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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Westend, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Westend 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 Westend:
    • 35.706238, -117.393395
    • 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 Westend
  • 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 San Bernardino County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Bernardino County
    • Since Westend is near Inyo County and also Kern County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Inyo County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kern 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 Westend

Communities Also Named Westend ...

We found two communities that are also named Westend.

Within California, the name Westend is unique.

Beyond California, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Brunswick
      • This Westend lies 2,783 miles [4,478.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Westend that is located in San Bernardino County.
    • North Carolina
      • Guilford 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 North Carolina community of Westend [Guilford County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Westend ...

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 Westend 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 Westend to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • San Bernardino, which is the Seat of San Bernardino County, lies 110 miles [177 km]<1> to the south. If you could drive a straight line from Westend to San Bernardino, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 300 miles [482.8 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,209 miles [3,555 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 87 days and walking would take 126 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,443 miles [11,978.3 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 8,212 miles [13,215.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,204 miles [9,984.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Westend) 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 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 Westend 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 Westend 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 Westend. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.7062, Longitude: -117.3934    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 335.765 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 335.679 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 325.15 degrees.