Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Santa Clara, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Santa Clara and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Santa Clara
- 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 Santa Clara:
- 37.355784, -121.959538
- 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 Santa Clara
- 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:
- eBird sighting report for Santa Clara County
- Since Santa Clara is near Alameda County and also Santa Cruz County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Alameda County
- eBird sighting report for Santa Cruz 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 Santa Clara ...
We found eleven communities that share the name Santa Clara.
Within California, the name Santa Clara is unique.
Beyond California, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Colorado
- Huerfano 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 Colorado community of Santa Clara [Huerfano County].
- Florida
- Gadsden County
- This Santa Clara is located in Gadsden County and lies 2,177 miles [3,503.5 km]<2> to the east of the Santa Clara that is located in Santa Clara County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gadsden County community of Santa Clara.
- Nevada
- Pershing County
- This community is historic<3> and although located in Pershing County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pershing County community of Santa Clara.
- New Mexico
- Grant County
- This Santa Clara is located in Grant County and lies 840 miles [1,351.8 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Santa Clara that is located in Santa Clara County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grant County community of Santa Clara.
- Rio Arriba County
- This Santa Clara is located in Rio Arriba County and lies 883 miles [1,421.1 km] to the east of the Santa Clara that is located in Santa Clara County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rio Arriba County community of Santa Clara.
- Santa Fe 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 Mexico community of Santa Clara [Santa Fe County].
- New York
- Franklin County
- This Santa Clara is located in Franklin County and lies 2,489 miles [4,005.7 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Santa Clara that is located in Santa Clara County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Santa Clara.
- Oregon
- Lane County
- This Santa Clara is located in Lane County and lies 469 miles [754.8 km]<2> to the north of the Santa Clara that is located in Santa Clara County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lane County community of Santa Clara.
- South Dakota
- Brown 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 South Dakota community of Santa Clara [Brown County].
- Texas
- Guadalupe County
- This Santa Clara is located in Guadalupe County and lies 1,466 miles [2,359.3 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Santa Clara that is located in Santa Clara County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Guadalupe County community of Santa Clara.
- Utah
- Washington County
- This Santa Clara is located in Washington County and lies 456 miles [733.9 km]<2> to the east of the Santa Clara that is located in Santa Clara County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Santa Clara.
- Colorado
Curious and Interesting Names Near Santa Clara ...
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.
- Alum Rock
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alum Rock
- Alum Rock is located in Santa Clara County
- Blossom Valley
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blossom Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blossom Valley
- Blossom Valley is located in Santa Clara County
- Castro City
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castro City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castro City
- Castro City is located in Santa Clara County
- Champagne Fountain
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Champagne Fountain
- Champagne Fountain is located in Santa Clara County
- Chinatown ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east) - College Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for College Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
- College Park is located in Santa Clara County
- Drawbridge ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drawbridge
- Drawbridge is located in Alameda County
- Former name for Drawbridge:
- Saline City
- Fruitdale
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruitdale
- Fruitdale is located in Santa Clara County
- Lick
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast) - Meridian
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south) - Mountain View
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
- Mountain View is located in Santa Clara County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 80,030 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mountain View <5>
- Robertsville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Robertsville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robertsville
- Robertsville is located in Santa Clara County
- Seven Trees
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Trees
- Seven Trees is located in Santa Clara County
- Willow Glen
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willow Glen have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Glen
- Willow Glen is located in Santa Clara County
How Far From Santa Clara 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 Santa Clara to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Santa Clara and extending to:
- San Jose, which is the Seat of Santa Clara County, lies just to the East Southeast.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 88 miles [141.6 km]<2> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Santa Clara to Sacramento, with an average speed<6>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 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,417 miles [3,889.8 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,433 miles [11,962.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,200 miles [13,196.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,249 miles [10,056.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Santa Clara: www.ci.santa-clara.ca.us/
The official website for Santa Clara County: www.sccgov.org/
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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Santa Clara 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 '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- Santa Clara) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Santa Clara. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3558, Longitude: -121.9595 |
| <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 Santa Clara, 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> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Santa Clara to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.77 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.613 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.881 degrees. |