> but sometimes for a break we do consider extremities
> of various sorts

Is there a general name for these easternmost/northwesternmost/etc.
type of points? Extremors? Superlatives?

> like the fact that alaska is actually the easternmost state
> etc etc

Depending on one's frame of reference, of course. I would certainly
consider it valid to speak of easternmost and westernmost points
relative to the U.S. Capitol, in which case one would be dealing with
the actual extremors relative to the rest of the U.S., not extremors
of the U.S. relative to Greenwich.

> > - Farthest points, continental US
> > - W: Cape Alava, WA

I've got a friend who's currently hiking to Cape Alava and should
reach it Saturday. It's less than a mile west of Cape Flattery. The
USGS maps on Topozone show that budding off of Cape Alava, there is a
so-called "Tskawahyah Island," which actually looks like a big rock
attached to the mainland by a narrow tombolo. I'll be sure to ask my
friend when he's done whether or not the tombolo remains during high
tide. There are also a few islands just offshore. So in actuality
Cape Alava or Tskawahyah "Island" would be the westernmost point on
the mainland of the 48 contiguous states, but one of those islands
offshore would contain the actual westernmost point in the 48
contiguous states.

> > - Farthest points, entire US
> > - W: South Point, HI

I visited this point (called Ka Lae in Hawai'ian) back in 1996, and
for about a minute or so was the southernmost person in the U.S., not
counting territorial waters. That area's kinda funny; Na'alehu
proudly reminds you that it is the southernmost town in the U.S., and
I did laundry at a little strip mall that proclaimed itself
the "southernmost shopping center" in the U.S.A.

Adam