Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Story City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Story City and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Story City
- 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 Story City:
- 42.187114, -93.594378
- 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 Story City
- 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 Story County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Story County
- Since Story City is near Hamilton County and also Boone County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Hamilton County
- eBird sighting report for Boone 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 Story City ...
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.
- Buckeye
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast) - Centerville
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Centerville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Centerville is located in Boone County
- Garden City
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garden City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
- Garden City is located in Hardin County
- Gilbert
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbert
- Gilbert is located in Story County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,152 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gilbert <2>
- Illinois Grove
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Illinois Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Illinois Grove
- Illinois Grove is located in Marshall County
- Jewell
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jewell
- Jewell is located in Hamilton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,138 people
- Jewell has also been known as:
- Jewell Junction
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jewell <2>
- Jordan
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
- Jordan is located in Boone County
- Luther
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest) - Nevada
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nevada
- Nevada is located in Story County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,682 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nevada <2>
- Randall
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randall
- Randall is located in Hamilton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 166 people
- Ridgeport
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
How Far From Story City 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 city such as Story City to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Story City and extending to:
- Nevada, which is the Seat of Story County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<3> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Story City to Nevada, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours 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 40 miles [64.4 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 896 miles [1,442 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,377 miles [10,262.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,127 miles [11,469.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,025 miles [8,087 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Story City: cityofstorycity.org/
The official website for Story County: www.storycounty.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> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Story City) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Story City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1871, Longitude: -93.5944 |
| <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 Story City to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.486 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.006 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.509 degrees. |