A to Z Trivia
How Well Do You Know America's 48th State?
Test your Copper State knowledge with this quiz created by English lecturer Dana Tait.
(Answers below.)
Questions
1. Name the six interstate highways in Arizona.
2. What blockbuster director and what “wonder”-ful actress attended Arcadia High School?
3. In what year did the Grand Canyon become a National Park?
4. Who was the first woman to serve as Governor of Arizona?
5. What is the length of the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon?
6. What is unique about the Grand Canyon Rattlesnake (crotalus oreganus abyssus)?
7. The marble figure atop the state’s Capitol, often referred to as Winged Victory, is scarred by the bullets of cowboy who once used it as target practice during Arizona’s territorial days. What is the statue’s purpose today?
8. What shock rock icon hosts an annual golf tournament benefitting his charity, the Solid Rock Foundation, to help troubled teens and children?
9. This Scottsdale-born novelist wrote a series set in Scotland that has spawned a cable series and a musical.
10. Who was Arizona’s first poet laureate? (hint: He also graces the halls of the ASU English department)
11. What is Arizona’s state flower?
12. According to ASU campus lore, ASU’s mascot Sparky was inspired by what famous animator?
13. Where was Arizona’s only Civil War skirmish?
14. What scientific facility was established in Oracle, Arizona to study self-sustaining environments?
15. What Cold War relic can you tour south of Tucson?
16. The Bird Cage Theatre, the ceiling of which still contains the bullets of its Old West days, is located in this “town too tough to die.”
17. Which town, situated on Cleopatra Hill, experienced dramatic shifting of buildings and streets due to its mining history?
18. Which eastern Arizona highway was once known as “the Devil’s Highway?”
19. The US Postal Service delivers mail by mule to this Arizona location; it is the only place in the United States where mail is delivered by mule.
20. Located in Window Rock, Arizona, this memorial honors an elite group of specialized WWII Marines.
Answers
1. I-8, I-10, I-15, I-17, I-19, and I-40
2. Steven Spielberg and Lynda Carter
3. 1919. This year (2019) marks the Grand Canyon’s centennial!
4. Rose Mofford
5. 277 miles
7. It is a weather vane and rotates with the direction of the wind.
8. Alice Cooper
10. Alberto Ríos
11. Saguaro blossom
12. Walt Disney
13. Picacho Peak
14. Biosphere 2
16. Tombstone
17. Jerome
18. US 191, which used to be US 666.
19. The Havasupai Tribe in the Grand Canyon
Image: Blossoms on prickly pear cactus at Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ. They're not the state flower (by now you know it's the saguaro blossom), but they're still pretty good-looking. Photo by Kristen LaRue-Sandler.