RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> San Juan County >> Lopez >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Lopez:
    • 48.524855, -122.913527
    • 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 Lopez
  • 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 San Juan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Juan County
    • Since Lopez is near Skagit County and also Island County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Skagit County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Island 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 Lopez

Communities Also Named Lopez ...

We found three communities that are also named Lopez.

Within Washington, the name Lopez is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Missouri
      • Saint Francois County
      • This Lopez is located in Saint Francois County and lies 1,774 miles [2,855 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Lopez that is located in San Juan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Francois County community of Lopez.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Sullivan County
      • This Lopez is located in Sullivan County and lies 2,289 miles [3,683.8 km]<1> to the east of the Lopez that is located in San Juan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Lopez.
    • Texas
      • Cameron County
      • This Lopez is located in Cameron County and lies 2,054 miles [3,305.6 km]<1> to the southeast of the Lopez that is located in San Juan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cameron County community of Lopez.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lopez ...

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 Lopez 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 Lopez to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Friday Harbor, which is the Seat of San Juan County, lies just to the West.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 102 miles [164.2 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Lopez to Olympia, 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 2,345 miles [3,773.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 92 days and walking would take 134 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,722 miles [10,818 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 7,482 miles [12,041.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,620 miles [9,044.5 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lopez) 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 Lopez 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 Lopez. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.5249, Longitude: -122.9135    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 341.396 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 343.08 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.072 degrees.