Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in The Plaza, we use the following websites to find information relevant to The Plaza and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for The Plaza
- 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 The Plaza:
- 34.150182, -116.054169
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on The Plaza
- 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 Bernardino County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for San Bernardino County
- Since The Plaza is near Riverside County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named The Plaza ...
We found fifteen communities that share the name The Plaza.
Within California, the name The Plaza is unique.
Beyond California, we know of another fifteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Calhoun 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 Michigan community of The Plaza [Calhoun County].
- Ottawa County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of The Plaza [Ottawa County].
- New Jersey
- Burlington 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 New Jersey community of The Plaza [Burlington County].
- Hudson County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Jersey community of The Plaza [Hudson County].
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- Pennsylvania
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near The Plaza ...
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.
- Desert Heights
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Desert Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Desert Heights
- Desert Heights is located in San Bernardino County
- Hidden River
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hidden River have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden River
- Hidden River is located in San Bernardino County
- Joshua Tree
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joshua Tree
- Joshua Tree is located in San Bernardino County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Joshua Tree <5>
- Lost Horse Mine ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lost Horse Mine. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<6>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Horse Mine
- Lost Horse Mine is located in Riverside County
- Old Dale
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east) - Smoke Tree
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Smoke Tree have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smoke Tree
- Smoke Tree is located in San Bernardino County
- Sunfair
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west) - Sunfair Heights
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunfair Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunfair Heights
- Sunfair Heights is located in San Bernardino County
- Twentynine Palms
(Less than 2 miles to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twentynine Palms
- Twentynine Palms is located in San Bernardino County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 27,433 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Twentynine Palms <5>
How Far From The Plaza 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 The Plaza to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in The Plaza and extending to:
- San Bernardino, which is the Seat of San Bernardino County, lies 71 miles [114.3 km]<2> to the west. If you could drive a straight line from The Plaza to San Bernardino, with an average speed<7>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 4 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 429 miles [690.4 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 25 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,173 miles [3,497.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 85 days and walking would take 124 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,508 miles [12,083 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,277 miles [13,320.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,248 miles [10,055.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for The Plaza. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for San Bernardino County: www.sbcounty.gov/
The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/
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 The Plaza 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- The Plaza) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in The Plaza. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.1502, Longitude: -116.0542 |
| <3> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about The Plaza, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 The Plaza to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 334.453 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 333.979 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.377 degrees. |