RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Hidalgo County >> Twin Lake >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Twin Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Twin Lake 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 Twin Lake:
    • 26.356458, -98.121397
    • 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 Twin Lake
  • 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 Hidalgo County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hidalgo County
    • Since Twin Lake is near Willacy County and also Cameron County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Willacy County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cameron 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 Twin Lake

Communities Also Named Twin Lake ...

We found four communities that are also named Twin Lake.

Within Texas, the name Twin Lake is unique.

Beyond Texas, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Twin Lake is located in Hillsborough County and lies 968 miles [1,557.8 km]<1> to the east of the Twin Lake that is located in Hidalgo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Twin Lake.
    • Michigan
      • Muskegon County
      • This Twin Lake is located in Muskegon County and lies 1,352 miles [2,175.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Twin Lake that is located in Hidalgo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Muskegon County community of Twin Lake.
    • Mississippi
      • Warren County
      • This Twin Lake is located in Warren County and lies 609 miles [980.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the Twin Lake that is located in Hidalgo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Twin Lake.
    • North Carolina
      • Brunswick 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 North Carolina community of Twin Lake [Brunswick County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Twin Lake ...

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.

  • Cottonwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cottonwood is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
    • Cottonwood has also been known as:
    • Cottonwood Colonia
  • Lull
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Lull is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lull
  • Meadow Lands
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Meadow Lands is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lands
    • Meadow Lands has also been known as:
    • Meadow Lands Colonia
  • Merrill
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Merrill is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrill
    • Merrill has also been known as:
    • Merrill Colonia
  • Sandy Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Sandy Ridge is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Ridge
    • Sandy Ridge has also been known as:
    • Sandy Ridge Colonia
  • Seminary Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Seminary Village is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seminary Village
    • Seminary Village has also been known as:
    • Seminary Village Colonia
  • Spring Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Spring Gardens is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Gardens
    • Spring Gardens has also been known as:
    • Spring Gardens Colonia
  • Summerwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Summerwood is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerwood
    • Summerwood has also been known as:
    • Summerwood Colonia
  • Tower Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Tower Heights is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower Heights
    • Tower Heights has also been known as:
    • Tower Heights Colonia

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

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

  • Edinburg, which is the Seat of Hidalgo County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 271 miles [436.1 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from Twin Lake to Austin, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 16 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,494 miles [2,404.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 59 days and walking would take 85 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,375 miles [11,868.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,093 miles [13,024.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,968 miles [9,604.6 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- Twin Lake) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Twin Lake 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>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 Twin Lake 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 Twin Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 26.3565, Longitude: -98.1214       In this case, the coordinates for Twin Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.783 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.484 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.721 degrees.