Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Lucky Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lucky Valley and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Lucky Valley
- 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 Lucky Valley:
- 42.384991, -95.938346
- 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 Lucky Valley
- 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 Woodbury County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Woodbury County
- Since Lucky Valley is near Monona County and also Plymouth County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Monona County
- eBird sighting report for Plymouth 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
Curious and Interesting Names Near Lucky Valley ...
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.
- Climbing Hill
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climbing Hill
- Climbing Hill is located in Woodbury County
- Correctionville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Correctionville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Correctionville
- Correctionville is located in Woodbury County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 792 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Correctionville <2>
- Evergreen Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Evergreen Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Village
- Evergreen Village is located in Woodbury County
- Fielding
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fielding
- Fielding is located in Cherokee County
- Glen Ellen
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Ellen
- Glen Ellen is located in Woodbury County
- Holiday Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holiday Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Village
- Holiday Village is located in Woodbury County
- Holly Springs
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
- Holly Springs is located in Woodbury County
- Ida Grove
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ida Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ida Grove
- Ida Grove is located in Ida County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,037 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ida Grove <2>
- James
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James
- James is located in Plymouth County
- Neptune
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest) - Sergeant Bluff
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sergeant Bluff have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sergeant Bluff
- Sergeant Bluff is located in Woodbury County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,119 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sergeant Bluff <2>
- Union Center
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Center have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Center
- Union Center is located in Plymouth County
How Far From Lucky Valley 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 Lucky Valley to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Lucky Valley once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Lucky Valley and extending to:
- Sioux City, which is the Seat of Woodbury County, lies 24 miles [38.6 km]<4> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Lucky Valley to Sioux City, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 131 miles [210.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,016 miles [1,635.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,445 miles [10,372.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,199 miles [11,585.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,105 miles [8,215.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Woodbury County: www.woodbury-ia.com/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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 Lucky Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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 from Point A (ie- Lucky Valley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lucky Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3850, Longitude: -95.9383 In this case, the coordinates for Lucky Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Lucky Valley to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.136 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.927 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.695 degrees. |