Blue Bayou and Other Colourful Locales Quiz

Answer: Green

Vermont is known as "The Green Mountain State" after the mountain range that runs through the central portion of the state as well as into Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Quebec.

Green Bay, Wisconsin, is the smallest American city that is home to a professional sports franchise in the Big 4 sports leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB). The city sits on the Green Bay, an inlet of Lake Michigan.

Greenland measures in at 2,175,597 square kilometers. nearly triple the size of the next largest island in the world, New Guinea. On some world maps, the island appears larger than the entire continent of Africa despite being nearly 14 times smaller. This is due to the widely accepted Mercator projection of cartography that distorts shapes in higher latitudes to project the round Earth on a flat surface.

Answer: White / Blanc

Not only is it the capital and largest city of Yukon, but Whitehorse is the only city in the territory. The city has the lowest air pollution levels in the world, a fact verified by the "Guinness World Records". To maintain this, the city restricts motor vehicle travel to only specific roads in areas close to the downtown core.

Over a three year period from 1888 to 1891, Jack the Ripper terrified residents of the east London neighbourhood Whitechapel. The serial killer was never identified. The neighbourhood has always been dominated by immigrant and working class residents, and their toils were documented by author Jack London in his 1902 novel "The People of the Abyss".

Mont Blanc is the highest peak of the Alps and the second tallest in Europe behind Mount Elbrus. One of the busiest trans-Alpine transport routes is a near 12-kilometre tunnel that runs beneath the mountain that links France and Italy. If you don't want to go under the mountain via car, you can travel up part of Mont Blanc via cable car.

Answer: Black

The Black Forest can be found in extreme southwestern Germany, close to the borders with France and Switzerland. The region has a lengthy economic history including mining, forestry, clockmaking, and hydropower production. Tourism is also an employer, and popular tourist locales in the Black Forest are the thermal baths at Baden-Baden and the Titisee and Schluchsee lakes.

The Black Hills of South Dakota were the home to an 1874 gold rush that ended an agreement between the United States government and the Lakota tribe that inhabited the area. The agreement had banned all white settlement in the small mountain range. In the Black Hills you can find Mount Rushmore, which opened in 1925, and Harney Peak, the highest point in the United States east of the Rockies.

Answer: Yellow

The Yellow River is called Huang He and flows nearly 5,500 km (3400 miles) through central China to the Bohai Sea. The river has crested its shores multiple times to much devastation, most notably in 1887 and 1931. Due to pollution, up to a third of the river's water is not suitable for agriculture or industrial use.

The aforementioned Bohai Sea empties into the Yellow Sea which comprises the northern portion of the East China Sea that borders China, North and South Korea. Varying tides cause a three-kilometre long strip of land to rise out of the water twice a year off the coast of Jindo island in South Korea.

Answer: Orange

The 2010 population estimate of Orange County, California, was three million residents, higher than 21 entire US states. The cities of Anaheim, Irvine, Santa Ana and Huntington Beach can all be found within Orange County. Along with two popular theme parks, Orange County is home to professional baseball and hockey teams, along with famous surfing, skateboarding and beach volleyball events.

The Orange Free State has been an independent state, a former province of South Africa, and a current province under various names, with orange appearing in the former two. Orange Free State gained independence in 1854 but was annexed in 1900 after several wars with British colonizers. Orange Free State Province dissolved in 1994 into what is today simply known as Free State Province.

The House of Orange-Nassau helped guide the Netherlands to independence in 1815 under William of Orange. Despite the red, white and blue Dutch flag, orange has become a symbolizing colour of the nation and the House continues to rule as monarchs of the country.

Answer: Red

The Red Sea is a long, skinny inlet off of the Indian Ocean (2250 km x 335 km at its widest) but is slowly expanding and perhaps will become an ocean one day in size. The sea is a major shipping route connecting Europe to Asia.

