Do You Know These Tidbits of Colorado Trivia?

We used to play a lot of Trivial Pursuits at our house. We haven’t played in a while, but I think that might be because our kids wouldn’t know the answers to the questions in the editions we have.

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January 4 is a Wednesday this year. January 4 also happens to be Trivia Day. You might know some trivial facts about Colorado like it was the 38th state to join the union. You might know that Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State. But do you know why? It entered the union in 1876, which was 100 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The capital city of Colorado, Denver, is also known as the “Mile High City” because it is 5,280 feet above sea level or one mile.

The term fourteener describes a mountain peak with an elevation of at least 14,000 feet above sea level. According to several websites, including hikingandfishing.com, Colorado is home to 58 such peaks, and evidently, that is more 14ers than any other state.

Blue Mesa Reservoir is Colorado’s largest lake located entirely within the state, according to Wikipedia. Supposedly the hottest temperature recorded at Blue Mesa was 96 degrees in 2005, and the coldest temperature was -36 degrees, recorded in 1971.  I went jet-skiing several years ago, in July, at Blue Mesa, and I would’ve sworn the water was about 32 degrees, but I believe the temps, the article refers to, were for the climate around Blue Mesa, and not the temperature of the water.

According to dw.com, in 1976, Colorado turned down hosting the Winter Olympics after Denver had been awarded to host them.

Factretriever.com cites that you are not allowed to pick our state flower, the Colorado Blue Columbine, on public lands or without consent from a private landowner. We had some columbines growing in our yard several years ago, but I don’t think they were the official state flower variety. In the same article, it states that in Aspen, it’s illegal to throw a snowball at a person or a building. I wonder if you could throw a snowball at a snowman or a passing car.

I mentioned at the start that our kids wouldn’t know answers to Trivial Pursuit questions, but after finding these amazing facts about our great state, I’m not sure I would’ve answered any correctly either.