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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Velvet, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Velvet 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 Velvet:
- 48.986023, -117.826931
- 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 Velvet
- 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 Stevens County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Stevens County
- Since Velvet is near Ferry County and also Pend Oreille County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Ferry County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Pend Oreille 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 Velvet
Curious and Interesting Names Near Velvet ...
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.
- Casino
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Casino
- Frontier
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Frontier is located in Stevens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frontier
- Little Dalles ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Little Dalles is located in Stevens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Dalles
- Marble
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Marble is located in Stevens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marble
- Oasis
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oasis
- Rivervale
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Silica
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silica
- Trail
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
How Far From Velvet 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 Velvet to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Velvet and extending to:
- Colville, which is the Seat of Stevens County, lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Velvet to Colville, with an average speed<3> 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 270 miles [434.5 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,114 miles [3,402.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 83 days and walking would take 121 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,610 miles [10,637.8 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 7,376 miles [11,870.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,465 miles [8,795.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Velvet) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Velvet 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 Velvet. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.9860, Longitude: -117.8269 In this case, the coordinates for Velvet have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 337.229 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 338.298 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.681 degrees. |
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