Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Otter, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Otter and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Otter
- 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 Otter:
- 41.179201, -88.778685
- 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 Otter
- 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 La Salle County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for La Salle County
- Since Otter is near Livingston County and also Grundy County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Livingston County
- eBird sighting report for Grundy 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 Otter ...
We found seven communities that share the name Otter.
Within Illinois, the name Otter is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, five are located in the United States and three are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Otter ...
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.
- Budd
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Coalville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest) - Farm Ridge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farm Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farm Ridge
- Farm Ridge is located in La Salle County
- Grand Ridge
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Ridge
- Grand Ridge is located in La Salle County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 519 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Grand Ridge <4>
- Katy Did
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Manville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south) - Munster
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Munster
- Munster is located in Livingston County
- New Michigan ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Michigan have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Michigan
- New Michigan is located in Livingston County
- Ransom
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ransom
- Ransom is located in La Salle County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 350 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ransom <4>
- Reading
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Reed Crossing
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reed Crossing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reed Crossing
- Reed Crossing is located in La Salle County
- Richards
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west) - Sandy Ford
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sandy Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Ford
- Sandy Ford is located in La Salle County
- Stoneyville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stoneyville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoneyville
- Stoneyville is located in La Salle County
How Far From Otter 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 Otter to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<5> community of Otter once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Otter and extending to:
- Ottawa, which is the Seat of La Salle County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Otter to Ottawa, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 106 miles [170.6 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 639 miles [1,028.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,258 miles [10,071.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,997 miles [11,260.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,881 miles [7,855.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for La Salle County: www.lasallecounty.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 Otter 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Otter) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Otter. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.1792, Longitude: -88.7787 In this case, the coordinates for Otter 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> | 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 Otter, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Otter 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 315.196 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.10 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.328 degrees. |