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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 Parker Island, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Parker Island 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 Parker Island:
- 27.244768, -81.298127
- 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 Parker Island
- 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 Parker Island is near Glades County and also Okeechobee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Glades County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Okeechobee 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 Parker Island
Curious and Interesting Names Near Parker Island ...
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.
- Bear Hollow
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Bear Hollow is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Hollow
- Childs
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Childs is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Childs
- Crewsville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Crewsville is located in Hardee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville
- De Soto City
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- De Soto City is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Soto City
- Harrisburg
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Harrisburg is located in Glades County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
- Mildred
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Mildred is located in Okeechobee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mildred
- Placid Lakes
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Placid Lakes is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Placid Lakes
- Plains
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Plains is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plains
- Wild Island
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Wild Island is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wild Island
How Far From Parker Island 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 Parker Island to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Parker Island and extending to:
- Sebring, which is the Seat of Highlands County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Parker Island to Sebring, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 hours.
- Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 284 miles [457.1 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 11 days and walking would take 17 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 841 miles [1,353.5 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
- The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,597 miles [10,616.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,257 miles [11,679 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,163 miles [8,309 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
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 drawn from Point A (ie- Parker Island) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <2> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 Parker Island 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 Parker Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.2448, Longitude: -81.2981 In this case, the coordinates for Parker Island have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <4> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.171 degrees. |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.368 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.676 degrees. |
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