Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Tacoma Junction, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Tacoma Junction and the surrounding area.

• Weather ...
  • Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
  • The National Weather Service forecast for Tacoma Junction

• 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 Tacoma Junction:
  • 47.240655, -122.394567
  • 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 Tacoma Junction

• 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:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Pierce County
  • Since Tacoma Junction is near King County and also Kitsap County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for King County
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Kitsap 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 Tacoma Junction

Curious and Interesting Names Near Tacoma Junction ...

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.

• Dash Point
  (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Dash Point is located in Pierce County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dash Point
• Federal Way
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Federal Way is located in King County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal Way
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 96,307 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Federal Way <1>
• Fern Hill
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Fern Hill is located in Pierce County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fern Hill
• Firwood ‑ Historic
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Firwood is located in Pierce County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Firwood
• Gardenville ‑ Historic
  (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Gardenville is located in Pierce County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gardenville
• Lakeview
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Lakeview is located in Pierce County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
• Lakota
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Lakota is located in King County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakota
• Meeker
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Meeker is located in Pierce County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meeker
• Mirror Lake
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Mirror Lake is located in King County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mirror Lake
• University Place
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • University Place is located in Pierce County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Place
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 34,090 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for University Place <1>

How Far From Tacoma Junction 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 Tacoma Junction to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

• Tacoma, which is the Seat of Pierce County, lies just to the West Northwest.
• Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 27 miles [43.5 km]<2> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could walk a straight line from Tacoma Junction to Olympia, 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.
• The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,324 miles [3,740.1 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 132 days.
• The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,798 miles [10,940.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
• The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,560 miles [12,166.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
• The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,682 miles [9,144.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'