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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 Mentz, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mentz 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 Mentz:
- 29.750233, -96.436913
- 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 Mentz
- 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 Colorado County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Colorado County
- Since Mentz is near Austin County and also Fayette County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Austin County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette 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 Mentz
Communities Also Named Mentz ...
We found one communities that are also named Mentz.
Within Texas, the name Mentz is unique.
Beyond Texas, there is another community also named Mentz in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Michigan
- Saginaw County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Mentz [Saginaw County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Mentz ...
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.
- Beard
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Beard is located in Austin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beard
- Cat Spring
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Columbus
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Eagle Lake
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Helms
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Helms is located in Colorado County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helms
- Hillcrest
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Hillcrest is located in Colorado County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
- Lone Oak
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Lone Oak is located in Colorado County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Oak
- Post Oak Point
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Post Oak Point is located in Austin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Post Oak Point
How Far From Mentz to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Mentz to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Mentz and extending to:
- Columbus, which is the Seat of Colorado County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 85 miles [136.8 km]<3> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Mentz to Austin, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,270 miles [2,043.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 50 days and walking would take 73 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,130 miles [11,474.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,854 miles [12,639.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,729 miles [9,219.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Mentz 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. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Mentz) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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 Mentz 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 Mentz. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.7502, Longitude: -96.4369 In this case, the coordinates for Mentz have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.279 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.322 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.805 degrees. |
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