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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 Fir Villa, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fir Villa 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 Fir Villa:
- 44.928174, -123.274269
- 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 Fir Villa
- 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 Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
- Since Fir Villa is near Marion County and also Yamhill County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Marion County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Yamhill 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 Fir Villa
Curious and Interesting Names Near Fir Villa ...
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.
- Bowersville ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Bowersville is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowersville
- Ellendale
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Ellendale is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellendale
- Falls City
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Fern Corner
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Fern Corner is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fern Corner
- Ferns ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Ferns is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferns
- Independence
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Oak Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Oak Grove is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
- Salt Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Salt Creek is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salt Creek
- Tucker ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Tucker is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker
How Far From Fir Villa 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 Fir Villa to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Fir Villa and extending to:
- Dallas, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Salem, which is the State Capital of Oregon, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from Fir Villa to Salem, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,379 miles [3,828.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 5 days, a buggy would take 93 days and walking would take 136 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,963 miles [11,205.9 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 7,725 miles [12,432.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,840 miles [9,398.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<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 '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- Fir Villa) 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 Fir Villa 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 Fir Villa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.9282, Longitude: -123.2743 In this case, the coordinates for Fir Villa have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 341.513 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 343.045 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.541 degrees. |
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