RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Santa Clara County >> Professorville >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Professorville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Professorville 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 Professorville:
    • 37.436606, -122.146909
    • 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 Professorville
  • 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 Santa Clara County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Santa Clara County
    • Since Professorville is near San Mateo County and also Alameda County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Mateo County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alameda 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 Professorville

Curious and Interesting Names Near Professorville ...

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.

  • Castro City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Castro City is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castro City
  • Crescent Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Crescent Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Park
  • Evergreen Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Evergreen Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Park
  • Fair Oaks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Fair Oaks is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Oaks
  • Green Acres
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Acres is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Greenmeadow
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenmeadow is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenmeadow
  • Meadow Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Meadow Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Park
  • Neal
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Neal is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neal
  • Park Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Park Forest is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Forest
  • Ravenswood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Ravenswood is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood
  • University Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • University Heights is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Heights
  • Vintage Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Vintage Oaks is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vintage Oaks

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Professorville and extending to:

  • San Jose, which is the Seat of Santa Clara County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Professorville to San Jose, with an average speed<2> 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 four to five hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 86 miles [138.4 km] to the north northeast (NNE). 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 2,425 miles [3,902.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 95 days and walking would take 138 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,432 miles [11,960.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,199 miles [13,195 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,250 miles [10,058.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Professorville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Professorville 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 Professorville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4366, Longitude: -122.1469       In this case, the coordinates for Professorville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.937 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.818 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.997 degrees.