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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Gay:
    • 47.227116, -88.163658
    • 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 Gay
  • 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 Keweenaw County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Keweenaw County
    • Since Gay is near Houghton County and also Baraga 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 Baraga 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 Gay

Communities Also Named Gay ...

We found nine communities that are also named Gay.

Within Michigan, the name Gay is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Randolph County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Gay [Randolph County].
    • Florida
      • Hernando County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Gay [Hernando County].
    • Georgia
      • Meriwether County
      • This Gay is located in Meriwether County and lies 993 miles [1,598.1 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Gay that is located in Keweenaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Meriwether County community of Gay.
      • Montgomery County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Gay [Montgomery County].
    • Idaho
      • Bingham County
      • This Gay is located in Bingham County and lies 1,196 miles [1,924.8 km]<2> to the west of the Gay that is located in Keweenaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bingham County community of Gay.
    • North Carolina
      • Jackson County
      • This Gay is located in Jackson County and lies 861 miles [1,385.6 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Gay that is located in Keweenaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Gay.
    • Oklahoma
      • Choctaw County
      • This Gay is located in Choctaw County and lies 995 miles [1,601.3 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Gay that is located in Keweenaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Choctaw County community of Gay.
    • West Virginia
      • Jackson County
      • This Gay is located in Jackson County and lies 672 miles [1,081.5 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Gay that is located in Keweenaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Gay.
      • Logan County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Gay [Logan County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gay ...

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 Gay 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 Gay to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Eagle River, which is the Seat of Keweenaw County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Gay to Eagle River, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 356 miles [572.9 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 21 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 802 miles [1,290.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,942 miles [9,562.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,694 miles [10,772.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,598 miles [7,399.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek 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 Gay 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.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- Gay) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Gay 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 Gay. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.2271, Longitude: -88.1637    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.652 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.345 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.147 degrees.