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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lavender, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lavender 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 Lavender:
    • 47.204561, -121.112309
    • 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 Lavender
  • 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 Kittitas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kittitas County
    • Since Lavender is near King County and also Yakima County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for King County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Yakima 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 Lavender

Communities Also Named Lavender ...

We found six communities that are also named Lavender.

Within Washington, the name Lavender is unique.

Beyond Washington, we know of six communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, five are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Dolores 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 Colorado community of Lavender [Dolores County].
    • Georgia
      • Floyd County
      • This Lavender is located in Floyd County and lies 2,049 miles [3,297.5 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Lavender that is located in Kittitas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Floyd County community of Lavender.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Lavender.
    • Tennessee
      • Morgan County
      • This Lavender is located in Morgan County and lies 1,999 miles [3,217.1 km]<2> to the east of the Lavender that is located in Kittitas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Lavender.
    • Texas
      • Limestone County
      • This Lavender is located in Limestone County and lies 1,682 miles [2,706.9 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Lavender that is located in Kittitas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Limestone County community of Lavender.
    • Virginia
      • Montgomery 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 Virginia community of Lavender [Montgomery County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lavender ...

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.

  • American River
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • American River is located in Yakima County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for American River
  • Cabin Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cabin Creek is located in Kittitas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cabin Creek
  • Cougar Valley
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cougar Valley is located in Yakima County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cougar Valley
  • Horlick
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Horlick is located in Kittitas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horlick
  • Lester ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Lester is located in King County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lester
  • Martin
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Martin is located in Kittitas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin
  • Nelson
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Nelson is located in Kittitas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelson
  • Ronald
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Stampede
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Stampede is located in King County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stampede

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

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

  • Ellensburg, which is the Seat of Kittitas County, lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Lavender to Ellensburg, with an average speed<4> 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.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 84 miles [135.2 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,264 miles [3,643.6 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,780 miles [10,911.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,543 miles [12,139.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,652 miles [9,096 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Lavender 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lavender) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Lavender 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 Lavender. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.2046, Longitude: -121.1123       In this case, the coordinates for Lavender have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.845 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 341.214 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.99 degrees.