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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Spring Lake Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spring Lake Park 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 Spring Lake Park:
    • 45.107789, -93.243743
    • 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 Spring Lake Park
  • 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 Spring Lake Park is near Ramsey County and also Hennepin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ramsey 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 Spring Lake Park

Communities Also Named Spring Lake Park ...

We found one communities that are also named Spring Lake Park.

Within Minnesota, the name Spring Lake Park is unique.

Beyond Minnesota, there is another community also named Spring Lake Park in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Montgomery County
      • This Spring Lake Park is located in Montgomery County and lies 923 miles [1,485.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Spring Lake Park that is located in Anoka County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Spring Lake Park.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Spring Lake Park ...

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.

How Far From Spring Lake Park 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 Spring Lake Park to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Spring Lake Park and extending to:

  • Anoka, which is the Seat of Anoka County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Spring Lake Park 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 12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast (SE). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
  • 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 6,215 miles [10,002.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,970 miles [11,217.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,879 miles [7,852 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Spring Lake Park) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Spring Lake Park 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 Spring Lake Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.1078, Longitude: -93.2437    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.281 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.159 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.594 degrees.