RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Mendocino County >> Ridgewood Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ridgewood Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ridgewood Park 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 Ridgewood Park:
    • 39.330722, -123.341398
    • 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 Ridgewood Park
  • 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 Mendocino County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mendocino County
    • Since Ridgewood Park is near Lake County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake 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 Ridgewood Park

Communities Also Named Ridgewood Park ...

We found seven communities that are also named Ridgewood Park.

Within California, the name Ridgewood Park is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Arapahoe County
      • This Ridgewood Park is located in Arapahoe County and lies 975 miles [1,569.1 km]<1> to the east of the Ridgewood Park that is located in Mendocino County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Arapahoe County community of Ridgewood Park.
    • Connecticut
      • New London 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 Connecticut community of Ridgewood Park [New London County].
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Ridgewood Park is located in Hillsborough County and lies 2,453 miles [3,947.7 km]<1> to the east of the Ridgewood Park that is located in Mendocino County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Ridgewood Park.
    • Georgia
      • Cobb County
      • This Ridgewood Park is located in Cobb County and lies 2,160 miles [3,476.2 km]<1> to the east of the Ridgewood Park that is located in Mendocino County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cobb County community of Ridgewood Park.
    • Minnesota
      • Ramsey 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 Minnesota community of Ridgewood Park [Ramsey County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Delaware 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 Ridgewood Park [Delaware County].
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke City
      • This Ridgewood Park is located in Roanoke City and lies 2,329 miles [3,748.2 km]<1> to the east of the Ridgewood Park that is located in Mendocino County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke City community of Ridgewood Park.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ridgewood Park ...

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.

  • Alpine
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Alpine is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
  • Arnold
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Arnold is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
  • De Camp
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • De Camp is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Camp
  • Fair Oaks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Fair Oaks is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Oaks
  • Hearst
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Hearst is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hearst
  • Potter Valley
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Presswood
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Presswood is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Presswood
  • Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Ridge is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge
  • Shake City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Shake City is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shake City
  • Soda Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Soda Springs is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soda Springs

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

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

  • Ukiah, which is the Seat of Mendocino County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Ridgewood Park to Ukiah, 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 four to five hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 112 miles [180.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,453 miles [3,947.7 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,330 miles [11,796.5 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 8,095 miles [13,027.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,172 miles [9,932.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Ridgewood Park) 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 Ridgewood Park 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 Ridgewood Park 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 Ridgewood Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3307, Longitude: -123.3414       In this case, the coordinates for Ridgewood Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 341.139 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.351 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.737 degrees.