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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Port Inland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Port Inland 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 Port Inland:
    • 45.971562, -85.872463
    • 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 Port Inland
  • 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 Port Inland is near Schoolcraft County and also Luce County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Schoolcraft County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Luce 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 Port Inland

Curious and Interesting Names Near Port Inland ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Port Inland and extending to:

  • Saint Ignace, which is the Seat of Mackinac County, lies 55 miles [88.5 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Port Inland to Saint Ignace, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 232 miles [373.4 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 663 miles [1,067 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,923 miles [9,532.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,670 miles [10,734.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,563 miles [7,343.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Port Inland) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Port Inland 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 Port Inland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.9716, Longitude: -85.8725    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.129 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.445 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.335 degrees.