RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Howard County >> Cresco >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cresco, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cresco 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 Cresco:
    • 43.373632, -92.116348
    • 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 Cresco
  • 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 Howard County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howard County
    • Since Cresco is near Winneshiek County and also Fillmore County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Winneshiek County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fillmore 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 Cresco

Communities Also Named Cresco ...

We found seven communities that are also named Cresco.

Within Iowa, the name Cresco is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Whitley County
      • This Cresco is located in Whitley County and lies 368 miles [592.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Cresco that is located in Howard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Whitley County community of Cresco.
    • Kansas
      • Anderson 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 Cresco [Anderson County].
      • Cowley 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 Cresco [Cowley County].
      • Elk 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 Cresco [Elk County].
      • Sheridan 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 Cresco [Sheridan County].
    • New Mexico
      • Rio Arriba 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 New Mexico community of Cresco [Rio Arriba County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Monroe County
      • This Cresco is located in Monroe County and lies 872 miles [1,403.3 km]<1> to the east of the Cresco that is located in Howard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Cresco.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cresco ...

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 Cresco 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 city such as Cresco to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 144 miles [231.7 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Cresco to Des Moines, 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 841 miles [1,353.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,266 miles [10,084.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,016 miles [11,291.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,915 miles [7,909.9 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- Cresco) 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 Cresco 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 Cresco 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 Cresco. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.3736, Longitude: -92.1163    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.482 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.015 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.445 degrees.