RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Oakland County >> Auburn Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Auburn Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Auburn Hills 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 Auburn Hills:
    • 42.678822, -83.230674
    • 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 Auburn Hills
  • 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 Oakland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oakland County
    • Since Auburn Hills is near Macomb County and also Lapeer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Macomb County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lapeer 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 Auburn Hills

Communities Also Named Auburn Hills ...

We found two communities that are also named Auburn Hills.

Within Michigan, the name Auburn Hills is unique.

Beyond Michigan, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • New Castle County
      • This Auburn Hills is located in New Castle County and lies 438 miles [704.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Auburn Hills that is located in Oakland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of Auburn Hills.
    • Tennessee
      • Hamilton County
      • This Auburn Hills is located in Hamilton County and lies 536 miles [862.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Auburn Hills that is located in Oakland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Auburn Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Auburn Hills ...

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 Auburn Hills 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 city such as Auburn Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Auburn Hills and extending to:

  • Pontiac, which is the Seat of Oakland County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 67 miles [107.8 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could walk a straight line from Auburn Hills to Lansing, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 415 miles [667.9 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,980 miles [9,623.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,713 miles [10,803.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,592 miles [7,390.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Auburn Hills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Auburn Hills 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 Auburn Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6788, Longitude: -83.2307    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.528 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.144 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.145 degrees.