RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Minnesota >> Watonwan County >> Darfur >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Darfur, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Darfur 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 Darfur:
    • 44.053781, -94.835678
    • 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 Darfur
  • 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 Watonwan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Watonwan County
    • Since Darfur is near Brown County and also Cottonwood County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Brown County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cottonwood 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 Darfur

Curious and Interesting Names Near Darfur ...

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.

  • Butternut
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Butternut is located in Blue Earth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butternut
  • Evan
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Evan is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evan
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
  • Iberia
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Iberia is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iberia
  • Lewisville
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lewisville is located in Watonwan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewisville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
  • Mountain Lake
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Sleepy Eye
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Stark
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Stark is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stark
  • Tenmile Corner
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Tenmile Corner is located in Watonwan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tenmile Corner
  • Wanda
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)

How Far From Darfur 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 city such as Darfur to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Saint James, which is the Seat of Watonwan County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Darfur to Saint James, 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.
  • Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 105 miles [169 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 984 miles [1,583.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,321 miles [10,172.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,077 miles [11,389.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,986 miles [8,024.2 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- Darfur) 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 Darfur 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 Darfur. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.0538, Longitude: -94.8357       In this case, the coordinates for Darfur have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.40 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.298 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.728 degrees.