Question

Stonehenge-and hot air ballooning.

Answer 1

I went for a ride in a virgin

Balloon, at my hubby's strong urgin'.

And soon I was shrieky,

And feeling all freaky;

I took to the air, wings a-surgin'.

Comments

......

Answer 2

Hi SFA,

Well Washington State (where I live), not to be outdone by that beautiful old thing on Salisbury Plain, we have our own Stonehenge on a hill overlooking the Columbia River! And I have a photo for you, river and all...

Built by one of the old-time railroad magnates, Sam Hill (1857-1931), as a memorial for the veterans of World War I. Supposed to be an exact copy, however I don't know if he was careful to get the orientation done properly, they did not realize then that Stonehenge was an observatory. 

Do you know the saying in UK, "What in the Sam Hill?" Maybe that never got exported beyond America's West Coast, but it is a mild expletive in case you are too polite to REALLY curse. 

And then, Queen Marie of Romania came to visit Sam Hill! 

He used some of his money to build a beautiful mansion overlooking the Columbia, not far from Stonehenge, and then he changed his mind and did not live there after all -- donated it as a museum. So this mansion/museum has beautiful silver filigree that belonged to Queen Marie, and lots of mementoes. 

The basement of that mansion is the first place I ever saw Rodin sculptures, and promptly fell in love with Rodin. (There were lots of them at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, too -- I used to visit frequently when I lived in SF 1967-69.)

Okay, here is your photo of Washington State's own Stonehenge...complete with our great river...

Comments

I have been to our Stonehenge-having a history degree and all that.I was underwhelmed.

Preferred other ancient monuments in the area.

Fascinating story-and I wonder if Stonehenge looked anything like that when it was new.

The stones are believed to come from Wales.

---

The stones from Wales! To move them that far...we underestimate the technology of ancient days. And, if you find Stonehenge underwhelming, it would be fun to see the other monuments you have visited.

---

---

Aw Tink it's wonderful song...did you know, the US gov paid Woody Guthrie a WHOLE $200 to write some songs as PR for Grand Coulee Dam, and in one month he wrote thirty songs! Including this one I'm sure and the most famous one, Roll On Columbia Roll On. Those great dams all have visitor centers, you can even see the giant turbines!

Apparently, even back then there was some resistance to damming the Columbia...and the dams certainly caused problems. But the agricultural richness, the irrigated orchards in that dry country east of the Cascade Mountains, just stunning.

Have you traveled up the Hudson River? Surely you must have...I flew into NYC a few times and then drove up to Rhinebeck for seminars. Always got sidetracked by that marvelous drive up the Hudson and all the history, not to mention poking around the Catskills...every place on Earth seems to have its own beauty.

---

Yes, Virginia, I've often been up the Hudson, and I want to go to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome and ride in a WW1 plane!

Um... but I'll be sure to check the landing gear first.

---

Oh the days gone by, of simpler plane crashes; pilot crawls out, then you just turn it over, then you can load it up and haul it away with your pick-up truck!

---

I think i expected it to be bigger.It is quite small really and the guides just spouted from the script.

I found Silbury Hill quite fascinating-although i didn’t go up it( not sure you even can now),West Kennet Long Barrow was amazing-to think they had the ability to create burial chambers like this at that time was quite mind blowing.I arrived at Avebury as dusk was falling.I found it strangely atmospheric.More so than Stonehenge.

And it has always fascinated me that they moved the stones all the way from West Wales to Salisbury Plain.Which they must have done because that type of stone is found nowhere else in the country.

---

@ Virginia: yes, it was quite amusing to see the pilot crawl out and pound the earth with his fist, as if to say, "Damn! Wrecked another one!"  

---

@ Sir Furry: yes, judging from Google Maps, Stonehenge is about 100 feet in diameter, so it would fit on a 1/4 acre plot of land.

---

Oh Tink i am glad you mentioned that...I did not see the pilot pound his fist, that is just perfect, oh so irritating!

---

Well SFA, that other stone stuff you have visited sounds enticing...I recall, I think...?...that the stone circles were found even on the continent, wasn't it Normandy or something? Interesting that you sensed the subtle mystique persisting even until today...I recall in the American Southwest, a sense of peace and mystery in some of the underground kivas, a great sense of the devotional...the universal aspirations of humankind to know something of the numinous, outside of time and space...