+4 votes
196 views
in Travel by
Unfortunately, I'm not but few of my friends were going.
Yes 0 votes
Probably 0 votes
No 4 votes, 100%

5 Answers

+2 votes
No, by

I won't be going, but for those who do, it will be a memorable experience.

+1 vote
No, by

Unfortunately not, due to a serious lack of time ...

But it must be a great sight, as far as the weather allows it.


+3 votes
No, by

While I'll visit Stonehenge if i ever go to the UK, I don't give a turd about the summer solstice

+2 votes
No, by

Not this year, but I have done so in the past! ...and that is because there is a replica of Stonehenge along the Columbia River in Washington State, just 200 miles (322 km) from where I now live...have you ever heard the expletive "What in the Sam Hill"....? 

Because our Stonehenge was built by Sam Hill, a local railroad magnate, as a memorial to WWI veterans. Prolly the slit of sunrise does not line up properly, though, since it was not known until 1960's (I think) that the Salisbury Plain Stonehenge was an observatory... anyway it is very impressive; here is a photo, Mt. Hood in the background. Also the mansion Sam Hill built on a bluff over the Columbia River, called Maryhill (and a town by that name is still there). Maryhill includes the name of Queen Marie of Romania, with whom he apparently hobnobbed and she even came for a visit once!

However Sam had so many irons in the fire that he never got around to actually moving into Maryhill mansion, finally donated it to the State of Washington for a museum - where it still houses, among other treasures, a fine Rodin collection.

So y'all come on to Washington, and we will visit this wonderful other Stonehenge, and Sam Hill's mansion also!

image

image

by

Interesting and beautiful, Virginia.  I didn't know about Sam Hill or his replica.

And yes, you are right... the replica Stonehenge seems to be aligned on Mount Hood, which would not correspond with the sun's position at any solstice.

by

Wow, Virginia - impressing!

I had to check:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryhill_Stonehenge

by

Marianne, the Columbia River Stonehenge is indeed truly awesome...I just double checked on your link, and apparently it IS full size...a desert night, with a full moon and that gigantic river down below...you feel like you are in the presence of something wonderful...

For many years as a small child, I thought ours was the ORIGINAL Stonehenge, and Salisbury Plain the imitation...  :D

by

Virginia; indeed, your Columbia River Stonehenge is remarkable, and it is still the original treasure of your childhood.

:)<3

by

Marianne,  :D  <3

by

You're very welcome, Virginia. :)<3

+2 votes
by

Dang!

Missed it again. :D

by

Other Tink, you on the Eastern Seaboard...did you ever encounter the expression "What in the Sam Hill?"

It was common around here in my childhood, 1950's, but I rarely hear it now...

by

Virginia, I don't think I ever heard it in ordinary real-life conversation, but I have seen it in old westerns, usually spoken by some old sourdough.  :D

(never heard sourdough in that sense either, except in movies or on TV)  :D


by

YAY TINK!

...yes that is him, our own Columbia River-Stonehenge-Maryhill-railroad magnate-Sam Hill !!!

by

Virginia, according to this article, the expression might be much older than your Sam Hill, dating back to the 1830s or earlier.  That would explain its being used in the Old West.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Hill_(euphemism)

And no, I don't know what in the Sam Hill that girl in the clip was doing, and I hesitate to speculate on a family website.  :O :blush: :) :D

by

O'mg, O'Tink, both H.L. Mencken (Samiel) AND the town of Prescott, AZ claim alternate origins for this amazing expletive! 

by

Virginia, I'm inclined to think that the railroad magnate Sam Hill could not have been the original source of the expression, since it had been referenced in print by 1839.

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12/what-the-sam-hill.html

Edit: it just occurred to me that "what in Sam Hill" might be a euphemism for "what in Satan's Hell". :D

by

O'Tink that is utterly delightful...cleaning up their speech for the ladies! 'The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins says the exclamation “was very popular with frontiersmen, especially when they needed to clean up their language in the presence of ladies.” '

...and yes, your interpretation of Satan-Hell seems very likely...

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