Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Balfour, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Balfour and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Balfour
- 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 Balfour:
- 41.048887, -95.667781
- 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 Balfour
- 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 Mills County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Mills County
- Since Balfour is near Pottawattamie County and also Fremont County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Pottawattamie County
- eBird sighting report for Fremont 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 Balfour ...
We found five communities that share the name Balfour.
Within Iowa, the name Balfour is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, three are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- British Columbia
- This Balfour lies 1,185 miles [1,907.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Balfour that is located in Mills County.
- Colorado
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ontario
- British Columbia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Balfour ...
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.
- Clark
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Dumfries
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dumfries
- Dumfries is located in Pottawattamie County
- Fort Crook
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Crook have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Crook
- Fort Crook is located in Sarpy County (NE)
- Mineola
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mineola have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineola
- Mineola is located in Mills County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mineola <5>
- Paradise Park
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Paradise Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Park
- Paradise Park is located in Sarpy County (NE)
- Randolph
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
- Randolph is located in Fremont County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 145 people
- Rock Bluff
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Bluff
- Rock Bluff is located in Cass County (NE)
- Silver City
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver City
- Silver City is located in Mills County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 246 people
How Far From Balfour 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 community such as Balfour to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Balfour and extending to:
- Glenwood, which is the Seat of Mills County, lies just to the West.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 112 miles [180.2 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Balfour to Des Moines, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 995 miles [1,601.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 57 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,507 miles [10,472 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,258 miles [11,680.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,157 miles [8,299.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Balfour. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Mills County: www.millscoia.us/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Balfour) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Balfour. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.0489, Longitude: -95.6678 In this case, the coordinates for Balfour have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Balfour, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Balfour 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. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Balfour to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.888 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.472 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.829 degrees. |