RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alaska >> Turnagain Heights >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy).

When in Turnagain Heights, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Turnagain Heights and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Turnagain Heights:
    • 61.195833, -149.941389
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Turnagain Heights
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Turnagain Heights

Curious and Interesting Names Near Turnagain Heights ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Anchorage
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Eagle River
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Homesite Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • John Fitzgerald Kennedy City
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Knik Heights
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Mountain View
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Rogers Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Wonder Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)

How Far From Turnagain Heights to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Turnagain Heights to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Turnagain Heights and extending to:

  • Juneau, which is the State Capital of Alaska, lies 574 miles [923.8 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Turnagain Heights to Juneau, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 33 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 23 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 3,360 miles [5,407.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 7 days, a buggy would take 132 days and walking would take 191 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,002 miles [9,659.3 km] and it lies to the north (N).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,698 miles [10,779.4 km] and it lies to the north (N).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,241 miles [8,434.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Turnagain Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Turnagain Heights to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Turnagain Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 61.1958, Longitude: -149.9414       In this case, the coordinates for Turnagain Heights have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 4.405 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 9.156 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 346.58 degrees.