Personal Challenge 2018 - Week 10

I'm back today for another card in my 50-week States of the Union personal challenge. Each week I research one of the 50 United States (in the order they attained statehood) and do some research. I use one of the tidbits of information as inspiration for my card.

This week's state is...

Virginia

Date of Statehood: June 25, 1788

Things I've discovered in my research on the state of Virginia...

Jamestown was the first English settlement in the U.S. It was also the first capital of Virginia.

Eight United States Presidents were born in Virginia: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson.

Six Presidents' wives were born in Virginia: Martha Washington, Martha Jefferson, Rachel Jackson, Letitia Tyler, Ellen Arthur, Edith Wilson.

The State flower is not really a flower, but  the blossom of the dogwood tree, which is also the state tree.

About 1/2 of all the people in the United States live within a 500 mile radius of the Capital of Virginia.

The state’s academic calendar is largely determined by amusement parks.

In Virginia more people work for the United States government than any other industry. About 1/4 of Virginia's workers.

Thousands of people watch more than 100 wild ponies swim in an event that’s been taking place for almost a century. Every year, "Saltwater Cowboys" corral more than 100 wild horses in aswim from Assateague Island to Chincoteague Island in Eastern Virginia. At the island, the ponies are then paraded around and auctioned off to raise money for a local fire department. 

Virginia claims to have actually had the “First Thanksgiving,” predating the famous Plymouth feast by almost two years.

Virginia is for lovers of vanity plates. According to a 2007 study by The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, out of the 9.3 million personalized plates on the roads of America about one in 10 are in Virginia. It total, at the time of the study, 16% of all license plates issued in Virginia were personalized. Illinois actually holds the record for the most vanity plates on the road, with about 1.3 million, but Virginia still boasts the highest rate.

Virginia handles 70% of the world's internet traffic.

The 1987 classic film "Dirty Dancing" was filmed almost entirely at the Mountain Lake Lodge in Pembroke, Virginia, and you can still make a pilgrimage to check out the iconic sites of the fictional "Kellerman's Resort." The lodge is still open and offers Dirty Dancing packages for visitors along with a Patrick Swayze monument.

The Pentagon is the largest office building in the world and has TWICE the office space of the Empire State Building. Construction on the Pentagon began on September 11, 1941, exactly 60 years to the day before American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Pentagon has 68,000 miles of internal telephone lines. That's enough phone line to stretch from Florida to Washington state more than 22 times.

Spitting on a sea gull is strictly forbidden in Virginia. In case you needed to be told not to do that. 

Overage trick-or-treating is illegal in Virginia. The maximum age for the Halloween pastime is 11 years old.

 It’s against the law to keep a skunk as a pet here in the state. 

Police radar detectors are illegal.

No animal may be hunted for on Sunday with the exception of raccoons, which may be hunted until 2:00 AM.

No one may wash a mule on the sidewalk in Culpeper Virginia.

It’s LEGAL for a man to beat his wife on the courthouse steps, but he must do so before 8:00 p.m. (Stafford County).

I've decided to go with this bit of Virginia information for my card's inspiration... It’s illegal to flip a coin to determine who pays for coffee (Richmond).

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Supplies Used

Stamp Set: Unity Cup of Love stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers and an Amazapen Gel Pen

Paper: Recollections 110# Cream and SU Early Espresso CS and Maxxie Coffee Addict double-sided DP

Embellishments: Foof-a-La Button and SU Grosgrain Ribbon
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