RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Mackinac County >> Pointe Aux Pins >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pointe Aux Pins, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pointe Aux Pins 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 Pointe Aux Pins:
    • 45.732558, -84.478844
    • 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 Pointe Aux Pins
  • 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 Mackinac County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mackinac County
    • Since Pointe Aux Pins is near Cheboygan County and also Emmet County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cheboygan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Emmet 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 Pointe Aux Pins

Communities Also Named Pointe Aux Pins ...

We found one communities that are also named Pointe Aux Pins.

Within Michigan, the name Pointe Aux Pins is unique.

Beyond Michigan, there is another community also named Pointe Aux Pins in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Ontario
      • This Pointe Aux Pins lies 51 miles [82.1 km]<1> to the north of the Pointe Aux Pins that is located in Mackinac County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pointe Aux Pins ...

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 Pointe Aux Pins 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 Pointe Aux Pins to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Saint Ignace, which is the Seat of Mackinac County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Pointe Aux Pins to Saint Ignace, with an average speed<3> 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 207 miles [333.1 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 605 miles [973.7 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 5,885 miles [9,471 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,629 miles [10,668.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,519 miles [7,272.6 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Pointe Aux Pins) 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 Pointe Aux Pins 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 Pointe Aux Pins. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.7326, Longitude: -84.4788    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.194 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.355 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.679 degrees.