RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Solano County >> Vale >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vale and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Vale:
    • 38.320189, -121.785515
    • 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 Vale
  • 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 Solano County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Solano County
    • Since Vale is near Yolo County and also Sacramento County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Yolo County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sacramento 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 Vale

Communities Also Named Vale ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Vale.

Within California, the name Vale is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Harford County
      • This Vale is located in Harford County and lies 2,413 miles [3,883.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Vale that is located in Solano County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harford County community of Vale.
    • Missouri
      • Douglas 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 Missouri community of Vale [Douglas County].
      • Jackson County
      • This Vale is located in Jackson County and lies 1,470 miles [2,365.7 km]<1> to the east of the Vale that is located in Solano County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Vale.
    • North Carolina
      • Avery County
      • This Vale is located in Avery County and lies 2,179 miles [3,506.8 km]<1> to the east of the Vale that is located in Solano County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Avery County community of Vale.
      • Lincoln County
      • This Vale is located in Lincoln County and lies 2,219 miles [3,571.1 km] to the east of the Vale that is located in Solano County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Vale.
    • Oregon
      • Malheur County
      • This Vale is located in Malheur County and lies 456 miles [733.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Vale that is located in Solano County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Malheur County community of Vale.
    • South Dakota
      • Butte County
      • This Vale is located in Butte County and lies 1,042 miles [1,676.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Vale that is located in Solano County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butte County community of Vale.
    • Tennessee
      • Carroll County
      • This Vale is located in Carroll County and lies 1,839 miles [2,959.6 km]<1> to the east of the Vale that is located in Solano County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Vale.
    • Virginia
      • Fairfax County
      • This Vale is located in Fairfax County and lies 2,373 miles [3,819 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Vale that is located in Solano County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Vale.
    • West Virginia
      • Greenbrier County
      • This Vale is located in Greenbrier County and lies 2,212 miles [3,559.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Vale that is located in Solano County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenbrier County community of Vale.
    • Wisconsin
      • Chippewa 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 Wisconsin community of Vale [Chippewa County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vale ...

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.

  • Bunker
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Bunker is located in Solano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunker
  • Cannon ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Cannon is located in Solano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon
  • Central
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Central is located in Yolo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
  • Five Points
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Five Points is located in Solano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Green
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Green is located in Yolo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green
  • Howard Landing
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Howard Landing is located in Sacramento County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard Landing
  • Howard Landing Ferry
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Howard Landing Ferry is located in Sacramento County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard Landing Ferry
  • Leisure Town
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Leisure Town is located in Solano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leisure Town
  • Maine Prairie
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Maine Prairie is located in Solano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maine Prairie
  • Paintersville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Paintersville is located in Sacramento County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paintersville
  • Violet ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Violet is located in Solano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Violet

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

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

  • Fairfield, which is the Seat of Solano County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Vale to Fairfield, with an average speed<3> 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 24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast (NE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,390 miles [3,846.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 5 days, a buggy would take 94 days and walking would take 136 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,368 miles [11,857.6 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 8,135 miles [13,092 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,187 miles [9,957 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Vale) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Vale 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 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 Vale 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 Vale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.3202, Longitude: -121.7855       In this case, the coordinates for Vale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.727 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.609 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.775 degrees.