RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Utah >> Utah County >> Orem >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Orem, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orem 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 Orem:
    • 40.29717, -111.695019
    • 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 Orem
  • 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 Utah County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Utah County
    • Since Orem is near Weber County and also Wasatch County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Weber County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wasatch 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 Orem

Communities Also Named Orem ...

We found one communities that are also named Orem.

Within Utah, the name Orem is unique.

Beyond Utah, there is another community also named Orem in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • West Virginia
      • Wood County
      • 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 West Virginia community of Orem [Wood County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orem ...

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.

  • Bunker
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Christmas City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Christmas City is located in Utah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Christmas City
  • Geneva ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Hardy
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hardy is located in Utah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardy
  • Lakeview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Pleasant View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant View is located in Utah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
  • Snow
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Snow is located in Utah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snow
  • Vineyard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Vineyard is located in Utah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineyard
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,570 people
  • Wicks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Wicks is located in Utah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wicks

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

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

  • Provo, which is the Seat of Utah County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Salt Lake City, which is the State Capital of Utah, lies 33 miles [53.1 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Orem to Salt Lake City, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,834 miles [2,951.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of three days, a buggy would take 72 days and walking would take 105 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,022 miles [11,300.8 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 7,790 miles [12,536.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,765 miles [9,277.9 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Orem 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' (or 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- Orem) 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 Orem 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 Orem. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2972, Longitude: -111.6950    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 331.725 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 331.211 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.687 degrees.