RoadsideThoughts
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Home >> State of California >> Sonoma County >> Camp Meeker >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Camp Meeker, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Camp Meeker 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 Camp Meeker:
    • 38.425269, -122.959268
    • 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 Camp Meeker
  • 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 Sonoma County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sonoma County
    • Since Camp Meeker is near Marin County and also Napa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Napa 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 Camp Meeker

Curious and Interesting Names Near Camp Meeker ...

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.

How Far From Camp Meeker 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 Camp Meeker to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Santa Rosa, which is the Seat of Sonoma County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Camp Meeker to Santa Rosa, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 80 miles [128.7 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,449 miles [3,941.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 96 days and walking would take 140 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,382 miles [11,880.2 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 8,148 miles [13,112.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,215 miles [10,002.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Camp Meeker) 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 Camp Meeker 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 Camp Meeker. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.4253, Longitude: -122.9593    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 340.728 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 341.817 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.501 degrees.