RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Skagit County >> West Shore >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Shore, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Shore 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 West Shore:
    • 48.422326, -122.554334
    • 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 West Shore
  • 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 Skagit County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Skagit County
    • Since West Shore is near Island County and also San Juan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Island County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Juan 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 West Shore

Communities Also Named West Shore ...

We found five communities that are also named West Shore.

Within Washington, the name West Shore is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • New Haven County
      • This West Shore is located in New Haven County and lies 2,433 miles [3,915.5 km]<1> to the east of the West Shore that is located in Skagit County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Haven County community of West Shore.
    • Delaware
      • Kent County
      • This West Shore is located in Kent County and lies 2,380 miles [3,830.2 km]<1> to the east of the West Shore that is located in Skagit County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kent County community of West Shore.
    • Kansas
      • Jefferson County
      • This West Shore is located in Jefferson County and lies 1,481 miles [2,383.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the West Shore that is located in Skagit County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of West Shore.
    • Maryland
      • Harford County
      • This West Shore is located in Harford County and lies 2,344 miles [3,772.3 km]<1> to the east of the West Shore that is located in Skagit County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harford County community of West Shore.
    • Montana
      • Lake County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Montana community of West Shore [Lake County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Shore ...

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.

  • Allen
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Allen is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allen
  • Bow
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Chuckanut Junction
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Chuckanut Junction is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chuckanut Junction
  • Dewey
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Dewey is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dewey
  • Edison
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Edison is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
  • Edison Station
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Edison Station is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison Station
  • Fish Town
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Fish Town is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fish Town
  • Howards Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Howards Corner is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howards Corner
  • Indian Village
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Indian Village is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
  • Leary
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Leary is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leary
  • Maple Grove Beach
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Maple Grove Beach is located in Island County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove Beach
  • Marketown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Marketown is located in Island County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marketown
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Sharpes Corner
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Sharpes Corner is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharpes Corner
    • Shelter Bay
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Shelter Bay is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelter Bay
    • Sunset
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Sunset is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset
    • Swantown
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Swantown is located in Island County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swantown

How Far From West Shore to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as West Shore to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Mount Vernon, which is the Seat of Skagit County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from West Shore to Mount Vernon, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 96 miles [154.5 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,329 miles [3,748.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 91 days and walking would take 133 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,723 miles [10,819.6 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 7,484 miles [12,044.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,617 miles [9,039.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

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- West Shore) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek 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 West Shore 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.
<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 West Shore 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 West Shore. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.4223, Longitude: -122.5543       In this case, the coordinates for West Shore have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 341.094 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.725 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.842 degrees.