TRAVELTRIVIA
Test your Michigan Geography IQ
(© 2005 Randy Karr)

Carol Dixon, Beverly R. West, Beverly Bandt, Elly Willis, and Patricia Majeski, tied in the February TravelTrivia. Beverly R. West won the drawing and is the winner! Melvin Susalla and Mary Bates came in a close second! Congratulations to all. TravelTrivia winners will receive a free, one-year subscription to The Lakeshore Guardian mailed to their home or a Lakeshore Guardian T-shirt. February answers are below. Now, let's see how you do with these TravelTrivia Questions. PLEASE NOTE: MARCH ANSWERS WILL BE DUE ON MARCH 9th.

1. For official documents to be legally binding in China, they must be stamped with a traditional Chinese seal, in red ink. These seals are generally made of jade, but gold, brass, stone, and wood are also used. Forging one is a serious crime. What is the common name for the specially carved seal used as a signature? (Answer in Sightseers)
   
   
2. When this ski hill opened in 1960, it quickly became known as the "snowmaking capital of the Midwest," thanks to their patent on a powerful snow gun, nicknamed "Snow Witch." Now, "Ding Dong", the Witch is gone, having been replaced by a bigger gun, dubbed "Big Blue." Located in the fastest-growing county in Michigan, this "mountain" was recently voted, by the readers of AAA Michigan Living Magazine, the best snowboarding area in the state. Name this "mountain."
   
   
3. Emerging from a spring near McMillan, this legendary river drains an 800 square mile, Upper Peninsula watershed. It meanders for nearly 100 miles, before emptying its tannic stained, yellowish-brown water into Whitefish Bay. Once Ojibwa Indians camped, farmed, fished and trapped along the river. It was here that Hiawatha, an Ojibwa Chief, was portrayed as building and launching a canoe in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha. This American poet, however, never set foot in the river. To write this poem, Longfellow relied on the writings of explorer Henry Schoolcraft, for whom a nearby county is named. Name this river.
   
   
4. For decades, immigrants, soldiers and visitors passed through the Michigan Central Railroad Depot, a gigantic train station, once ranked as North America's largest and the world's tallest. Rising above the station's waiting rooms and three mezzanine levels is a 230-foot high office tower. The architectural firm that designed New York City's Grand Central Station also designed this station, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in beaux-arts, neoclassical style, the train station features Corinthian columns, arched windows, copper windowsills and solid wood doors. Its vaulted, marble waiting room, which resembled an ancient Roman bathhouse, was hailed as Detroit's greatest public room. Because architects believed majestic buildings should soar above pleasant surroundings, a park was built in the front of this station. It was named after one of the following personages who passed through - Charlie Chaplin, Thomas Edison, President Herbert Hoover or President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Name this park.
   
   
5. True or false? Michigan has the longest, freshwater shoreline in the world.

E-Mail: rkarr@comcast.net
Mail: TravelTrivia c/o The Lakeshore Guardian,
9697 Purdy Rd., Harbor Beach, MI 48441

February Answers (1) Oriental Pearl Tower (2) Midland (3) Woodward Avenue (4) Au Sable River (5) True