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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 Orchard Garden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orchard Garden 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 Orchard Garden:
- 44.725520, -93.296056
- 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 Orchard Garden
- 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 Dakota County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Dakota County
- Since Orchard Garden is near Scott County and also Hennepin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Scott County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Hennepin 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 Orchard Garden
Curious and Interesting Names Near Orchard Garden ...
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.
- Antlers Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Antlers Park is located in Dakota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antlers Park
- Apple Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Cedar Grove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Cedar Grove is located in Dakota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
- Credit River
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Credit River is located in Scott County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Credit River
- Deer Park
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Deer Park is located in Dakota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Park
- Grainwood
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Grainwood is located in Scott County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grainwood
- Lakeville
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Prior Lake
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Savage
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
How Far From Orchard Garden 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 Orchard Garden to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Orchard Garden and extending to:
- Hastings, which is the Seat of Dakota County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Orchard Garden to Hastings, 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 most of a day.
- Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 18 miles [29 km] to the north northeast (NNE). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take just over a day.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 926 miles [1,490.3 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 6,236 miles [10,035.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,991 miles [11,250.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,898 miles [7,882.6 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- Orchard Garden) 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 Orchard Garden 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 Orchard Garden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.7255, Longitude: -93.2961 In this case, the coordinates for Orchard Garden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.317 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.149 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.724 degrees. |
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