RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Assumption Parish >> Upper Texas >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Upper Texas, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Upper Texas and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Upper Texas:
    • 29.868823, -91.090292
    • 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.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Upper Texas
  • 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 parish-by-parish basis. We have selected Assumption Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Assumption Parish
    • Since Upper Texas is near Saint Martin Parish and also Lafourche Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Martin Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lafourche Parish
  • 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Upper Texas

Curious and Interesting Names Near Upper Texas ...

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.

How Far From Upper Texas 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 Upper Texas to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Upper Texas and extending to:

  • Napoleonville, which is the Seat of Assumption Parish, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 40 miles [64.4 km]<2> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from Upper Texas to Baton Rouge, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,012 miles [1,628.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take over two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,908 miles [11,117.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,615 miles [12,255.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,492 miles [8,838.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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- Upper Texas) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Upper Texas to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Upper Texas. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.8688, Longitude: -91.0903       In this case, the coordinates for Upper Texas have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.929 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.409 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.625 degrees.