Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Saginaw, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Saginaw and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Saginaw
- 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 Saginaw:
- 43.427056, -83.941398
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Saginaw
- 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 Saginaw County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Saginaw County
- Since Saginaw is near Bay County and also Midland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bay County
- eBird sighting report for Midland 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Saginaw ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Saginaw.
Within Michigan, the name Saginaw is unique.
Beyond Michigan, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, eleven are located in the United States and three are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- New York
- Ontario
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near Saginaw ...
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.
- Crow Island ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crow Island have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Island
- Crow Island is located in Saginaw County
- Dice
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dice
- Dice is located in Saginaw County
- Frankenlust
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frankenlust
- Frankenlust is located in Bay County
- Frost
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west) - Indiantown
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indiantown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indiantown
- Indiantown is located in Saginaw County
- Lawndale
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest) - Melbourne ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north) - Shields
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - Swan Creek
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Creek
- Swan Creek is located in Saginaw County
How Far From Saginaw 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 city such as Saginaw to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Saginaw and extending to:
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 57 miles [91.7 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Saginaw to Lansing, with an average speed<5> 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.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 475 miles [764.4 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 19 days and walking would take 27 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,972 miles [9,611 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,709 miles [10,797.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,591 miles [7,388.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Saginaw: www.saginaw-mi.com/
The official website for Saginaw County: www.saginawcounty.com/
The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 from Point A (ie- Saginaw) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Saginaw. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.4271, Longitude: -83.9414 |
| <2> | 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Saginaw 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. |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Saginaw to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.959 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.744 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.234 degrees. |