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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 Valley Wells, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Valley Wells 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 Valley Wells:
- 28.480819, -99.509209
- 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 Valley Wells
- 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 Dimmit County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Dimmit County
- Since Valley Wells is near La Salle County and also Zavala County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for La Salle County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Zavala 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 Valley Wells
Communities Also Named Valley Wells ...
We found two communities that are also named Valley Wells.
Within Texas, the name Valley Wells is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Inyo County
- This Valley Wells is located in Inyo County and lies 1,156 miles [1,860.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Valley Wells that is located in Dimmit County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Inyo County community of Valley Wells.
- San Bernardino 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 California community of Valley Wells [San Bernardino County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Valley Wells ...
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.
- Bushy Creek
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Bushy Creek is located in Zavala County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bushy Creek
- Bushy Creek has also been known as:
- Bushy Creek Colonia
- Crystal City
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Gardendale
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Gardendale is located in La Salle County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gardendale
- Hilltop
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Hilltop is located in Frio County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
- Hilltop has also been known as:
- Hilltop Colonia
- Millett
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Millett is located in La Salle County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millett
- Popeye Lake
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Popeye Lake is located in Zavala County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Popeye Lake
- Popeye Lake has also been known as:
- Popeye Lake Colonia
- River Spur
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- River Spur is located in Zavala County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Spur
- Winter Haven
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Winter Haven is located in Dimmit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winter Haven
How Far From Valley Wells 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 Valley Wells to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Valley Wells and extending to:
- Carrizo Springs, which is the Seat of Dimmit County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Valley Wells to Carrizo Springs, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day 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 162 miles [260.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,472 miles [2,369 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 58 days and walking would take 84 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,316 miles [11,774 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,045 miles [12,947.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,922 miles [9,530.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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- Valley Wells) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Valley Wells 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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Valley Wells 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 Valley Wells. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 28.4808, Longitude: -99.5092 In this case, the coordinates for Valley Wells have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 321.10 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.317 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.199 degrees. |
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