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State of the Union--Oregon Edition Mystery Cache

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zx6team: I am disabling this one until I can find a better place. Container was taken again.

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Hidden : 5/22/2023
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:


CACHE IS NOT AT THE POSTED COORDINATES!  

 

PLEASE NOTE: AS OF JANUARY 7, 2024, PUZZLE HAS BEEN CHANGED SLIGHTLY FRON THE ORIGINAL!

I have been looking at some interesting facts about our "Good Ol' USA" lately and am sharing some of them with you here.

Our American flag has been revised over two dozen times since its origin in 1777.  Did you know that our current flag was designed in 1958 by a 17-year-old high school student for a school project?  The student's teacher gave him a B- for his effort.  But when congress chose his flag, out of more than 1500 designs, to become the official flag of the United States, on July 4, 1960, his grade was changed to an A!

All of the states have "official symbols", like flags, seals, and birds.  Some have numerous symbols, including flowers, trees, animals, songs, and more.  All the states have a motto and many of them are taken from Latin.  But there is only one state that has a Spanish motto.  Can you guess which one that is?

How about state colors?  Several states have official colors and many have unofficial colors.  Some states have no colors to represent them.  But nine states have some hues of blue and gold, with eight other states with using blue with other colors or by itself, making it the most popular color.  The runner up is various shades of red, with 12 states choosing it along with other colors.

Each state is given the choice to have one or more official languages and 31 of them have chosen English.  But then there is also Alaska that has more than 20 official languages!

Some other unusual facts about our beloved country are that we have states with official poultry, dinosaurs, fabric, pastry, crafts, and bread!  And if you don't find those strange enough, how about a state whose official flower is a pine cone?

And as you can imagine, we also have state nicknames (official and unofficial), some have  several.  You are probably familiar with ones like the "The Last Frontier", the Peach State, The Golden State, the Buckeye State, and the Lone Star State.  But how about these unofficial nicknames, the Lizard State, the Valentine State, the Land of Steady Habits, and the Bug-Eating State, or the Hog and Hominy State?

And last, but not least, I discovered that in the United States of America 100 acres of pizza is served every single day!

So with that introduction, this is what you need to solve the puzzle.  Parentheses around the abbreviations equal a single digit.  If there is a semi-colon after a parentheses, that indicates a space.

N (PA+MO-AL) (TX-WA+TN); (NM-MT-GA) (OK-NV-NJ); . (VA+WV-SD) (OR-WY+OH) (AR-NE+LA-DE)

W (KY-NH-CT) (IL+IN-CO) (MN-WI+DE); (KS+MA-ND) (ID+AL-AZ+NC-MS); . (MI-IA+CA-ME) (HI-AK+SC) (MD+VT-RI)

PLEASE REHIDE AS FOUND!.  BRING YOUR OWN WRITING INSTRUMENT.  NO SIGN, NO FIND!

 

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

CHMMYR: Frr gvgyr UVQR: Pbeare

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)