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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sunol - Midtown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sunol - Midtown 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 Sunol - Midtown:
    • 37.325353, -121.908879
    • 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 Sunol - Midtown
  • 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 Sunol - Midtown is near Alameda County and also Santa Cruz 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 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Sunol - Midtown

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sunol - Midtown ...

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
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Chinatown ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Chinatown is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chinatown
  • College Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • College Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Fruitdale
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Lick
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Lick is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lick
  • Meridian
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Meridian is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meridian
  • Robertsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Robertsville is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robertsville
  • Seven Trees
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Willow Glen
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Willow Glen is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Glen

How Far From Sunol - Midtown 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 Sunol - Midtown to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • San Jose, which is the Seat of Santa Clara County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 89 miles [143.2 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Sunol - Midtown to Sacramento, with an average speed<2>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 2,415 miles [3,886.6 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 7,434 miles [11,963.9 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 8,202 miles [13,199.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • 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).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Sunol - Midtown) 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 Sunol - Midtown 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 Sunol - Midtown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3254, Longitude: -121.9089    
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.724 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.556 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.85 degrees.