maps and geography and quiz questions

This is a bit of a ramble, you may want to come back when you have more time !!!

In school, my favourite subjects were Art, Maths and Geography - in that order. I still do the first, I much prefer suduko to scrabble and I like to look up places in my Atlas (I've still got my school Atlas, but they never account for your fading eyesight when they give you these books, so I use a bigger one now !!).

Some of my blogger friends know this already, but my dear old geezer is the Quizmaster. He loves it - infact, he loves anything where he is out front, entertaining people.
My team are called The Hopefuls - because we always are !

When a Geography question comes up, they always turn to me. Not because I know everything, but because I have travelled a bit, and I do just love it. My worst area is actually UK Geography, which is shameful - but there is a great big world out there and I always wish I could see more of it.

So when I was sorting out all the books recently for the 'Impossibility' challenge, I was so happy to 'find' the maps above. I knew they were somewhere, but I had stashed them behind some books and had forgotten they were there.
There is no better way to live, than being a hoarder - it's like Christmas every time you sort something out !!!

The maps actually came out of National Geographic magazines, that were given to my father, and then to me.  Most of them have gorgeous pictures on the back and historical details.

And the map I really wanted was here too -

My knowledge of US states is pretty rubbish. I know where California is of course (not least because my Uncle lives there), and Washington (Frasier), and New York (been there), and Conneticut (big crush on an American guy when I was 19), and Florida (always wanted to go to the Keys). I have a vague idea about the southern states, and some Eastern States, because of reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, but the rest - well, I feel the need for more knowledge because just about everyone who follows lives in the US.

Quiz Question

If you drove along the US/Canadian border from Washington, through Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota, what State would you come to next ?

Well, I knew the answer, because only a couple of days before, I had looked up where some blogging friends happened to live and my friend Bliss lives in Minnesota, and I had just made a mental note -   'left of the Great lakes and on the border with Canada'.

It was a lucky guess, I hadn't memorised any - but now, NOW I'm going to make a pin board, and pin this map wherever a blogging friend lives.

Don't worry, I'm not a crazy stalker - I won't be knocking on your door !

It's all in the interest of my thirst for Geographical knowledge.

And alongside this map will be the other side of the one below - because I really should know more English Counties.

No doubt in the future, you will see alot of projects here, using some maps. I have found a few inspiring pieces in blogland already. And I would dearly love a map wall, and got really excited when I found these in the pile.

Unfortunately, not a whole set - and ofcourse they are not scaled the same, so they wouldn't join together anyway.

But I might use some of the pictures from the old calendars, because the colours are amazing.

And to my dear European friends - YOU may want to be a little bit concerned, because you are much, much closer, and I don't need a map to pin your whereabouts, so I may be stalking you instead !!!