Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ada, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ada and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ada
- 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 Ada:
- 42.954196, -85.488912
- 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 Ada
- 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 Kent County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Kent County
- Since Ada is near Ionia County and also Barry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Ionia County
- eBird sighting report for Barry 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 Ada ...
We found 23 communities that share the name Ada.
Within Michigan, the name Ada is unique.
Beyond Michigan, we know of another sixteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
In addition to the above occurrences of Ada, we know of seven communities located outside of the United States and Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Bienville Parish
- This Ada is located in Bienville Parish and lies 830 miles [1,335.8 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Ada that is located in Kent County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bienville Parish community of Ada.
- Grant Parish
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Ada [Grant Parish].
- Minnesota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Communities Beyond North America ...
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Distance: 4,765 miles [7,668.5 km]<1> to the northeast
- Spain
- Distance: 3,781 miles [6,084.9 km]<1> to the east northeast
- Ghana
- Distance: 5,484 miles [8,825.6 km]<1> to the east
- Croatia
- Distance: 4,759 miles [7,658.9 km]<1> to the northeast
- India
- Distance: 7,986 miles [12,852.2 km]<1> to the north northeast
- Japan
- Distance: 7,158 miles [11,519.7 km]<1> to the north northwest
- Serbia
- Distance: 4,794 miles [7,715.2 km]<1> to the northeast
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ada ...
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.
- Alaska
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south) - Beverly
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly
- Beverly is located in Kent County
- Cannonsburg
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannonsburg
- Cannonsburg is located in Kent County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cannonsburg <5>
- Cascade
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south) - Childsdale
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Childsdale have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Childsdale
- Childsdale is located in Kent County
- Clyde Park
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde Park
- Clyde Park is located in Kent County
- Cutlerville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cutlerville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cutlerville
- Cutlerville is located in Kent County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cutlerville <5>
- Elmdale
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmdale
- Elmdale is located in Ionia County
- Galewood
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galewood
- Galewood is located in Kent County
- Grand Rapids
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Rapids
- Grand Rapids is located in Kent County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 200,031 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Grand Rapids <5>
- Holy Corners
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holy Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holy Corners
- Holy Corners is located in Kent County
- Kentwood
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kentwood have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kentwood
- Kentwood is located in Kent County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 51,719 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kentwood <5>
- Wyoming
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming
- Wyoming is located in Kent County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 76,628 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wyoming <5>
How Far From Ada 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 Ada to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Ada and extending to:
- Grand Rapids, which is the Seat of Kent County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Ada to Grand Rapids, with an average speed<6> 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.
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 49 miles [78.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 522 miles [840.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 30 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,052 miles [9,739.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,790 miles [10,927.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,673 miles [7,520.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Ada: www.ada.mi.us/
The official website for Kent County: www.accesskent.com/
The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Ada) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ada. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.9542, Longitude: -85.4889 In this case, the coordinates for Ada have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Ada 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. |
| <3> | 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 Ada, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Ada 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 312.997 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.85 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.169 degrees. |