Pretty places you've been. Image heavy.

[Jeremus]

Okay....now I want to live in Oregon.

[Angelique]

^South Fork of the Snake River is in Idaho. In fact, most of my facebook album pics were taken in Idaho, with a few exceptions in Montana, Wyoming, and one in Oregon. (Don't worry. I'll get to Multnomah Falls or Crater Lake eventually!)

[Jeremus]

I've been googling info on most of the places people have posted....and I think I'm in love with the Clackamas River. That area is gorgeous! I'm also impressed with the Malad Gorge. I've never really seen many pictures of Idaho and that place is cool!

I'm looking forward to Multnomah Falls and Crater Lake.....!


Oh...and Bonaventure cemetery is interesting. Real beautiful and creepy at the same time. I wonder if they film a lot of movies there.

[OctoberHoliday]

This incredibly beautiful and ancient place is not far from where I live in Ohio:










FYI: The Fort Ancient Culture people were ndns ("Native Americans") of the Mississipian era.




[Edited on 22/6/09 by neling4]

Oh my goodness! I've seen that place in a history book. Serpent Mound, right? I didn't check if you put the name, I was too excited! What's it like there?

[neling4]

Yes, it is Serpent Mound. I posted the photo I took of the historical marker to identify it.

I have been there often and it is eerily beautiful. The best time to see it is when no-one else is there.

Mr. nel and I went once on a cold misty day in November, many years ago. My fantasy took over and I imagined ancient people watching me from the fog shrouded trees, wondering what I was doing in their sacred place.

And sometimes I talk to the snake. Thank goodness he never answers.

The park and museum were closed to the public for the season, but back then, you could park on the side of the road and walk up to it. I don't think you can do that anymore, it is pretty well locked up now.

I am currently writing a children's fantasy story about the snake because I find it so eternally fascinating.

[Ult_Sm86]

two things come to mind when I see that place (again, being my brother went to school in Ohio)

1) That would make for a terrible golf course.

2) Not to take the mysticism away, but if you flip it upside down..... yyyyyyeeaah....

[neling4]

Have you ever heard of Octagon Mound in Newark Ohio? It was built by the Hopewell Indians (100 BC-AD 500) That place was turned into a golf course.

Some ndn groups are protesting the disrespect of playing golf in a religious center.




As to flipping the serpent upside down...I don't get it. It still looks like a snake with one big eye.

[Edited on 15/7/09 by neling4]

[OctoberHoliday]

Yes, it is Serpent Mound. I posted the photo I took of the historical marker to identify it.

I have been there often and it is eerily beautiful. The best time to see it is when no-one else is there.

Mr. nel and I went once on a cold misty day in November, many years ago. My fantasy took over and I imagined ancient people watching me from the fog shrouded trees, wondering what I was doing in their sacred place.

And sometimes I talk to the snake. Thank goodness he never answers.

The park and museum were closed to the public for the season, but back then, you could park on the side of the road and walk up to it. I don't think you can do that anymore, it is pretty well locked up now.

I am currently writing a children's fantasy story about the snake because I find it so eternally fascinating.

Well, it's absolutely breathtakeing*. When I first saw a picture of it, my first thought was "That's where I'm getting hitched!" Now I know that's probably not legal, and it's very disrespectful (in my eyes).

But it's still simply wonderful.

[Ult_Sm86]

It still looks like a snake with one big eye.

[Jeremus]

I'd love to visit Serpent Mound one day. I did get to go to Pinson Mound in Tennessee once. That was interesting. We have all these pyramid structures in North America, but no one ever really hears about them much. I didn't even know Pinson Mound existed until we passed a sign for it on our way home from North Carolina.

http://www.sitemason.com/files/kqPtD2/sauls0002.jpg

http://www.safetgallery.com/BurmeisterM ... 61_600.jpg

That's sad about the golf course....



(It looks like a snake that's trying to swallow an egg to me....)

[Edited on 01/19/09 by Jeremus]

[neling4]

Nice pictures Jeremus. Are they the same mound? I can't tell by the photos. They look like Adena culture mounds, C. 800 B.C to 1 A.D. Adena mounds were conical burial mounds, so they were actually graves, unless they are foundations for ceremonial buildings, which would make them Mississippian. The foundations would have flat tops. Do you know which they are?

The Hopewell built the ceremonial centers, like Octagon Mound, and the Fort Ancient/Mississippians built the effigy mounds and foundations, like in Cahokia.

Actually, the golf course may have saved Octagon Mound. If it weren't for the golf course, it would probably have been razed and covered with houses. It would be nice, however, if they turned it over to the Ohio Historical Society for preservation, and stopped playing golf on it.

Sorry for going on, but mounds are one of my major interests.

A snake swallowing an egg was one theory, but it is pretty well accepted now that it is a snake with the eye markings that indicate immortality.




[Edited on 17/7/09 by neling4]

[Jeremus]

What I can find out about it is that they think it's "Middle Woodland" era around 1-500 AD. They have a lot of mounds in the complex and the one I posted was the tallest. They did find graves of 8 women with headresses in one of the mounds. And I think the mounds are aligned with the solstices when viewed from the top of the tallest one.

The pictures are of the same mound, front and back view.

I need to check out some books about these mounds in North America. All this talk is peaking my interest.

(So I guess the golf course was sort of a 'mixed blessing'.)

We actually have small mounds around here but they're almost impossible to find unless they're digging a road or clearing land for something. We don't have any major complexes.....(unless some rancher has one on his property and isn't talking.)

[tears~fall~like~glass]

I'm visiting family in Pennsylvania, mainly for a family reunion which was at the park yesterday. It has a creek running through it.

And, there's another town that my great aunt lives in about half an hour away that have railroad stuff coming into it. I meant to take the pic later, but I snapped it too soon. It was hard to judge since I was in the car, but I like how it came out. There's also a fake lake on the way there.

More may be coming soon if I make it up to Pittsburgh.

[Edited on 8/4/2009 by tears~fall~like~glass]