RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Minnesota >> Anoka County >> Martin Lake >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Martin Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Martin Lake and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Martin Lake:
    • 45.381076, -93.094944
    • 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 Martin 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 Martin Lake is near Chisago County and also Isanti County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chisago County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Isanti 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 Martin Lake

Curious and Interesting Names Near Martin 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.

  • Bonnie Glen
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Bonnie Glen is located in Chisago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnie Glen
  • Branch
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Branch is located in Chisago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branch
  • Cedar
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • City of Columbus
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • 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
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Constance is located in Anoka County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Constance
  • Forest Lake
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Ham Lake
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Oak Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Stacy
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Stacy is located in Chisago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stacy
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,525 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stacy <1>
  • Stanley
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Stanley is located in Isanti County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley
  • Wyoming
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)

How Far From Martin Lake 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 community such as Martin 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 Martin Lake and extending to:

  • Anoka, which is the Seat of Anoka County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Martin Lake to Anoka, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over 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.
  • Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 29 miles [46.7 km] to the south (S). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 933 miles [1,501.5 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 53 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,196 miles [9,971.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,951 miles [11,186.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,861 miles [7,823 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Martin 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 Martin 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 Martin Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.3811, Longitude: -93.0949       In this case, the coordinates for Martin Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.175 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.075 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.439 degrees.