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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Thistledown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Thistledown 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 Thistledown:
- 37.993605, -107.699783
- 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 Thistledown
- 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 Ouray County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Ouray County
- Since Thistledown is near San Miguel County and also San Juan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for San Miguel County
- Open the eBird sighting report for San Juan 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 Thistledown
Curious and Interesting Names Near Thistledown ...
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.
- Camp Bird ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Camp Bird is located in Ouray County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Bird
- Eureka ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Eureka is located in San Juan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
- Keystone ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Keystone is located in San Miguel County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
- Liberty Bell ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Liberty Bell is located in San Miguel County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Bell
- Mountain Village
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Red Mountain ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Red Mountain is located in Ouray County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Mountain
- Telluride
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Tomboy ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Tomboy is located in San Miguel County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomboy
How Far From Thistledown 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 Thistledown to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Thistledown and extending to:
- Ouray, which is the Seat of Ouray County, lies just to the Northeast.
- Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 189 miles [304.2 km]<2> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Thistledown to Denver, with an average speed<3>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 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,651 miles [2,657 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 65 days and walking would take 94 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,053 miles [11,350.7 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 7,817 miles [12,580.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,752 miles [9,256.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Thistledown) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Thistledown 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 Thistledown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9936, Longitude: -107.6998 In this case, the coordinates for Thistledown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 328.392 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 327.055 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 319.61 degrees. |
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