The Fittest City in the U.S.

The American Fitness Index (AFI) recently released the ACSM American Fitness Index Data Report, offering a scientific snapshot of the health and fitness level for the major metropolitan areas in the US. Washington D.C., for the 3rd year in a row, ranks as the fittest city.

The American College of Sports Medicine and the Anthem Foundation have considered such factors as what percentage of the city's population reporting exercising within the past 30 days and accessibility to parks and green spaces, in order to determine how fit a city is. The top 10 cities are:

1. Washington D.C.
2. Minneapolis, MN
3. Denver, CO
4. Portland, OR
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Seattle, WA
7. Boston, MA
8. Salt Lake City, UT
9. Hartford, CT
10. San Diego, CA

Las Vegas ranks 41st among the bottom 10 cities.

Postcard US-3971221 to Germany shows a black and white map drawing of the D.C. area with a matching diamond shaped 37¢ commemorative stamp issued by USPS on September 23, 2003.

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe

In comparison with Lake Baikal, Russia discussed yesterday, Lake Tahoe, located along the border between California and Nevada in the United States, is also a large freshwater lake. At a surface elevation of 1,897 m or 6,225 ft, Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. With a depth of  501 m or 1,645 ft, it's the second-deepest lake in the United States. The deepest lake in the United States is Crater Lake in Oregon at 593 m or 1,945 ft; and the deepest lake in the world is Lake Baikal in Russia at 1,642 m or 5,387 ft.

Lake Tahoe is ranked as the 26th by volume in the world at 151 cu km while Lake Baikal is the largest with a volume of 23,600 cu km. Lake Tahoe was formed about 2 million years ago. It is relatively young, compared to Lake Baikal's age at 25 million years.

Although Lake Tahoe is known for its great clarity, the clarity of the lake had been decreasing historically, with the rate of decrease slowing. Furthermore, the lake's clarity has increased from 2011 to 2013. We hope this trend will hold.

Postcard US-2193280 showing Lake Tahoe was received on April 25, 2013.