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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Riviera East, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Riviera East 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 Riviera East:
    • 29.792200, -95.194500
    • 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 Riviera East
  • 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 Riviera East is near Chambers County and also Brazoria County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chambers County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Brazoria 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 Riviera East

Curious and Interesting Names Near Riviera East ...

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.

  • Channelview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Cloverleaf
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Delldale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Delldale is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delldale
  • El Dorado
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • El Dorado is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Dorado
  • Galena Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Greens Bayou
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Greens Bayou is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greens Bayou
  • Hidden Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Hidden Forest is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Forest
  • Pine Trails
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Pine Trails is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Trails
  • Royalwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Royalwood is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royalwood
  • Shadow Glen
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Shadow Glen is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadow Glen
  • Songwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Songwood is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Songwood
  • Winterwood Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Winterwood Village is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winterwood Village
  • Wood Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Wood Forest is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Forest

How Far From Riviera East 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 Riviera East to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Houston, which is the Seat of Harris County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Riviera East to Houston, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 155 miles [249.4 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,207 miles [1,942.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 48 days and walking would take 69 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,078 miles [11,390.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,799 miles [12,551.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,674 miles [9,131.4 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 '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- Riviera East) 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 Riviera East 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 Riviera East. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.7922, Longitude: -95.1945       In this case, the coordinates for Riviera East have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.482 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.39 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.282 degrees.