RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Arizona >> Maricopa County >> Westbriar >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Westbriar, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Westbriar 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 Westbriar:
    • 33.498097, -112.252377
    • 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 Westbriar
  • 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 Maricopa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Maricopa County
    • Since Westbriar is near Pinal County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pinal 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 Westbriar

Communities Also Named Westbriar ...

We found two communities that are also named Westbriar.

Within Arizona, the name Westbriar is unique.

Beyond Arizona, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Delaware 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 Indiana community of Westbriar [Delaware County].
    • Virginia
      • Henrico County
      • This Westbriar is located in Henrico County and lies 1,958 miles [3,151.1 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Westbriar that is located in Maricopa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henrico County community of Westbriar.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Westbriar ...

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.

  • Bumstead
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Bumstead is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bumstead
  • Cartwright
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Cartwright is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cartwright
  • Cottonwood Ranch
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Cottonwood Ranch is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood Ranch
  • Deer Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Deer Creek is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Creek
  • Fowler
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Fowler is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fowler
  • Fox Glen
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Fox Glen is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Glen
  • Indian Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Indian Springs is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
  • Liberty Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Liberty Village is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Village
  • Maryvale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Maryvale is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maryvale
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Mountain View Meadows
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Mountain View Meadows is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View Meadows
    • Quail Lane
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Quail Lane is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Lane
    • Sun City
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Three Fountains
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Three Fountains is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Fountains
    • Village Park
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Village Park is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Village Park
    • Windmill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Windmill is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windmill

How Far From Westbriar to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Westbriar to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Phoenix, which is the Seat of Maricopa County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Westbriar to Phoenix, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Phoenix, which is the State Capital of Arizona, lies 10 miles [16.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). The buggy would take a little over three hours and walking would take four to five hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,984 miles [3,192.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take three full days, a buggy would take 78 days and walking would take 113 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,449 miles [11,988 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,214 miles [13,219.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,154 miles [9,903.9 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 Westbriar 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>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 from Point A (ie- Westbriar) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Westbriar 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 Westbriar. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.4981, Longitude: -112.2524       In this case, the coordinates for Westbriar have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 331.307 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 330.116 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 322.27 degrees.