RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Klickitat County >> Blockhouse >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blockhouse, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blockhouse 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 Blockhouse:
    • 45.839149, -120.939006
    • 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 Blockhouse
  • 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 Klickitat County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Klickitat County
    • Since Blockhouse is near Sherman County and also Wasco County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sherman County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wasco 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 Blockhouse

Communities Also Named Blockhouse ...

We found two communities that are also named Blockhouse.

Within Washington, the name Blockhouse is unique.

Beyond Washington, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Blockhouse lies 2,695 miles [4,337.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Blockhouse that is located in Klickitat County.
    • Tennessee
      • Blount County
      • This Blockhouse is located in Blount County and lies 2,036 miles [3,276.6 km]<1> to the east of the Blockhouse that is located in Klickitat County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blount County community of Blockhouse.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blockhouse ...

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.

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

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

  • Goldendale, which is the Seat of Klickitat County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 124 miles [199.6 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Blockhouse to Olympia, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,260 miles [3,637.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 89 days and walking would take 129 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,866 miles [11,049.8 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 7,630 miles [12,279.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,727 miles [9,216.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Blockhouse) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Blockhouse 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 Blockhouse. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.8391, Longitude: -120.9390       In this case, the coordinates for Blockhouse have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.628 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.887 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.977 degrees.