RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> El Dorado County >> Cool >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Cool:
    • 38.886988, -121.015934
    • 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 Cool
  • 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 El Dorado County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for El Dorado County
    • Since Cool is near Placer County and also Nevada County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Placer County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nevada 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 Cool

Communities Also Named Cool ...

We found four communities that are also named Cool.

Within California, the name Cool is unique.

Beyond California, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Warren County
      • This Cool is located in Warren County and lies 1,453 miles [2,338.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Cool that is located in El Dorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Cool.
    • Kansas
      • Cloud 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 Cool [Cloud County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Susquehanna 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 Pennsylvania community of Cool [Susquehanna County].
    • Texas
      • Parker County
      • This Cool is located in Parker County and lies 1,350 miles [2,172.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Cool that is located in El Dorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Parker County community of Cool.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cool ...

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 Cool 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 Cool to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Placerville, which is the Seat of El Dorado County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Cool to Placerville, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 32 miles [51.5 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,339 miles [3,764.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 92 days and walking would take 133 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,316 miles [11,774 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 8,084 miles [13,009.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,132 miles [9,868.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Cool) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Cool 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>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 Cool 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 Cool. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8870, Longitude: -121.0159    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.14 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 339.934 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.298 degrees.