RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> Larimer County >> Virginia Dale >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Virginia Dale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Virginia Dale 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 Virginia Dale:
    • 40.957203, -105.354940
    • 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 Virginia Dale
  • 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 Larimer County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Larimer County
    • Since Virginia Dale is near Laramie County and also Albany County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Laramie County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Albany 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 Virginia Dale

Curious and Interesting Names Near Virginia Dale ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Virginia Dale and extending to:

  • Fort Collins, which is the Seat of Larimer County, lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Virginia Dale to Fort Collins, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 85 miles [136.8 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,499 miles [2,412.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 59 days and walking would take 86 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,813 miles [10,964.5 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 7,577 miles [12,194 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,516 miles [8,877.1 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Virginia Dale) 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 Virginia Dale 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 Virginia Dale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.9572, Longitude: -105.3549       In this case, the coordinates for Virginia Dale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 326.911 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 325.617 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.032 degrees.