RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative
Quarter for
New Mexico

The Commemorative Quarter for New Mexico





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in San Rafael, we use the following websites to find information relevant to San Rafael 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 Rafael:
    • 35.491990, -104.456372
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on San Rafael
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named San Rafael ...

We found four communities that share the name San Rafael.

There is one other community in New Mexico which is also named San Rafael.

Beyond New Mexico, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Located In New Mexico ...
    • Cibola County
      • This San Rafael is located in Cibola County and lies 194 miles [312.2 km]<1> to the west of the San Rafael that is located in San Miguel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cibola County community of San Rafael.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Pima County
      • This San Rafael is located in Pima County and lies 506 miles [814.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the San Rafael that is located in San Miguel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pima County community of San Rafael.
    • California
      • Marin County
      • This San Rafael is located in Marin County and lies 1,012 miles [1,628.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the San Rafael that is located in San Miguel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marin County community of San Rafael.
    • Colorado
      • Conejos 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 Colorado community of San Rafael [Conejos County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near San Rafael ...

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.

  • Cherry Valley ‑ Historic
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cherry Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Valley
    • Cherry Valley is located in Mora County
  • Double Mills
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Double Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Double Mills
    • Double Mills is located in Guadalupe County
  • Park Springs
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Park Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Springs
    • Park Springs is located in San Miguel County

How Far From San Rafael to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as San Rafael to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Las Vegas, which is the Seat of San Miguel County, lies 43 miles [69.2 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from San Rafael to Las Vegas, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • Santa Fe, which is the State Capital of New Mexico, lies 85 miles [136.8 km] to the west (W). 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 1,520 miles [2,446.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 60 days and walking would take 87 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,100 miles [11,426.3 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 7,856 miles [12,643 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,764 miles [9,276.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for San Rafael. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- San Rafael) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in San Rafael. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4920, Longitude: -104.4564       In this case, the coordinates for San Rafael have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 San Rafael 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>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<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 Rafael to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 325.667 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 323.565 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.086 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024