RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Fairfax County >> Brilyn Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Brilyn Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Brilyn Park 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 Brilyn Park:
    • 38.898723, -77.174425
    • 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 Brilyn Park
  • 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 Fairfax County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfax County
    • Since Brilyn Park is near Arlington County and also Falls Church City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Arlington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Falls Church City
  • 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 Brilyn Park

Curious and Interesting Names Near Brilyn Park ...

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.

  • Crescent Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Crescent Hills is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Hills
  • Dominion Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Dominion Hills is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dominion Hills
  • Enola
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Enola is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enola
  • Falls Church
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Falls Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Falls Hill is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls Hill
  • Foxhall
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Foxhall is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxhall
  • Garden City
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Garden City is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
  • Greenway Downs
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Greenway Downs is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenway Downs
  • Halls Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Halls Hill is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Hill
  • Howard
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Howard is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard
  • Kent Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Kent Gardens is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kent Gardens
  • Lacey Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Lacey Forest is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey Forest
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Pine Spring
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Pine Spring is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Spring
    • Poplar Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Poplar Heights is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Heights
    • Ravenwood
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Ravenwood is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenwood
    • Seven Corners
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Sleepy Hollow
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Sleepy Hollow is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sleepy Hollow
    • Virginia Forest
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Virginia Forest is located in Falls Church City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Forest

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 94 miles [151.3 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Brilyn Park to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is just to the east (E).
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,903 miles [9,500 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,609 miles [10,636.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,485 miles [7,217.9 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Brilyn Park) 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 Brilyn Park 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 Brilyn Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8987, Longitude: -77.1744       In this case, the coordinates for Brilyn Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.971 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.531 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.772 degrees.