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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Opportunity, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Opportunity 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 Opportunity:
    • 47.657120, -117.239758
    • 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 Opportunity
  • 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 Spokane County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Spokane County
    • Since Opportunity is near Kootenai County and also Benewah County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kootenai County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Benewah 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 Opportunity

Communities Also Named Opportunity ...

We found two communities that are also named Opportunity.

Within Washington, the name Opportunity is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Montana
      • Deer Lodge County
      • This Opportunity is located in Deer Lodge County and lies 234 miles [376.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Opportunity that is located in Spokane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Deer Lodge County community of Opportunity.
    • Nebraska
      • Holt County
      • This Opportunity is located in Holt County and lies 974 miles [1,567.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Opportunity that is located in Spokane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Holt County community of Opportunity.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Opportunity ...

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

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

  • Spokane, which is the Seat of Spokane County, lies just to the West.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 268 miles [431.3 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Opportunity to Olympia, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 16 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,083 miles [3,352.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 82 days and walking would take 119 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,684 miles [10,756.9 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 7,451 miles [11,991.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,524 miles [8,890 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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- Opportunity) 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 Opportunity 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 Opportunity. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.6571, Longitude: -117.2398    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 336.694 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 337.591 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.442 degrees.