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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 Good Thunder, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Good Thunder 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 Good Thunder:
- 44.006703, -94.070187
- 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 Good Thunder
- 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 Blue Earth County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Blue Earth County
- Since Good Thunder is near Nicollet County and also Faribault County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Nicollet County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Faribault 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 Good Thunder
Curious and Interesting Names Near Good Thunder ...
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.
- Amboy
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Butternut
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Butternut is located in Blue Earth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butternut
- Eagle Lake
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Garden City
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Garden City is located in Blue Earth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
- Lake Crystal
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Minnesota Lake
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Skyline
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Skyline is located in Blue Earth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyline
- Population from the 2020 Census: 299 people
- Tenmile Corner
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Tenmile Corner is located in Watonwan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tenmile Corner
- Willow Creek
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Willow Creek is located in Blue Earth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Creek
How Far From Good Thunder 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 Good Thunder to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Good Thunder and extending to:
- Mankato, which is the Seat of Blue Earth County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Good Thunder to Mankato, 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 81 miles [130.4 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 most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 947 miles [1,524 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 37 days and walking would take 54 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,299 miles [10,137.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,053 miles [11,350.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,960 miles [7,982.3 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Good Thunder) 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 Good Thunder 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 Good Thunder. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.0067, Longitude: -94.0702 In this case, the coordinates for Good Thunder have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.857 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.671 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.326 degrees. |
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