Mapping it all out.

I like to look at maps. Not for any particular purpose. Just to look and see things that I may not have known before. Like the exact spot where Kathmandu resides.

Geography seems to elude certain people. I love those interviews on the street, where the reporter asks some unwitting participant if they can point to Florida on a map. And they wind up somewhere in Connecticut. I suspect this is the direct cause of the digital world in which we live.

Most of us know the most of it. But here are a few good little pieces about the United States. Of our country it is divided into 50 states. But each and every state varies in size and shape. The smallest state is Rhode Island with an area of just 1,545 square miles. And, the big beast, by area, is Alaska with 663,268 square miles. That’s 600,000 to 1,000. If they got in a fight on the playground, Alaska would win, hands down. That chilly Alaska also has the longest coastline in the U.S.

Despite all our differences, we are all united by trees, here in the U.S.A. Every state has them. Lots of them. The more we plant the better. Anyway, some of them have been around a long, long time. Those Bristlecone Pine Trees are believed to be some of the world’s oldest living things. They are found out west. In the States of California, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. They have been dated at 5,000 years old. That’s an old tree.

There are some other winners on the podium of biggest and best.

The deepest lake in this land, is Crater Lake, located in Oregon. That’s a good name for a deep lake. For you very long breath-holders, it is 1,932 feet deep. It is also the world’s seventh deepest lake. The deepest in the world is Lake Baikal in southern Russia. It is more than 5,300 feet deep. Those dang Russians. Again.  It runs deep.

And then there is the tallest mountain in the world. It is located in Mauna Kea, in Hawaii. It is only 13,796 feet in altitude above sea level, which is not that big. But. If you measure from the sea floor — and I don’t know any mountain climbers who do — it is over 32,000 feet high. That makes it taller than Mount Everest (Which, as we know, is Earth’s tallest mountain above sea level at 29,028 feet). Again, you may want to query your rock climbing friends on this one.

So there it is. Some good facts about the States we’re in.
And sometimes, I can be in quite a state.  The highs and the lows.

Regardless.  I hope your journey today, is all mapped out.

=======

“Inner guidance is heard like soft music in the night by those who have learned to listen.”
― Vernon Howard

========

“It is a mistake to think that moving fast is the same as actually going somewhere.”
― Steve Goodier

=========

“If you lose direction,
go to a higher ground.”
― Toba Beta

==========