RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Baraga County >> Assinins >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Assinins, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Assinins 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 Assinins:
    • 46.810209, -88.477352
    • 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 Assinins
  • 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 Baraga County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baraga County
    • Since Assinins is near Houghton County and also Ontonagon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Houghton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ontonagon 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Assinins

Curious and Interesting Names Near Assinins ...

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.

  • Alberta
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Alberta is located in Baraga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alberta
  • Bear Town
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Bear Town is located in Baraga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Town
  • Bovine
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Bovine is located in Baraga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bovine
  • Hazel
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Hazel is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel
  • Herman
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Herman is located in Baraga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herman
  • Jacobsville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Jacobsville is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacobsville
  • Klingville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Klingville is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Klingville
  • Portage Entry
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Portage Entry is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage Entry

How Far From Assinins 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 community such as Assinins to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Assinins and extending to:

  • L'Anse, which is the Seat of Baraga County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 340 miles [547.2 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Assinins to Lansing, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 20 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 14 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 794 miles [1,277.8 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 46 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,972 miles [9,611 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,724 miles [10,821.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,628 miles [7,448 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Assinins) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Assinins 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 Assinins. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.8102, Longitude: -88.4774       In this case, the coordinates for Assinins have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.891 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.554 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.463 degrees.