This column was originally published in the Hamilton County Herald on September 28, 2012.
One of the things on my bucket list is to visit America’s National Parks. America has so many little known facts surrounding the states I’ll be exploring. See how many of these you know.
1. In Weston, Mass., stands a tower honoring the first European colonists of North America; however, they are not the Puritans or the Pilgrims. Who were these intrepid seafarers? Romans; Etruscans; Greeks; Vikings.
2. One of the most rewarding road trips in America is a visit to our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C, and its outlying attractions. Just south of the majestic Arlington Cemetery and the Pentagon lies a small museum on the ground floor of a government office building. Among its displays are a replica head shop called “Jimmy’s Joint,” a rabbit skin coat and platform shoes from the film “Shaft,” and a faux corpse beneath a sign reading “How Drugs Kill.” What government agency’s gallery is this? The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL); the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Bureau of Horrid Fashion (BHF); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).
3. Oregonian Art Lacey had a dream about a gas station built from the remnants of America’s victorious military after World War II. What mighty vehicle of our country’s fighting force did Lacey use? A Sherman Tank; a C-119 “Flying Boxcar” cargo airplane; a B-17 “Flying Fortress” bomber airplane; a light aircraft carrier.
4. The Church of God of Prophecy in Murphy, N.C., constructed Fields of the Wood, an outdoor worship space with numerous object lessons of the Christian faith in 1945. What 300-foot square attraction is its centerpiece? The Ten Commandments carved into a mountain; a relief sculpture of Saint Paul; the apparition of Jesus that presented itself to Oral Roberts in the 1980s; a topiary of the crucifixion.
5. Burlingame, Calif., has a candy museum of what compressed confection? Snickers; M&Ms; saltwater taffy; Pez.
6. Which state is proudly called the “Arsenal of the Nation?” Kentucky; Montana; Connecticut; Minnesota.
7. What is the name of the most rural state? Pennsylvania; Oregon; Kansas; North Dakota.
8. The capital of which state has the oldest U.S. newspaper still being published? Delaware; Connecticut; Maryland; Virginia.
ANSWERS
1. Harvard food scientist Eben Horsford erected the Viking Tower in 1889. 2. The DEA. 3. A B-17 “Flying Fortress” bomber airplane. 4. The Ten Commandments carved into a mountain. Fields of the Wood is an impressive place. The “World’s Largest Ten Commandments” face Prayer Mountain. Atop the Commandments sits “The World’s Largest New Testament,” from where one can gaze down on hedges cut to read “Jesus Died for Our Sins.” Another heroic monument is the 115 x 150-foot All Nations Cross, a horizontal offering displaying the flags of every country with Christian churches. Fields of the Wood also features a replica of Golgotha (the “Hill of the Skull” where Jesus was crucified) and the Holy Sepulcher. 5. Pez 6. Connecticut was the Continental Army’s major supplier of arms and ammunition during the American Revolutionary War. 7. North Dakota. Farms cover more than 90 percent of the territory of North Dakota, nicknamed the “Sioux State.” 8. Connecticut. The “Hartford Courant” was established in 1764.