Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Saratoga, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Saratoga and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Saratoga
- 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 Saratoga:
- 43.371356, -92.406008
- 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 Saratoga
- 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:
- eBird sighting report for Howard County
- Since Saratoga is near Mitchell County and also Mower County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Mitchell County
- eBird sighting report for Mower 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 Saratoga ...
We found 25 communities that share the name Saratoga.
Within Iowa, the name Saratoga is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another 25 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 25 communities, 24 are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California
- Florida
- Illinois
- Grundy County
- This Saratoga is located in Grundy County and lies 241 miles [387.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Saratoga that is located in Howard County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grundy County community of Saratoga.
- Union County
- This Saratoga is located in Union County and lies 439 miles [706.5 km] to the south southeast of the Saratoga that is located in Howard County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Saratoga.
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Champaign County
- This community is historic<3> and although located in Champaign County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Champaign County community of Saratoga.
- Columbiana County
- This community is historic and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Saratoga [Columbiana County].
- Ontario
- This Saratoga lies 542 miles [872.3 km]<1> to the east of the Saratoga that is located in Howard County.
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- Clarke County
- This Saratoga is located in Clarke County and lies 800 miles [1,287.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Saratoga that is located in Howard County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clarke County community of Saratoga.
- Fairfax 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 Virginia community of Saratoga [Fairfax County].
- Stafford County
- This Saratoga is located in Stafford County and lies 853 miles [1,372.8 km] to the east southeast of the Saratoga that is located in Howard County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stafford County community of Saratoga.
- Washington
- Wyoming
Curious and Interesting Names Near Saratoga ...
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.
- Chester
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chester
- Chester is located in Howard County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 120 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chester <4>
- Florenceville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florenceville
- Florenceville is located in Howard County
- Forest City ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest City have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
- Forest City is located in Howard County
- Le Roy
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Le Roy have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Le Roy
- Le Roy is located in Mower County (MN)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 932 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Le Roy <4>
- Lime Springs
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lime Springs
- Lime Springs is located in Howard County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 476 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lime Springs <4>
- Little Cedar
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Cedar have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Cedar
- Little Cedar is located in Mitchell County
- Maple Leaf
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Leaf have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Leaf
- Maple Leaf is located in Howard County
- Riceville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riceville have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riceville
- Riceville is located in Howard County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 762 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Riceville <4>
How Far From Saratoga 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 Saratoga to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Saratoga and extending to:
- Cresco, which is the Seat of Howard County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Saratoga to Cresco, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 137 miles [220.5 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 855 miles [1,376 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
- The shortest distance<7> 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).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,027 miles [11,308.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,926 miles [7,927.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Saratoga. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Saratoga) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Saratoga. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.3714, Longitude: -92.4060 In this case, the coordinates for Saratoga have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Saratoga 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> | 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 Saratoga, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <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 Saratoga 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 317.683 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.245 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.598 degrees. |