardwalk. Built in 1870, it was also the first boardwalk in the United States. Its purpose was to limit the amount of sand beach goers took with them into hotel lobbies as well as the train.

California's state animal doesn't exist in California. Before the mid-1800s, thousands of grizzly bears could be found across California—so much that the animal became the state's official animal. Nowadays, all of the grizzlies are gone.

Founded in 1636, Harvard was the first University in the United States.

Technically, a state's driver's license is not needed to compete in NASCAR. Even drivers who have had their actual driver licenses suspended for everything from reckless driving to DUIs were still able to race in NASCAR.

Alaska is the largest state in the United States, and was sold for a total of $7.2 million, which amounts to about 2 cents per acre. The state was purchased in 1867. In the 50 years that followed, America made their money back for the $7.2 million more than 100 times.

More people live in New York City than in forty of the United States.

The word Pennsylvania is misspelled on the Liberty Bell.

Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake by surface area at 31,700 square miles, or roughly the size of Maine. It also holds 10 percent of the world's surface fresh water. 

In fact, Lake Superior is so big, that its water could cover North and South America in their entirety with one foot of water.

The Empire State Building literally has its own zip code.

There's a town in Alaska that lives under one roof. The town of Whittier, Alaska, is an hour southeast of Anchorage. It's a small town of around 220 people and these 220 people all live under one roof, in one building.

There's a town in the United States with only one resident. Monowi, Nebraska's single resident is 83 years old. She is the city's mayor, librarian, and bartender. She pays taxes to herself, and considers people who reside 40 miles away to be her neighbors.

There's enough concrete in the Hoover Dam to build a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York City. It also weighs more than 600,000 tons.

In Kentucky there are more bourbon barrels than people. Kentucky is the birthplace of the drink and crafts 95 percent of the world's bourbon supply.

The town of Centralia, Pennsylvania has been on fire for more than 55 years. In the late 1800s to the 1960s, it was a prosperous mining town. However, after a mine caught on fire in in 1962, the flames began to spread underground through the interconnecting tunnels. They haven't been able to put them out since and the town's population has drastically decreased.

The Library of Congress has 838 miles of bookshelves, consisting of more than 39 million books. The library receives some 15,000 items each working day. All together, these bookshelves are long enough to stretch from Houston to Chicago.

According to the National Association of Wheat Growers, an acre of Kansas wheat produces enough bread to feed nearly 9,000 people for one day. As well, the state produces enough wheat each year to bake 36 billion loaves of bread. That's enough to feed everyone in the world for about two weeks.

You can get a Unicorn hunting license in Michigan. It was developed as a PR stunt in 1971.

The United States experiences the highest rate of tornadoes of any country in the world. On an average, the country deals with more than 1000 tornadoes every year.

Alaska has the longest coastline of any state while Florida has the second longest. 

In fact, Alaska has a longer coastline than all of the other 49 U.S. states put together.

The United States of America has the world’s largest air force. It was founded on September 18, 1947. The USAF with more than 5,369 military aircraft is the most technologically advanced air force in the world.

Yellowstone was the United States' first national park.

There are 182 places in the U.S. that have the word “Christmas” in their names.

Chicago is the birthplace of the first ever ferris wheel, which was 264-feet tall and debuted in the 1893 World’s Fair and was demolished shortly after in 1906.

New Jersey is home to the world's highest roller coaster.

Georgia is the birthplace of miniature golf.

San Francisco hardy has any cemeteries. In 1937, residents passed a law that said that cemeteries can no longer be built within city limits, simply because they considered their land to be too valuable. Today there are only three cemeteries within city limits. 

Pensacola Florida is the oldest city in the United States. It was settled in 1559.

The official flag of the United States was designed by Robert G. Heft in 1958 while Heft was a junior in high school. Surprisingly, he only got a B- as a grade. Heft’s teacher, Stanley Pratt, promised his student he would raise his grade if the US Congress accepted his design.

More than 10% of Americans have worked or will work at McDonald's at some point in their lives.

The most visited museum in the United States is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which receives 9 million visitors annually. It is the second most visited museum in the world, after the Louvre.

The Pentagon is the largest office building in the world, boasting 17 miles of corridors and twice the space of the Empire State Building.

The largest amphitheater in the world can be found in Los Angeles. The Hollywood Bowl was opened in 1922 and can hold almost 18,000 people.

Hawaii is the only state that grows coffee commercially.

The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. There are currently 2.2 million people in jail, or about 22% of the world's population of inmates.

My inspiration for this week's card is based on this fact about the United States of America... An island that has no human residents but is completely inhabited by wild monkeys is located off the coast of South Carolina.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamps: Whipper Snapper Swing Monkey and Whipper Snapper Hang In There stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Paper: Cougar 110# White and SU Cinnamon Cider CS and DP from my scrap file

Dies: Gina Marie Stitch In & Out Cut Rectangle

Embellishments: Dragonfly Brad from an unknown vendor