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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in San Ramon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to San Ramon 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 San Ramon:
    • 37.777150, -121.975246
    • 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 San Ramon
  • 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 Contra Costa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Contra Costa County
    • Since San Ramon is near Alameda County and also Solano County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alameda County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Solano 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 San Ramon

Communities Also Named San Ramon ...

We found two communities that are also named San Ramon.

Within California, the name San Ramon is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Mexico
      • San Miguel County
      • This San Ramon is located in San Miguel County and lies 983 miles [1,582 km]<1> to the east of the San Ramon that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Miguel County community of San Ramon.
    • Texas
      • Webb County
      • This San Ramon is located in Webb County and lies 1,470 miles [2,365.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the San Ramon that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Webb County community of San Ramon.

Curious and Interesting Names Near San Ramon ...

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 San Ramon 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 city such as San Ramon to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Martinez, which is the Seat of Contra Costa County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from San Ramon to Martinez, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over 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 61 miles [98.2 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,410 miles [3,878.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 95 days and walking would take 137 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,406 miles [11,918.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,173 miles [13,153.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,225 miles [10,018.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- San Ramon) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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 San Ramon 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 San Ramon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7771, Longitude: -121.9752    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.829 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.705 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.892 degrees.