Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

• Weather ...
  • Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
  • The National Weather Service forecast for Thankful

• 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 Thankful:
  • 36.046242, -81.291478
  • 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 Thankful

• 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 Wilkes County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Wilkes County
  • Since Thankful is near Caldwell County and also Alexander County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Caldwell County
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Alexander 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 Thankful

Curious and Interesting Names Near Thankful ...

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.

• Boomer
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Boomer is located in Wilkes County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boomer
• Brown ‑ Historic
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Brown is located in Wilkes County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brown
• Buck
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Buck is located in Wilkes County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buck
• Denny ‑ Historic
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Denny is located in Wilkes County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denny
• East Fruitland ‑ Historic
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • East Fruitland is located in Wilkes County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Fruitland
• Elkville
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Elkville is located in Wilkes County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkville
• Ellendale
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Ellendale is located in Alexander County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellendale
• Kings Creek
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Kings Creek is located in Caldwell County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Creek
• Mount Pleasant
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Mount Pleasant is located in Wilkes County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
• Ready Branch
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Ready Branch is located in Wilkes County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ready Branch
• Stokes ‑ Historic
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Stokes is located in Wilkes County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stokes

How Far From Thankful to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Thankful to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Thankful and extending to:

• Wilkesboro, which is the Seat of Wilkes County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Thankful to Wilkesboro, with an average speed<2> 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.
• Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 149 miles [239.8 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
• The White House (Washington, DC) is 305 miles [490.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 18 days.
• The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,202 miles [9,981.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
• The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,906 miles [11,114.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
• The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,784 miles [7,699.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'