RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Emmet County >> Forest Beach >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Forest Beach, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Forest Beach 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 Forest Beach:
    • 45.435206, -85.023201
    • 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 Forest Beach
  • 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 Emmet County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Emmet County
    • Since Forest Beach is near Charlevoix County and also Cheboygan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charlevoix County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cheboygan 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 Forest Beach

Communities Also Named Forest Beach ...

We found four communities that are also named Forest Beach.

Within Michigan, the name Forest Beach is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New York
      • Onondaga County
      • This Forest Beach is located in Onondaga County and lies 466 miles [750 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Forest Beach that is located in Emmet County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Onondaga County community of Forest Beach.
    • South Carolina
      • Beaufort County
      • This Forest Beach is located in Beaufort County and lies 945 miles [1,520.8 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Forest Beach that is located in Emmet County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Beaufort County community of Forest Beach.
    • Washington
      • Mason County
      • This Forest Beach is located in Mason County and lies 1,792 miles [2,883.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Forest Beach that is located in Emmet County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mason County community of Forest Beach.
      • Pierce County
      • This Forest Beach is located in Pierce County and lies 1,781 miles [2,866.2 km] to the west northwest of the Forest Beach that is located in Emmet County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pierce County community of Forest Beach.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Forest Beach ...

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 Forest Beach to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Forest Beach to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Petoskey, which is the Seat of Emmet County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 188 miles [302.6 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Forest Beach to Lansing, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 608 miles [978.5 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,919 miles [9,525.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,662 miles [10,721.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,552 miles [7,325.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Forest Beach) 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 Forest Beach 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 Forest Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.4352, Longitude: -85.0232    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.58 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.746 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.076 degrees.