I found some interesting facts about Texas. I just learned a lot of this. What about your state/province?
Official State Symbols
Nickname: The Lone Star State
Food: Chili
Tree: Pecan
Insect: Monarch Butterfy
Folk Dance: Square Dance
Motto: Friendship
Song: "Texas, Our Texas"
Bird: Mockingbird
Sport: Rodeo
Fiber & Fabric: Cotton
Geography, Population, and Weather
The total area of Texas is 266,807 square miles, or 7.4% of the total land area in the U.S.; Texas is as large as all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois combined; It is 801 miles across Texas from north to south, and 773 miles from east to west.
The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than the state of Rhode Island.
Texas has more counties than any other state. Forty-one counties in Texas are each larger than the state of Rhode Island.
The Dallas/Ft. Worth airport is larger than New York City's Manhattan Island.
Texas ranks first in the U.S. in highway mileage, with over 70,000 miles; and first in railroad mileage and number of airports.
Three of the largest cities in the United States are located in Texas: Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.
El Paso, Texas is closer to Los Angeles on the Pacific Coast than it is to Port Arthur on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Port Arthur, on the other hand, is closer to Jacksonville, Florida on the Atlantic Coast than it is to El Paso.
An average of 123 tornadoes touch down in Texas each year, and 5,281 tornadoes were recorded between 1951 and 1993
Average annual precipitation ranges from 60 inches at Caddo Lake to 8.8 inches in El Paso.
The highest recorded temperature in Texas was 120 degrees Fahrenheit and the lowest was -23 degrees Fahrenheit.
The largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States is Houston with a population of 1,953,631 and over 4,000,000 in the metro area.
There are 6,736 lakes in Texas, giving it 4,959 square miles of inland water, first in the 48 contiguous states.
Political and Historical
When Texas was annexed in 1845 it retained the right to fly its flag at the same height as the national flag.
The resolution that admitted Texas into the Union in 1845 stated that Texas had the right to divide into 4 states in addition to the original Texas. That legal right still remains.
Texas is the only state to have the flags of six different nations fly over it. They are: Kingdom of Spain, Kingdom of France, Republic of Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States of America, and the United States.
Texas comes from the Hasinai Indian word tejas, meaning friends or allies.
First, Biggest, etc.
Texas ranks number one in the United States in production of oil, natural gas, cattle, sheep, wool, rice, watermelon, and cotton.
Texas is one of the top producers of forest products in the United States, with the second most forested acreage in the South.
The largest military base in the world, Fort Hood, is located in Killeen, in central Texas
Two of the three largest universities in the United States are in Texas; Texas A&M University at College Station and the University of Texas at Austin.
Texas leads the nation in the sale of pick-up trucks.
The first word spoken from the moon on July 20, 1969 was Houston.
The first rodeo in history took place in 1881 in Pecos.
Texas has more churches than any state in the union, with 16,969.
The dome of the Capitol Building, in Austin, stands seven feet higher than that of the nation's Capitol in Washington, D.C
