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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 East Des Moines, we use the following websites to find information relevant to East Des Moines 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 East Des Moines:
- 41.570823, -93.552438
- 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 East Des Moines
- 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 Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
- Since East Des Moines is near Warren County and also Jasper County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Warren County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Jasper 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 East Des Moines
Curious and Interesting Names Near East Des Moines ...
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.
- Carbondale
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Carbondale is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbondale
- Ford
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Ford is located in Warren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ford
- Ivy
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Ivy is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy
- Pleasant Hill
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Rising Sun
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Rising Sun is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rising Sun
- Scotch Ridge
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Scotch Ridge is located in Warren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotch Ridge
- Summerset
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Summerset is located in Warren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerset
- Summerset Junction ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Summerset Junction is located in Warren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerset Junction
- Valley Junction
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Valley Junction is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Junction
How Far From East Des Moines to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as East Des Moines to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in East Des Moines and extending to:
- Des Moines, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies just to the West Northwest.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies just to the west northwest (WNW).
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 888 miles [1,429.1 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from East Des Moines to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 51 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 35 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,408 miles [10,312.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,156 miles [11,516.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,052 miles [8,130.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- East Des Moines) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | 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 East Des Moines 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 East Des Moines. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5708, Longitude: -93.5524 In this case, the coordinates for East Des Moines have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.439 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.871 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.629 degrees. |
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