RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Harris County >> Whispering Lakes >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Whispering Lakes, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Whispering Lakes 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 Whispering Lakes:
    • 29.794400, -95.824000
    • 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 Whispering Lakes
  • 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 Harris County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harris County
    • Since Whispering Lakes is near Fort Bend County and also Waller County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fort Bend County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Waller 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 Whispering Lakes

Curious and Interesting Names Near Whispering Lakes ...

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.

  • Falcon Point
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Falcon Point is located in Fort Bend County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falcon Point
  • Fawn Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Fawn Lake is located in Fort Bend County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fawn Lake
  • Governor Place
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Governor Place is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Governor Place
  • Heritage Meadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Heritage Meadows is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Meadows
  • Katy
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Katy is located in Fort Bend County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katy
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 23,889 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Katy <1>
  • Katyland
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Katyland is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katyland
  • Memorial Parkway
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Memorial Parkway is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memorial Parkway
  • Williams Chase
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Williams Chase is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Chase

How Far From Whispering Lakes 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 Whispering Lakes to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Whispering Lakes and extending to:

  • Houston, which is the Seat of Harris County, lies 28 miles [45.1 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Whispering Lakes to Houston, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 119 miles [191.5 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,238 miles [1,992.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 49 days and walking would take 71 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,103 miles [11,431.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,826 miles [12,594.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,701 miles [9,174.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Whispering Lakes) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Whispering Lakes 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 Whispering Lakes. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.7944, Longitude: -95.8240       In this case, the coordinates for Whispering Lakes have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.888 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.867 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.544 degrees.