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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Vantown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vantown 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 Vantown:
- 42.600591, -84.223576
- 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 Vantown
- 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 Ingham County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Ingham County
- Since Vantown is near Livingston County and also Shiawassee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Livingston County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Shiawassee 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 Vantown
Curious and Interesting Names Near Vantown ...
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.
- Chalkerville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Chalkerville is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalkerville
- Chalkerville has also been known as:
- Chalkers Landing
- Chubb's Corners ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Chubb's Corners is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chubb's Corners
- Dansville
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Eden
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Eden is located in Ingham County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
- Fowlerville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Gregory
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Hell
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Hell is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hell
- Hell has also been known as:
- Hi Land Lake
- Highland Lake
- Hiland Lake
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hell <1>
- Kaiserville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Kaiserville is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kaiserville
- Leslie
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Mason
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Meridian
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Meridian is located in Ingham County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meridian
- Oak Grove
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Oak Grove is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
- Pleasant Lake
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
How Far From Vantown 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 Vantown to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Vantown and extending to:
- Mason, which is the Seat of Ingham County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Vantown to Mason, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 19 miles [30.6 km] to the west northwest (WNW). The buggy would take 6 hours and walking would take just over a day.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 454 miles [730.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 26 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,021 miles [9,689.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,755 miles [10,871.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,636 miles [7,460.9 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Vantown) 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 Vantown 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 Vantown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6006, Longitude: -84.2236 In this case, the coordinates for Vantown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.178 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.868 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.659 degrees. |
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