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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 West Lake Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Lake Hills 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 West Lake Hills:
- 30.292083, -97.808423
- 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 West Lake Hills
- 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 Travis County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Travis County
- Since West Lake Hills is near Hays County and also Williamson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Hays County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Williamson 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 West Lake Hills
Curious and Interesting Names Near West Lake Hills ...
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.
- Bee Cave
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Ford Oaks
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Ford Oaks is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ford Oaks
- Four Points
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Four Points is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Points
- Greenshores
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Greenshores is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenshores
- Lost Creek
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Lost Creek is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Creek
- Marshall Ford
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Marshall Ford is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall Ford
- Pleasant Hill
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Pleasant Hill is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
- Rollingwood
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Rollingwood is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rollingwood
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,571 people
- Shady Hollow
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Shady Hollow is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Hollow
- Sunset Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
How Far From West Lake Hills 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 city such as West Lake Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in West Lake Hills and extending to:
- Austin, which is the Seat of Travis County, lies just to the East Southeast.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies just to the east southeast (ESE).
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,317 miles [2,119.5 km]<2> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from West Lake Hills to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 75 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 52 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,154 miles [11,513.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,884 miles [12,688.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,761 miles [9,271.4 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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West Lake Hills) 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 West Lake Hills 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 West Lake Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.2921, Longitude: -97.8084 In this case, the coordinates for West Lake Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.265 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.555 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.345 degrees. |
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