Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Crystal Vista, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Crystal Vista and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Crystal Vista
- 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 Crystal Vista:
- 42.238634, -88.371198
- 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 Crystal Vista
- 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 McHenry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for McHenry County
- Since Crystal Vista is near Kane County and also Lake County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Kane County
- eBird sighting report for Lake 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 Crystal Vista ...
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.
- Bull Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bull Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull Valley
- Bull Valley is located in McHenry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,078 people
- Crystal Gardens
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crystal Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Gardens
- Crystal Gardens is located in McHenry County
- Crystal Lake
(Less than 2 miles to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crystal Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lake
- Crystal Lake is located in McHenry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 39,642 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crystal Lake <2>
- Ferndale
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast) - Freeman
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south) - Lake-in-the-Hills
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake-in-the-Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake-in-the-Hills
- Lake-in-the-Hills is located in McHenry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 28,345 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake-in-the-Hills <2>
- Prairie Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Grove
- Prairie Grove is located in McHenry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,920 people
- Silver Lake
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Lake
- Silver Lake is located in McHenry County
- Terra Cotta
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Terra Cotta. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terra Cotta
- Terra Cotta is located in McHenry County
- Trout Valley
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Trout Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trout Valley
- Trout Valley is located in McHenry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 508 people
How Far From Crystal Vista to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Crystal Vista to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Crystal Vista and extending to:
- Woodstock, which is the Seat of McHenry County, lies just to the Northwest.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 182 miles [292.9 km]<4> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Crystal Vista to Springfield, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 637 miles [1,025.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,192 miles [9,965.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,933 miles [11,157.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,819 miles [7,755.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Crystal Vista. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for McHenry County: www.co.mchenry.il.us/
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.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> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <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 drawn from Point A (ie- Crystal Vista) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Crystal Vista. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2386, Longitude: -88.3712 In this case, the coordinates for Crystal Vista 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 Crystal Vista 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 314.926 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.941 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.831 degrees. |