RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> Costilla County >> San Luis >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in San Luis, we use the following websites to find information relevant to San Luis 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 San Luis:
    • 37.200731, -105.424110
    • 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 San Luis
  • 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 Costilla County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Costilla County
    • Since San Luis is near Taos County and also Conejos County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Taos County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Conejos 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 San Luis

Communities Also Named San Luis ...

We found five communities that are also named San Luis.

Within Colorado, the name San Luis is unique.

Beyond Colorado, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Pima County
      • This San Luis is located in Pima County and lies 512 miles [824 km]<1> to the southwest of the San Luis that is located in Costilla County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pima County community of San Luis.
      • Yuma County
      • This San Luis is located in Yuma County and lies 621 miles [999.4 km] to the west southwest of the San Luis that is located in Costilla County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yuma County community of San Luis.
    • California
      • San Diego County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in San Diego County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Diego County community of San Luis.
    • New Mexico
      • Sandoval County
      • This San Luis is located in Sandoval County and lies 138 miles [222.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the San Luis that is located in Costilla County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sandoval County community of San Luis.
    • Texas
      • Brazoria County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of San Luis [Brazoria County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near San Luis ...

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.

  • Anchor ‑ Historic
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Anchor is located in Taos County (NM)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anchor
  • Bountiful
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Bountiful is located in Conejos County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bountiful
  • Fir
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Fir is located in Costilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fir
  • Henry
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Henry is located in Alamosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henry
  • Midnight ‑ Historic
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Midnight is located in Taos County (NM)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midnight
  • Monument Park
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Monument Park is located in Las Animas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monument Park
  • Muleshoe
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Muleshoe is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muleshoe
  • Romeo
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Stonewall
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Stonewall is located in Las Animas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonewall
  • Stonewall Gap
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Stonewall Gap is located in Las Animas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonewall Gap
  • Sunshine
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Sunshine is located in Taos County (NM)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine
  • Sunshine Valley
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Sunshine Valley is located in Taos County (NM)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine Valley
  • Uptop ‑ Historic
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Uptop is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uptop

How Far From San Luis 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 town such as San Luis to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 177 miles [284.9 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from San Luis to Denver, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,541 miles [2,480 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 61 days and walking would take 88 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,032 miles [11,316.9 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 7,792 miles [12,540 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,712 miles [9,192.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- San Luis) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 San Luis, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 San Luis 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 San Luis. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2007, Longitude: -105.4241       In this case, the coordinates for San Luis have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 326.59 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.843 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.452 degrees.