Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Itasca, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Itasca and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Itasca
- 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 Itasca:
- 41.977339, -88.018139
- 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 Itasca
- 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 DuPage County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for DuPage County
- Since Itasca is near Cook County and also Kane County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Cook County
- eBird sighting report for Kane 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 Itasca ...
We found four communities that share the name Itasca.
Within Illinois, the name Itasca is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kansas
- North Carolina
- Texas
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Itasca ...
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.
- Churchville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Churchville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchville
- Churchville is located in DuPage County
- Cloverdale
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
- Cloverdale is located in DuPage County
- Creekside
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north) - Elk Grove Village
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elk Grove Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Grove Village
- Elk Grove Village is located in Cook County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 31,831 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elk Grove Village <4>
- Flowerfield
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flowerfield have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flowerfield
- Flowerfield is located in DuPage County
- Norma
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Ontarioville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ontarioville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ontarioville
- Ontarioville is located in DuPage County
- Riverview
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east) - Rolling Meadows
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rolling Meadows have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Meadows
- Rolling Meadows is located in Cook County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 23,246 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rolling Meadows <4>
- Saddlewood
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saddlewood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saddlewood
- Saddlewood is located in DuPage County
- Swift
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
How Far From Itasca 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 village such as Itasca to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Itasca and extending to:
- Wheaton, which is the Seat of DuPage County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Itasca to Wheaton, with an average speed<5> 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.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 173 miles [278.4 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 614 miles [988.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,191 miles [9,963.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,931 miles [11,154.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,816 miles [7,750.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Itasca: www.itasca.com/
The official website for DuPage County: www.dupageco.org/
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Itasca 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. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Itasca) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Itasca. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.9773, Longitude: -88.0181 In this case, the coordinates for Itasca have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Itasca 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 314.691 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.637 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.729 degrees. |