RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Wainola, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wainola 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 Wainola:
    • 46.730120, -89.031538
    • 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 Wainola
  • 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 Ontonagon County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ontonagon County
    • Since Wainola 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 Wainola

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wainola ...

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

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

  • Ontonagon, which is the Seat of Ontonagon County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Wainola to Ontonagon, 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 five to six hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 352 miles [566.5 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 20 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 811 miles [1,305.2 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,995 miles [9,648 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,747 miles [10,858.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,652 miles [7,486.7 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Wainola) 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 Wainola 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 Wainola. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.7301, Longitude: -89.0315       In this case, the coordinates for Wainola have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.282 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.984 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.796 degrees.