Washington Trivia & Tidbits - Page 3

Looking for Washington trivia? Try our list Washington little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

—NASA astronaut Francis “Dick” Scobee, who was born in Cle Elum (pop. 1,755) in 1939, first flew as a space shuttle pilot in April 1984 on the orbiter Challenger, with the crew successfully retrieving and repairing a satellite in space. Scobee died when Challenger exploded after launch on Jan. 28, 1986; he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

first appeared: 5/18/2008

—Architect Frank O. Gehry designed the Seattle building that’s home to the Experience Music Project, an interactive facility that explores creativity and innovation in popular music. It’s reported that the building contains enough steel that if it were turned into a typical steel guitar E-string, it would be 1.6 million miles long, or enough to circle the Earth 65 times.

first appeared: 5/4/2008

—A goat sculpture that eats garbage has become a landmark along the Sculpture Walk in Spokane’s Riverfront Park. Designed and created from metal by Sister Paula Turnbull of the city’s Holy Names Convent, the sculpture was placed in the park for the World’s Fair in 1974. When “fed” small pieces of garbage through its mouth, the goat’s internal vacuum system makes the trash disappear.

first appeared: 3/9/2008

—On the first day of each new season, the sun shines through ruby-colored glass in the octagonal tower of the Ann Starrett Mansion, a hotel in Port Townsend (pop. 8,334) and lights up one of the Four Seasons panels in the tower’s solar calendar. Contractor George Starrett had the house built in 1889 at a cost of $6,000 as a present for his bride, Ann.

first appeared: 2/24/2008

—Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square district faced the wrecking ball in the 1960s, having deteriorated from a busy commercial area. Architect Ralph Anderson believed so strongly in the old brick buildings, however, that he mortgaged his own home to buy one of them, launching a conservation effort that resulted in Historic District status in 1970.

first appeared: 2/10/2008

—Featuring 242 photovoltaic solar panels that convert the sun’s energy into electricity, the 38.7-kilowatt White Bluffs Solar Station was the largest solar power facility in the Northwest when it opened in 2002 near Richland (pop. 38,708). The environmentally friendly facility reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and was built on a “brightfields” site—an abandoned or contaminated location redeveloped for solar energy.

first appeared: 1/27/2008

—Once called “the real Indiana Jones” by People magazine, Bellingham-born author and explorer Gene Savoy (1927-2007) explored some 40 ancient stone-built cities in Peru and sailed the oceans to research his historical work. He is credited with finding four of Peru’s most important archeological sites, including what’s reported to be Vilcabamba, the last stronghold of the Inca civilization.

first appeared: 1/13/2008

—The Hanford Reach National Monument was established in 2000 to protect one of the most undeveloped stretches of the Columbia River, 51 miles between Richland (pop. 38,708) and the Priest Rapids Dam. More than 80 percent of fall Chinook salmon in the Columbia River Basin spawn there each fall, with many other native plant and animal species also relying on the area.

first appeared: 12/30/2007

Football player Ray Mansfield (1941-1996), who grew up in Kennewick (pop. 54,693), was inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame in 1995, in recognition of his record-setting career as a University of Washington Husky between 1960 and 1962, which included the 1961 Rose Bowl 17-7 win over the University of Minnesota.

first appeared: 12/30/2007

—The Washington State Department of Transportation owns three “trainsets” of Amtrak Cascades trains that travel the route between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with stops in cities that include Seattle, Portland and Bellingham. The trainsets, which seat about 250 people, typically include 12 train cars that incorporate a “tilting” technology to aid speed and passenger comfort around curves.

first appeared: 12/2/2007

—Seattle resident Siena Jeakle, 9, won Inc. magazine’s “Best Lemonade Stand in America” contest last year for her “pink drink stand,” which helped to raise money for breast cancer research in honor of her grandmother, a breast cancer survivor. Jeakle, who used real lemons in her lemonade, earned $56 at her stand, which she decorated with signs that included a giant pink lemonade glass.

first appeared: 11/18/2007

––Born in Seattle, artist and sculptor George Tsutakawa (1910-1997) moved to Japan when he was 7, but returned to the Emerald City at 17 after disagreeing with his father about his future. He chose to study art, and went on to design dozens of renowned fountain sculptures that now can be found in the United States, Canada and Japan.

first appeared: 11/4/2007

—The early 1960s saw the community of Leavenworth (pop. 2,074) in decline due to the loss of its railway and lumber industries, so townspeople took a dramatic step. Inspired by a mountain setting that resembled the Alps, community leaders and residents reinvented the town, creating a Bavarian village that today attracts visitors to its authentic German architecture, festivals and culture.

first appeared: 10/21/2007

—Born in Seattle on June 5, 1956, Kenneth Gorelick, now known as jazz saxophonist Kenny G, was inspired at the age of 10, after watching a saxophone player on the Ed Sullivan Show. He received his professional start by performing with legendary soul singer Barry White at age 17, and won a Grammy award for Best Instrumental Composition in 1993 for “Forever in Love.”

first appeared: 10/7/2007

—In May, Caitlin Snaring became the second girl ever to win the National Geographic Bee, when she correctly answered that “Hué” was the city, divided by a river of the same name, that was Vietnam’s imperial capital for more than a century. The eighth-grader from Redmond (pop. 45,256) received a $25,000 scholarship.

first appeared: 9/30/2007

—The community of Ritzville (pop. 1,736) has celebrated its history by commissioning local artists to create outdoor metal sculptures, including a rancher and horse with a covered wagon. Ritzville was settled in the late 1870s and early 1880s, and was named for local homesteader Philip Ritz.

first appeared: 9/9/2007

—Fort Worden State Park, which was part of a triangle of forts established to protect the nautical entrance to Puget Sound at the turn of the 20th century, was one of the main settings for the 1982 movie, An Officer and a Gentleman, which starred Richard Gere and Debra Winger. The fort, in Port Townsend (pop. 8,334), is now a state park.

first appeared: 8/26/2007

—A 20-foot-tall robot stands outside The Robot Hut in Elk, northeast of Country Homes (pop. 5,203). Inside, John Rigg’s collection of some 2,500 robots and robot toys includes replicas of R2-D2 and C-3P0 from Star Wars, the B-9 robot from Lost in Space and Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet. The Robot Hut is open to the public by appointment.

first appeared: 8/12/2007

—Built in 1904, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, near Chinook (pop. 457), marks the site of the former fishing settlement of McGowan. The church, with its modest steeple and stained-glass windows, faces the Pacific Ocean and is maintained in its original condition, which means that it has no utilities. Services conducted in summer and for special occasions are lit by kerosene lanterns.

first appeared: 7/29/2007

—Just 21 one-hundredths of a second separated Phil and Steve Mahre’s slalom skiing finishes at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, with Phil earning the gold medal and Steve taking home silver. The twin brothers grew up skiing White Pass, east of Olympia (pop. 42,514), and they still live in the Yakima area.

first appeared: 7/15/2007

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