Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Mission Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mission Hills and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Mission Hills
- 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 Mission Hills:
- 33.191227, -86.837767
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Mission Hills
- Bird Watching ...
- We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
- The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Shelby County
- Since Mission Hills is near Bibb County and also Jefferson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bibb County
- eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Mission Hills ...
We found eight communities that share the name Mission Hills.
Within Alabama, the name Mission Hills is unique.
Beyond Alabama, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Los Angeles County
- This Mission Hills is located in Los Angeles County and lies 1,810 miles [2,912.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Mission Hills that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Los Angeles County community of Mission Hills.
- San Diego County
- This Mission Hills is located in San Diego County and lies 1,752 miles [2,819.6 km] to the west of the Mission Hills that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Diego County community of Mission Hills.
- Santa Barbara County
- This Mission Hills is located in Santa Barbara County and lies 1,918 miles [3,086.7 km] to the west northwest of the Mission Hills that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Santa Barbara County community of Mission Hills.
- Georgia
- Bartow County
- This Mission Hills is located in Bartow County and lies 133 miles [214 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Mission Hills that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bartow County community of Mission Hills.
- Illinois
- Cook County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Mission Hills [Cook County].
- Kansas
- Johnson County
- This Mission Hills is located in Johnson County and lies 591 miles [951.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Mission Hills that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Mission Hills.
- Texas
- El Paso County
- This Mission Hills is located in El Paso County and lies 1,147 miles [1,845.9 km]<1> to the west of the Mission Hills that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the El Paso County community of Mission Hills.
- Virginia
- Montgomery County
- This Mission Hills is located in Montgomery County and lies 455 miles [732.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Mission Hills that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Mission Hills.
- California
Curious and Interesting Names Near Mission Hills ...
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.
- Alabaster
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alabaster have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alabaster
- Alabaster is located in Shelby County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 33,701 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alabaster <4>
- Elliotsville
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elliotsville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliotsville
- Elliotsville is located in Shelby County
- Fox Haven
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Glen Forest
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glen Forest have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Forest
- Glen Forest is located in Shelby County
- Hardy
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Ivanhoe
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Keystone
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Kingwood
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Longview
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east) - Continue List (6 more) ...
- Meadow Green
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadow Green have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Green
- Meadow Green is located in Shelby County
- Navajo Hills
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Navajo Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navajo Hills
- Navajo Hills is located in Shelby County
- Navajo Pines
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Navajo Pines have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navajo Pines
- Navajo Pines is located in Shelby County
- Pea Ridge
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Superior
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - Willow Glen
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willow Glen have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Glen
- Willow Glen is located in Shelby County
- Meadow Green
How Far From Mission Hills 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 Mission Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Mission Hills and extending to:
- Columbiana, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Mission Hills to Columbiana, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 64 miles [103 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 673 miles [1,083.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,568 miles [10,570.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,276 miles [11,709.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,153 miles [8,292.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Mission Hills. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Shelby County: www.shelbycountyalabama.com/
The official website for State of Alabama: https://www.alabama.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Mission Hills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Mission Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.1912, Longitude: -86.8378 In this case, the coordinates for Mission Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Mission Hills could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Mission Hills to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.677 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.243 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.38 degrees. |