RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> Boulder County >> Ara >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ara, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ara 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 Ara:
    • 40.024986, -105.250267
    • 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 Ara
  • 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 Boulder County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Boulder County
    • Since Ara is near Jefferson County and also Broomfield County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Broomfield 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 Ara

Communities Also Named Ara ...

We found one communities that are also named Ara.

Within Colorado, the name Ara is unique.

Beyond Colorado, there is another community also named Ara in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • Iberia Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Ara [Iberia Parish].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ara ...

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.

  • Boulder
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Boulder Junction
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Boulder Junction is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boulder Junction
  • Eldorado Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Gunbarrel
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Gunbarrel is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunbarrel
  • Louisville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Magnolia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Magnolia is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
  • Marshall
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Marshall is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
  • Mountain Meadows
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Mountain Meadows is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Meadows
  • Rock Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Rock Creek is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Creek
  • Seven Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Seven Hills is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Hills
  • Silver Spruce
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Silver Spruce is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Spruce
  • Summerville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Summerville is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerville
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Sunnyside
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Sunnyside is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
    • Sunshine
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Sunshine is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine
    • Superior
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Tall Timber
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Tall Timber is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tall Timber

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Ara and extending to:

  • Boulder, which is the Seat of Boulder County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 23 miles [37 km]<3> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Ara to Denver, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,499 miles [2,412.4 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of three days, a buggy would take 59 days and walking would take 86 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,864 miles [11,046.5 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 7,627 miles [12,274.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,560 miles [8,948 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Ara 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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- Ara) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Ara 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 Ara. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.0250, Longitude: -105.2503       In this case, the coordinates for Ara have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 326.752 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 325.332 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.082 degrees.