RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> Phillips County >> Holyoke >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Holyoke:
    • 40.582401, -102.302155
    • 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 Holyoke
  • 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 Phillips County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Phillips County
    • Since Holyoke is near Chase County and also Perkins County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chase County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Perkins 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Holyoke

Communities Also Named Holyoke ...

We found five communities that are also named Holyoke.

Within Colorado, the name Holyoke is unique.

Beyond Colorado, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Holyoke lies 1,010 miles [1,625.4 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Holyoke that is located in Phillips County.
    • Kansas
      • Ellsworth 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 Kansas community of Holyoke [Ellsworth County].
      • Franklin County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Holyoke [Franklin County].
    • Massachusetts
      • Hampden County
      • This Holyoke is located in Hampden County and lies 1,533 miles [2,467.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Holyoke that is located in Phillips County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hampden County community of Holyoke.
    • Minnesota
      • Carlton County
      • This Holyoke is located in Carlton County and lies 640 miles [1,030 km]<1> to the northeast of the Holyoke that is located in Phillips County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carlton County community of Holyoke.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Holyoke ...

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.

How Far From Holyoke to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Holyoke and extending to:

  • Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 153 miles [246.2 km]<1> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Holyoke to Denver, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,341 miles [2,158.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 53 days and walking would take 77 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,745 miles [10,855 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,505 miles [12,078.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,426 miles [8,732.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Holyoke) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Holyoke 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Holyoke 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 Holyoke. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5824, Longitude: -102.3022    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 324.612 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 322.893 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.409 degrees.