Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dranesville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dranesville and the surrounding area.

• Weather ...
  • Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
  • The National Weather Service forecast for Dranesville

• 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 Dranesville:
  • 39.000665, -77.345818
  • 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 Dranesville

• 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 Dranesville is near Loudoun County and also Montgomery County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Loudoun County
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery 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 Dranesville

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dranesville ...

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.

• Cooktown
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Cooktown is located in Fairfax County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooktown
• Countryside
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Countryside is located in Loudoun County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countryside
• Deanwood
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Deanwood is located in Fairfax County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deanwood
• Great Falls
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Great Falls is located in Fairfax County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Falls
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Great Falls <1>
• Hickory Creek
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Hickory Creek is located in Fairfax County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Creek
• Hickory Run
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Hickory Run is located in Fairfax County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Run
• Oak Grove
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Oak Grove is located in Loudoun County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
• Pinecrest
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Pinecrest is located in Fairfax County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinecrest
• Rushville
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Rushville is located in Montgomery County (MD)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rushville
• Springvale
  (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Springvale is located in Fairfax County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springvale
• Sugarland Run
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Sugarland Run is located in Loudoun County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugarland Run
• Sunset Hills
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Sunset Hills is located in Fairfax County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Hills

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

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

• Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 100 miles [160.9 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Dranesville 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 three full days.
• The White House (Washington, DC) is 18 miles [29 km] to the east southeast (ESE). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take just over a day.
• The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,906 miles [9,504.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
• The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,612 miles [10,641 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
• The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,489 miles [7,224.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'