RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Grays Harbor County >> Bel-Aire >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bel-Aire, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bel-Aire 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 Bel-Aire:
    • 46.985648, -123.825444
    • 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 Bel-Aire
  • 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 Grays Harbor County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grays Harbor County
    • Since Bel-Aire is near Pacific County and also Mason County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pacific County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mason 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 Bel-Aire

Communities Also Named Bel-Aire ...

We found five communities that are also named Bel-Aire.

Within Washington, the name Bel-Aire is unique.

Beyond Washington, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Marin County
      • This Bel-Aire is located in Marin County and lies 630 miles [1,013.9 km]<1> to the south of the Bel-Aire that is located in Grays Harbor County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marin County community of Bel-Aire.
    • Kansas
      • Sedgwick County
      • This Bel-Aire is located in Sedgwick County and lies 1,487 miles [2,393.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Bel-Aire that is located in Grays Harbor County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sedgwick County community of Bel-Aire.
    • Tennessee
      • Coffee County
      • This Bel-Aire is located in Coffee County and lies 2,087 miles [3,358.7 km]<1> to the east of the Bel-Aire that is located in Grays Harbor County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coffee County community of Bel-Aire.
      • Rutherford 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 Tennessee community of Bel-Aire [Rutherford County].
    • Virginia
      • Norfolk City
      • This Bel-Aire is located in Norfolk City and lies 2,499 miles [4,021.8 km]<1> to the east of the Bel-Aire that is located in Grays Harbor County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Norfolk City community of Bel-Aire.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bel-Aire ...

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.

  • Burrows
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Burrows is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burrows
  • Gray Gables
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Gray Gables is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Gables
  • Grays Harbor City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Grays Harbor City is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Harbor City
  • Junction City
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Junction City is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction City
  • Melbourne
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Melbourne is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melbourne
  • Pilgrim Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Pilgrim Heights is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilgrim Heights
  • Tulips
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Tulips is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tulips
  • Woodlawn
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Woodlawn is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn

How Far From Bel-Aire 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 Bel-Aire to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Bel-Aire and extending to:

  • Montesano, which is the Seat of Grays Harbor County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Bel-Aire to Montesano, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 43 miles [69.2 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,392 miles [3,849.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 94 days and walking would take 136 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,836 miles [11,001.5 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 7,596 miles [12,224.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,733 miles [9,226.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- Bel-Aire) 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 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 Bel-Aire 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 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 Bel-Aire 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 Bel-Aire. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.9856, Longitude: -123.8254       In this case, the coordinates for Bel-Aire have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 342.086 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 343.807 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.786 degrees.