Michigan

I found these fun facts about Michigan here:

• The name Michigan is derived from the Indian words "Michi-gama" meaning large lake. 

• Michigan is the only state that touches four of the five Great Lakes.

• Anywhere in Michigan, you are within 85 miles of one of the Great Lakes.

These were found here:

• Colon is home to the world's largest manufacture of magic supplies.  

• Gerald R. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids and became the 38th president of the United States He attended the University of Michigan where he was a football star. He served on a World War II aircraft carrier and afterward represented Michigan in Congress for 24 years. He was also was an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Boy Scouts. 

• The Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit manufactured the first air-conditioned car in 1939. 

• The Kellogg Company has made Battle Creek the Cereal Capital of the World. The Kellogg brothers accidentally discovered the process for producing flaked cereal products and sparked the beginning of the dry cereal industry.

 

Alaska



The actual state bird of Alaska is the Willow Ptarmigan. Sometimes it seems like mosquitoes are the state birds here, too, though. 

This came from my dad's brother who lives in Alaska
during the summer.

I've never been to Alaska, so reading these Fun Facts about Alaska was really fascinating:

Alaska is larger than the next four largest states combined

Alaska contains 17 of the 20 highest peaks in The United States

Alaska is only 50 miles from Russia.

Alaska has 29 volcanoes

Alaska has 33,000 miles of coastline...more than the rest of the lower 48 combined (This includes island shores)

Alaska is the only state to have coastlines on 3 different seas. Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea

There are more than three million lakes in Alaska

North Carolina

I must confess that North Carolina is quickly becoming a favorite for me. Part of it is all the wonderful sites to visit, but mostly it's the great people  that I know who live there...people I get to visit the wonderful places with. Fun Facts: The Wright brothers completed the first successful flight of a mechanically propelled airplane over the sands of Kitty Hawk,  North Carolina on December 17, 1903.

The University of North Carolina was the first public university  in the United States to open its doors.

Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run in Fayetteville on  March 7, 1914.

The first English child born in America, Virginia Dare, was born  in Roanoke, North Carolina, in 1587.

Mount Mitchell is the tallest mountain in the eastern United States.

Jockey's Ridge is the tallest natural sand dune system in the Eastern  United States. Depending on the weather, its height can range  from 80 to 100 feet!

Whitewater Falls in Transylvania County, one of over 200 waterfalls  in North Carolina, is the highest waterfall on the East Coast.

The Biltmore Estate in Asheville is the largest private house in the  world, with 250 rooms.

Texas

Fun Facts
Origin of Name: from a Hasinai Indian word, "Tejas," which means friends or allies.
Texas was an independent nation from 1836 to 1845 and is the only state to enter the United States by treaty instead of territorial annexation.
Austin is considered the live music capital of the world.
In Texas, it's illegal to put graffiti on someone else's cow.

This letter is from a college friend who is coming to visit me today. :D

Pennsylvania

I thought I'd begin my letters from every state today. :) 

Fun Fact: Pennsylvania is the first state of the fifty United States to list their web site URL on a license plate.

More Stuff That's Good To Know: 

Pennsylvania was the 2^nd state in the USA; it became a state on December 12, 1787. 

State Abbreviation - PA

State Capital - Harrisburg
Largest City - Philadelphia
Area - 46,058 square miles [Pennsylvania is the 33rd biggest state in the USA]
Population - 12,281,054 (as of 2000) [Pennsylvania is the sixth most populous state in the USA, after California, New York, Texas, Florida and Illinois]

Anyway, my high school pen pal went to Creation Fest in 2005 & sent me this postcard:

I just went to the website & found out that one of this year's Creation Fests started this week & the other will be in the coming month.