Numerous Red Rivers exist throughout the world including in China and two in the United States: Red River of the North which runs through Fargo, North Dakota and into Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg; and The Red River to the South, a tributary of the Mississippi that comprises much of the Texas-Oklahoma state boundary.

Louisiana's French history is evident in the name of its capital; Baton Rouge. Meaning "red stick", the name was conceived from French explorers travelling up the Mississippi River who noticed a giant red pole that was to mark the border of tribal hunting grounds. The state capitol in Baton Rouge is 34 stories tall, the highest state capitol in the country.

Answer: Blue

The Great Blue Hole can be found roughly 70 km off the coast of Belize City. The hole was formed over many glaciation periods and much shallower tides, with the initial formation beginning 150,000 years ago. The hole has a 300 metre diameter and is estimated at 125 metres deep. It is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Blue Ridge Mountains are a central chain of the Appalachians, running from Georgia into Pennsylvania. The mountains appear to be blue when seen from a distance, thanks to isoprene released from the trees. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a scenic road that snakes through the mountains for 755 km.

The Blue Mountains near Sydney in Australia are part of the Great Dividing Range. The Gundungurra people who have inhabited the mountain range for millennia describe the mountains as being formed through a brutal fight between Mirigan and Garangatch, half fish, half reptile creatures. Just like the Blue Ridge Mountains, a blue hue appears over these mountains as well, giving the mountains their name. Eucalyptus trees release oil into the atmosphere which, along with other atmospheric particles like sand, scatter the smallest wavelengths of light. The smallest wavelengths most commonly are blue.

Answer: Rose

Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt uncovered Petra in 1812 and described it as a rose-red city. Since then, Petra has become known as the Rose City. Petra can be found in southern Jordan and served as an important trading hub for Indian spices, Chinese silks, Arabian incenses, and other travelling caravans. The city is half carved out of rock, a truly remarkable accomplishment given the technology available during the time of its construction and prominence.

The Rose City is also a term used for Portland, Oregon, the largest city in Oregon, and found right along the state's northern border with Washington. The city has become a centre of counter-culture. The Portland Rose Society was founded in 1889 with the agenda of planting roses throughout the city in preparation for the centennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark expedition. After mayor Harry Lane suggested a "festival of roses" to be held, the nickname of the Rose City stuck.

The Tournament of Roses parade precedes the Rose Bowl football game every New Years Day (or January 2, if January 1 is a Sunday) in Pasadena, California. The parade is comprised of floats made primarily out of flora and was first held in 1890 with the ban on Sunday parades to ensure God never let it rain on the event. To cover costs of the parade, the Rose Bowl college football game was started in 1902 and has since become a major event on the American sports scene.

Answer: Brown

Brown University was the first university to open to people of all religious affiliations, and the seventh university in the United States when it opened in 1764. Admissions to the Ivy League school see a very low acceptance rate, as low as 10% on average. Media mogul Ted Turner, NASA administrator Thomas Paine, along with multiple Nobel Prize laureates and royalty from around the world all graduated from the school.

Brownsville, Texas, is found on the Rio Grande in southern Texas, across from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city has economically benefited from its proximity to Mexico through the North American Free Trade Agreement and the city's steel production that spawned in the early 20th century. However, the city has fallen on hard times and is one of the poorest average income among American cities. Historians will be interested in the area; battles in the Mexican-American War, Texas Revolution, Mexican War of Independence, and Mexican Revolution all occurred nearby.

Answer: Gold / Golden

The Gold Coast can be found in southeast Queensland, towards the border with New South Wales. Tourism in the area took off after the Surfers Paradise hotel opened in the 1920s. Surfers Paradise has since become an entertainment hub in the city, known simply as "Surfers". The city is home to more than 70 km of beaches that are renowned for surfing. Over ten million tourists visit Gold Coast each year.

The Golden Gate Bridge measures in at 2.7 km (1.7 miles) over the Golden Gate Strait north of San Francisco. The bridge opened in 1937 and cost $35 million to build at the time. Despite being a "golden" bridge, the official colour of the bridge is defined as "international orange".