Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Excelsior, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Excelsior and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Excelsior
- 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 Excelsior:
- 47.203154, -122.455957
- 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 Excelsior
- 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 Pierce County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Pierce County
- Since Excelsior is near King County and also Thurston County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for King County
- eBird sighting report for Thurston 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 Excelsior ...
We found 21 communities that share the name Excelsior.
Within Washington, the name Excelsior is unique.
Beyond Washington, we know of another 21 communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Georgia
- Bulloch 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 Georgia community of Excelsior [Bulloch County].
- Candler County
- This Excelsior is located in Candler County and lies 2,348 miles [3,778.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Excelsior that is located in Pierce County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Candler County community of Excelsior.
- Tift County
- This Excelsior is located in Tift County and lies 2,312 miles [3,720.8 km] to the east southeast of the Excelsior that is located in Pierce County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tift County community of Excelsior.
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Douglas 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 Excelsior [Douglas County].
- Mitchell 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 Excelsior [Mitchell County].
- Pawnee 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 Excelsior [Pawnee County].
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Atchison County
- Although located in Atchison County, we don't know the location within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Atchison County community of Excelsior.
- Morgan County
- This Excelsior is located in Morgan County and lies 1,609 miles [2,589.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Excelsior that is located in Pierce County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Excelsior.
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- West Virginia
- McDowell County
- This Excelsior is located in McDowell County and lies 2,164 miles [3,482.6 km]<1> to the east of the Excelsior that is located in Pierce County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the McDowell County community of Excelsior.
- Upshur County
- This Excelsior is located in Upshur County and lies 2,179 miles [3,506.8 km] to the east of the Excelsior that is located in Pierce County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Upshur County community of Excelsior.
- Webster County
- This Excelsior is located in Webster County and lies 2,181 miles [3,510 km] to the east of the Excelsior that is located in Pierce County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Webster County community of Excelsior.
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Excelsior ...
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.
- Clover Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Park
- Clover Park is located in Pierce County
- Fern Hill
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast) - Firwood ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Gardenville ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gardenville
- Gardenville is located in Pierce County
- Lake City
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Lakeview
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest) - Pioneer
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - Ponders Corner
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ponders Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ponders Corner
- Ponders Corner is located in Pierce County
- Sunset Beach
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunset Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Beach
- Sunset Beach is located in Pierce County
- University Place
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Place
- University Place is located in Pierce County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 34,090 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for University Place <6>
How Far From Excelsior 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 Excelsior to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Excelsior and extending to:
- Tacoma, which is the Seat of Pierce County, lies just to the North Northeast.
- Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 23 miles [37 km]<1> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could walk a straight line from Excelsior to Olympia, with an average speed<7> 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 most of a day.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,327 miles [3,744.9 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 5 days, a buggy would take 91 days and walking would take 133 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,801 miles [10,945.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,563 miles [12,171.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,686 miles [9,150.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Excelsior. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Pierce County: www.co.pierce.wa.us/
The official website for State of Washington: https://access.wa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Excelsior) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Excelsior. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.2032, Longitude: -122.4560 In this case, the coordinates for Excelsior 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek 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 Excelsior 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> | 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 Excelsior, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <6> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Excelsior to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 340.957 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.505 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.87 degrees. |