RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Harris County >> Parkway West >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Parkway West, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Parkway West 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 Parkway West:
    • 29.790600, -95.738400
    • 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 Parkway West
  • 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 Harris County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harris County
    • Since Parkway West is near Fort Bend County and also Waller County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fort Bend County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Waller 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 Parkway West

Communities Also Named Parkway West ...

We found one communities that are also named Parkway West.

Within Texas, the name Parkway West is unique.

Beyond Texas, there is another community also named Parkway West in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Parkway West.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Parkway West ...

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.

  • Cypress Meadow
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cypress Meadow is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypress Meadow
  • Falcon Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Falcon Point is located in Fort Bend County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falcon Point
  • Governor Place
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Governor Place is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Governor Place
  • Heritage Meadows
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Heritage Meadows is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Meadows
  • Katyland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Katyland is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katyland
  • Memorial Parkway
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Memorial Parkway is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memorial Parkway
  • Rolling Green
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rolling Green is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Green
  • Silvermill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Silvermill is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silvermill
  • Williams Chase
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Williams Chase is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Chase
  • Wood Fern
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Wood Fern is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Fern

How Far From Parkway West 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 Parkway West to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Houston, which is the Seat of Harris County, lies 23 miles [37 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Parkway West to Houston, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 124 miles [199.6 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,234 miles [1,985.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 49 days and walking would take 71 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> 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 northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,822 miles [12,588.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,698 miles [9,170 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Parkway West 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.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- Parkway West) 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 Parkway West 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 Parkway West. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.7906, Longitude: -95.7384       In this case, the coordinates for Parkway West have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.832 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.801 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.508 degrees.