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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Highland Lakes, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Highland Lakes 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 Highland Lakes:
- 27.633922, -81.521742
- 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 Highland Lakes
- 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 Highlands County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Highlands County
- Since Highland Lakes is near Polk County and also Hardee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Hardee 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 Highland Lakes
Communities Also Named Highland Lakes ...
We found four communities that are also named Highland Lakes.
There is one other community in Florida that is also named Highland Lakes.
Beyond Florida, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Located In Florida ...
- Miami-Dade County
- This Highland Lakes is located in Miami-Dade County and lies 142 miles [228.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the Highland Lakes that is located in Highlands County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miami-Dade County community of Highland Lakes.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Colorado
- Teller 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 Colorado community of Highland Lakes [Teller County].
- Louisiana
- East Baton Rouge Parish
- This Highland Lakes is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and lies 605 miles [973.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Highland Lakes that is located in Highlands County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Baton Rouge Parish community of Highland Lakes.
- New Jersey
- Sussex County
- This Highland Lakes is located in Sussex County and lies 1,016 miles [1,635.1 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Highland Lakes that is located in Highlands County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sussex County community of Highland Lakes.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Highland Lakes ...
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.
- Alpine
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Alpine is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
- Bowling Green
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Coker
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Coker is located in Hardee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coker
- Crewsville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Crewsville is located in Hardee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville
- De Soto City
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- De Soto City is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Soto City
- Frostproof
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Griffins Corner
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Griffins Corner is located in Hardee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffins Corner
- Lakeshore
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Lemon Grove
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Lemon Grove is located in Hardee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lemon Grove
- Sweetwater
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Sweetwater is located in Hardee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater
How Far From Highland Lakes to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Highland Lakes to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Highland Lakes and extending to:
- Sebring, which is the Seat of Highlands County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Highland Lakes to Sebring, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 255 miles [410.4 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 819 miles [1,318.1 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 47 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,590 miles [10,605.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,253 miles [11,672.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,157 miles [8,299.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Highland Lakes) 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 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 Highland Lakes 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 Highland Lakes 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 Highland Lakes. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.6339, Longitude: -81.5217 In this case, the coordinates for Highland Lakes have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.315 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.588 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.662 degrees. |
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