|
Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ham Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ham Lake 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 Ham Lake:
- 45.254445, -93.203908
- 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 Ham Lake
- 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 Anoka County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Anoka County
- Since Ham Lake is near Hennepin County and also Ramsey County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Hennepin County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Ramsey 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 Ham Lake
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ham Lake ...
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.
- Blaine
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Cedar
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Centerville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Circle Pines
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- City of Columbus
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- City of Columbus is located in Anoka County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City of Columbus
- Estimated population in 2015: 4,007 people
- Constance
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Constance is located in Anoka County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Constance
- Coon Creek
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Coon Creek is located in Anoka County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coon Creek
- Coon Rapids
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Johnsville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Johnsville is located in Anoka County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsville
- Oak Grove
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
How Far From Ham Lake 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 city such as Ham Lake to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Ham Lake and extending to:
- Anoka, which is the Seat of Anoka County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Ham Lake to Anoka, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 21 miles [33.8 km] to the south southeast (SSE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 935 miles [1,504.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, 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 6,206 miles [9,987.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,961 miles [11,202.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,871 miles [7,839.1 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Ham Lake) 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 Ham Lake 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 Ham Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.2544, Longitude: -93.2039 In this case, the coordinates for Ham Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.252 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.147 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.533 degrees. |
|
|