Florida - flattest state and other interesting trivia
Florida is noted as the flattest state. By some definitions -- depending on how you define "low" -- it is also the lowest state.
Visited by many theme-park tourists and eco-tourists, Florida has numerous lakes and golf courses and annual festivals such as the Mug Race (world's longest river race). Some come to watch space shuttle flights, because Florida has the most space flights from its Space Coast with area "three two one".
Key Largo is the "Diving Capital of the World". And Venice Florida is the "Shark Tooth Capital of the World". No, not shark capital of the world; shark tooth capital (just the tooth).
The title of "The Shark Attack Capital of the World" goes to New Smyrna Beach in Florida [reference] where there were 79 confirmed shark attacks in 2010. Forbes says that "Florida remains the most likely place in the world to encounter sharks." -- if you like sharks that is. But I would rather look at shark tooth at the annual shark tooth festival in Venice Florida. No, not Vince Italy. They just happen to have the same names. See more famous cities and not so famous counterparts here.
For a safer water adventure than encounters with sharks, you can swim with manatees and with dolphins in Florida's many adventure parks.
Almost but not Quite
Florida almost has the longest coastline of the United States, only to be beaten out by Alaska.
Florida almost has the most southernmost point of the United States, only to be beaten out by Hawaii.
However, if you talk about the 48 contiguous United State, then Florida has the longest coastline and the southernmost point.
Florida Flattest State
Of all the 50 United States, Florida is the flattest state. The difference between its highest point and its the lowest point is only 345 feet.
The highest point in Florida is Britton Hill. And hill is indeed an apt name, because it is only 345 feet high. This is nothing compared to Mount McKinley in Alaska, which has a peak at 20,320 feet.
Florida has the lowest high point of any state within United States. Stated in another way, the highest point in Florida is lower than the highest point of any other state. In any case, all other states have higher geographical elevation points than Florida. And in this sense, it can be said that Florida is also the "lowest state".
Florida's lowest elevation point is, well, at sea level. And it has some nice coastlines. But it does not have any point that is below sea level. While there are some other states that have points below sea level -- such as California's Death Valley.
Florida is so low that Fox News has news report titled Scientist: South Florida Will Be Water by End of Century. It was suggested that if global warming climate change does not abate, a five feet sea level rise would make South Florida impossible to live in.
Let's hope that is not true. Because Florida has some unique characteristics.
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys is a coral archipelago consisting of 1700 islands that extends from 15 miles south of Miami to Key West.
Of the 42 bridges there, the Seven Mile Bridge is among the more famous, connecting Knight's Key to Little Duck Key . Its length is, well, almost seven miles long. It is 6.79 miles to be exact.
Some of the keys have interesting names like Ragged Keys and Soldier Key and Marathon Key. Key Largo is one that is relatively well known by eco-tourists and is dubbed the "Diving Capital of the World".
Venice in Florida
There is a city named Venice in Florida. Although not as famous as the Venice in Italy, Venice in Florida does hold the title of "Shark's Tooth Capital of The World" and has a festival every year to show off its abundance of fossilized shark's teeth.
This city of population 21,000 (as of 2007) and 9.7 square miles has newspaper named Venice Gondolier Sun. There are a few professional gondoliers in this city to be sure, since about 0.6 square miles of this city is water. Perhaps that is why it also have a large snowbird population attracted by the water.
Speaking of annual festivals, the Mug Race held in Florida's St. Johns River is the world's longest river race at 38.5 miles long.
Miami Florida
Some may think that Florida is the southernmost state. But it is not. Hawaii is further south.
However, Miami Florida is the southernmost major metropolitan city in the 48 contiguous states. And Key West is the southernmost incorporated place in the contiguous 48 states.
The hit 2006 television show Miami Vice is based on the city of Miami.
Miami is the 8th most walkable of the fifty largest city in the United States as based on the Walk Score in 2011. It got a walk score of 72.5.
Have you ever been to Orlando's Theme Parks?
Orlando for Amusement Parks
Orlando attracts more visitors than any other amusement-park destination in the United States -- about 48 million visitors annually.[reference]
They come for ...
- Walt Disney World Resort
- Universal Orlando Resort
- Sea World Orlando
- WonderWorks
- Discovery Cove
- Marineland
- and many other attractions
Other Interesting Facts About Florida
Wakulla Springs in Florida is the world's largest and deepest freshwater spring (located near Tallahassee).
Lakeland Florida is the world's largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.[reference]
Some claim that Florida has 30,000 lakes and 1000 golf courses. Whether that is true or not is hard to say. But there at least 5400 named lakes in Florida which you can search here. And you can find a golf courses here.
The Space Coast in Florida includes Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center. The Kennedy Space Center has been used for every NASA human space flight since 1968 including all the Space Shuttle flight. The last space shuttle flight was on July 8, 2011 at 11:29 am.
The Space Coast has area code 321, pronounced "three two one" as in the take-off sequence.
Note:
Article was written July 2012 and information may be outdated by the time you read this. Much of this information is found from the Internet and Wikipedia.