Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Surprise, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Surprise and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Surprise
- 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 Surprise:
- 40.610615, -82.843236
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Surprise
- 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 Morrow County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Morrow County
- Since Surprise is near Marion County and also Crawford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Marion County
- eBird sighting report for Crawford 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Surprise ...
We found ten communities that share the name Surprise.
Within Ohio, the name Surprise is unique.
Beyond Ohio, we know of another ten communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, nine are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
- British Columbia
- This Surprise lies 2,510 miles [4,039.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Surprise that is located in Morrow County.
- California
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Grant County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Surprise [Grant County].
- Hamilton County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Surprise [Hamilton County].
- Nebraska
- New York
- Tennessee
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Surprise ...
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.
- Beech ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest) - Blooming Grove
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blooming Grove
- Blooming Grove is located in Morrow County
- Climax
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest) - Denmark
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest) - Edison
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edison have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
- Edison is located in Morrow County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 444 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Edison <4>
- Iberia
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iberia
- Iberia is located in Morrow County
- Spring Valley Court
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Valley Court have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley Court
- Spring Valley Court is located in Crawford County
- Stringtown ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stringtown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown
- Stringtown is located in Marion County
- Wood Valley
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wood Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Valley
- Wood Valley is located in Marion County
How Far From Surprise 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 Surprise to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<5> community of Surprise once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Surprise and extending to:
- Mount Gilead, which is the Seat of Morrow County, lies just to the South.
- Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 44 miles [70.8 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could walk a straight line from Surprise to Columbus, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 330 miles [531.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,060 miles [9,752.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,785 miles [10,919.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,661 miles [7,501.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Ohio: https://ohio.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Surprise) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Surprise. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6106, Longitude: -82.8432 In this case, the coordinates for Surprise have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Surprise could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Surprise, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Surprise to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.357 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.64 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.666 degrees. |