{"id":1907,"date":"2009-08-17T17:05:50","date_gmt":"2009-08-17T22:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=1907"},"modified":"2022-03-31T07:28:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T12:28:26","slug":"state-capitals-meet-time-zones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/state-capitals-meet-time-zones\/","title":{"rendered":"State Capitals Meet Time Zones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I love it when categories collide and take me in entirely unanticipated directions. That\u2019s what happened today. I noticed an interesting external search that bounced against my site: “What 2 state capitals are within 20 miles of a time zone boundary?” I\u2019ve featured time zones<\/a> many different times. I\u2019ve also focused on the peculiarities of states<\/a>. However I\u2019ve never linked the two together so I decided to investigate this query further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This should be pretty straightforward, I thought. Mapquest displays time zone markers and Google Maps provides a Great Circle distance utility. It shouldn\u2019t take much effort to find the answers by toggling between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pierre, South Dakota<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pierre, the capital city of South Dakota is the obvious initial choice that jumps right out (map<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"South<\/a>
State Capitol in Pierre, South Dakota<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I can’t find a handy map with the proper licensing to embed here. Fortunately, many examples can be found all over the Intertubes with your favorite search engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierre falls in Central Time. But a bridge over the Missouri River is all that separates it from Western Time. Perhaps the town on the western bank, Ft. Pierre follows Central Time informally (don\u2019t know that for a fact but such affinity recognition is fairly common). Even it that\u2019s the case it\u2019s hard to imagine a scenario where Pierre doesn\u2019t falls within 20 miles of a time zone boundary both formally and informally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Juneau, Alaska<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The second state capital is a bit more problematic. However, I think it\u2019s supposed to be a trick question with the answer being Juneau, Alaska. Usually people tend to overlook Alaska and Hawaii in these types of trivia questions. So they are an obvious choice for early consideration. [UPDATE: it does indeed seem to be Juneau. See the comment provided by a knowledgeable reader below<\/b>] <\/ins><\/p>\n\n\n\n