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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 Saint Lucas, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Saint Lucas 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 Saint Lucas:
- 43.066584, -91.933278
- 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 Saint Lucas
- 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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
- Since Saint Lucas is near Winneshiek County and also Chickasaw 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 Chickasaw 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 Saint Lucas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Saint Lucas ...
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.
- Alpha
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Eldorado
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Eldorado is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eldorado
- Fredericksburg
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Hawkeye
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Junction ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Junction is located in Winneshiek County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction
- Little Turkey
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Little Turkey is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Turkey
- Spillville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Twin Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Twin Springs is located in Winneshiek County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Springs
How Far From Saint Lucas 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 city such as Saint Lucas to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Saint Lucas and extending to:
- West Union, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Saint Lucas to West Union, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 133 miles [214 km] to the southwest (SW). 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 826 miles [1,329.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 47 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,276 miles [10,100.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,025 miles [11,305.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,921 miles [7,919.6 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- Saint Lucas) 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 Saint Lucas 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 Saint Lucas. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0666, Longitude: -91.9333 |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.352 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.825 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.429 degrees. |
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