RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> San Diego County >> Oceanside >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oceanside, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oceanside 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 Oceanside:
    • 33.198149, -117.375778
    • 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 Oceanside
  • 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 San Diego County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Diego County
    • Since Oceanside is near Orange County and also Riverside County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Riverside 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 Oceanside

Communities Also Named Oceanside ...

We found four communities that are also named Oceanside.

Within California, the name Oceanside is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maine
      • York 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 Maine community of Oceanside [York County].
    • New York
      • Nassau County
      • This Oceanside is located in Nassau County and lies 2,442 miles [3,930 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Oceanside that is located in San Diego County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nassau County community of Oceanside.
    • Oregon
      • Tillamook County
      • This Oceanside is located in Tillamook County and lies 916 miles [1,474.2 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Oceanside that is located in San Diego County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tillamook County community of Oceanside.
    • Washington
      • Pacific County
      • This Oceanside is located in Pacific County and lies 977 miles [1,572.3 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Oceanside that is located in San Diego County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pacific County community of Oceanside.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oceanside ...

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.

  • Don ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Don is located in San Diego County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Don
  • Eden Gardens
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Eden Gardens is located in San Diego County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden Gardens
  • Elfin Forest
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Elfin Forest is located in San Diego County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elfin Forest
  • Harmony Grove
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Harmony Grove is located in San Diego County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Grove
  • Hidden Meadows
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Hidden Meadows is located in San Diego County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Meadows
  • Lilac
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Lilac is located in San Diego County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilac
  • Twin Oaks
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Twin Oaks is located in San Diego County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Oaks
  • Vista
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Winterwarm
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Winterwarm is located in San Diego County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winterwarm

How Far From Oceanside 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 city such as Oceanside to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • San Diego, which is the Seat of San Diego County, lies 35 miles [56.3 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Oceanside to San Diego, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 436 miles [701.7 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 25 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,267 miles [3,648.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 89 days and walking would take 129 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,600 miles [12,231 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 8,369 miles [13,468.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,345 miles [10,211.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Oceanside 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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Oceanside) 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 Oceanside 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 Oceanside. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.1981, Longitude: -117.3758    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 335.395 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 335.056 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 325.118 degrees.