If you had to take pictures of something, or some things, that defined your state as unique, what pictures would you take?
Parameters:
1. Has to be within 20 miles or so of the town or city you live in.
2. Has to be something you could take a picture of today or within the next 5 days. For example, I live in Kansas, so if I could take a picture of a huge field of sunflowers I would. However, sunflowers don’t begin growing until the late summer, so that’s out for me.
3. That’s all I can think of. Is there anything near you that really defines your state?
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100 Answers
The oil tanks on the NJ Turnpike.
And…our beautiful ocean.
I live near San Francisco. I have a ton of pictures taken just in the course of living here, without even trying to define the place, that would be easily identified by many people.
Just last week a picture of me was taken while I was running in a race, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
I’d just like to state that I don’t live in a state, although next door’s garden is in a state since last night’s storms.
I live in a very small town, we’re literally surrounded by woodland & that’s what i’d take a photo of.
OK, now that’s cheating! Golden Gate Bridge INDEED!!! Thanks for the answers. I feel so backwoods, tiny, Midwestern town now!
Where are you from @ucme? I guess I should know this by now, but I don’t.
You mean country, or region? I thought pretty much everyone knew I was english.
Moss, algae, lichen and fungi. It is everywhere in western Washington.
On the 20th I saw hundreds of people smoke weed in public for the first time in the middle of Denver.
I’d say that was unique.
Things to in Denver When You’re De High
I have a very thick north east accent, but still…
Beautiful old caves with Indian drawings are everywhere here in Missouri.
I have lived in a number of states and have no problem coming up with many things.
Colorado: Rocky Mountains, plains, elevation signs on the road coming into towns.
Connecticut: Yale University, Mystic Seaport, Colt factory in Hartford.
Kansas: plains, farms, maybe if in a city, statue of a city founder, distinctive building.
More places, more things, it doesn’t take much effort to come up with a feature or two.
The Mississippi River. I have 2 towns that fit within the guidelines – one with twin bridges, one with a 4 lane bridge. There are also 2 lock-and-dam installations within 20 miles.
Mark Twain’s home is near, but that’ a little trite.
Locally, there’s is a huge unused stone bridge where the water fans out to be yards wide and an inch or so deep that is just gorgeous.
@KNOWITALL and @canidmajor, Within 20 miles of your house? I mean, we have the worlds BIGGEST BALL OF TWINE!! AND THE WORLD’S DEEPEST WELL!! But they’re all 60+ miles away.
I’m in Missouri, too, and @KNOWITALL needs to get some snaps of the beautiful Ozarks!
I have Indian mounds and a cave within 20 miles.
Water. Maine is chock full of rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and coastline. I live inland so it would be the Kennebec river. That, and pine trees.
I just looked at your pictures, @Dutchess_III. Is this a Flat Stanley project? My kids had to do those. I guess the standards must be different from school to school, as Stanley with a cow wouldn’t have been appropriate without context for my kids’ projects. Stanley visiting a dairy farm, perhaps.
For my city it would be the Chicago skyline.
For the state of Illinois it would be corn and soybean fields (80% of the land area).
@canidmajor Yeah, it was a flat Stanley project. There were no directions, really, no hard and fast criteria for what kinds of pictures to take. It was really open ended and vague. The directions simply said the class wanted to ”...learn about the area in which you live.” Well That’s the area in which I live. Lots of farms, lots of cows. I got a picture of FS with an Indian bust on a wall at a cafe. Oklahoma is more well known for Indians than we are, but I thought it was apropos to Kansas.
I sent about a thousand more pictures too. My favorite was of a baby deer that the farmer was nursing back to health. Got a picture of him standing up, looking at the camera, with FS in the foreground. Mom choose what pictures she wanted to use.
@jaytkay….Them fields get SO interesting in the Midwest, don’t they! LOOK! SOMETHING’S GROWING IN THAT THERE FIELD! IT’S GREEN!!!
I lived in the little community of Coloma CA. ( 10 miles from me now ) where gold was discovered by James Marshall in 1848, spurring the California Goldrush. I now live in Placerville CA. aka Old Hangtown. I live in one of the most historical areas in the state.
www.coloma.com
www.cityofplacerville.org
@Dutchess_III Haha…actually I live about 15 miles from the town of “Cool” CA. too.
You could take pictures of the town names. :D
We have a town named “Burden” about 30 miles from here. How exciting is THAT!
@Dutchess_III Haha…we have ” Bummerville” and “Rescue” and “Grass Valley.” They do grow a lot of grass in Grass Valley, major marijuana zone. I was just driving on the Grass Valley Highway the other day.
Oh, Funny! Every place is SO much more interesting than here. All we have are cows and wheat fields and storms. AWESOME storms!
@ibstubro Fantastic Caverns is public (boo) but the prohibition history is neat. Meramac is close, too.
Now THAT’s excitin’ @Symbeline!
We actually have a lot of industry in Kansas, a bunch right around here. Rubbermaid, for one. Binney and Smith (Crayola) used to be here, but left in ‘96 or so. We still have GE. Calmar. Galaxy Tools. Lots more. Kansas is kind of a hub.
Rick sold a multi million dollar air compressor project to Calmar. Took him 4 years. Corporate wasn’t much interested for the first couple of years because they couldn’t believe there could be that kind of money in a little old hick town, just up the street from where we live. It FINALLY started coming together toward the end of last year. Rick’s take home commission would have been $15,000!!! But….he accepted a job with a new company just about 2 months before it would have hit. :( :( :( :(
His old boss was kind enough to call him in when it was almost complete. We did a walk through. It was just amazing. He’s the star of Kaeser, now, even though he’s no longer with them. I mean, big wigs were coming in from Germany to oversee this project! We just drive by and gaze at it every so often.
It’s the most exciting thing in this town, anyway.
You need to come out and hang out with me and the beef cattle @Symbeline. It gets pretty exciting. Sort of. Well, not really.
Hey I’d hang out there with you. We don’t even have cattle over here.
Québec. The land of beer and hockey.
Ah! Don’t you have mountains there?
We sure do.
My town is on the bottom of the mountains though, that pic is from another town. (I cheated)
Sticking to your rules, here is the cathedral in my town.
OMG! That’s beautiful!! And that cathedral is really awesome! I accept your entry!
@gailcalled Awww…I want that little spotted black lamb!
@Dutchess_III I’m planning to visit Kansas this year and cows are my favourite animal so guess I’m in luck!
I live in Wiltshire, England.
Looking back over the thread, @canidmajor….Kansas isn’t known for dairy farming. The ones we have are hours away, in Western Kansas.
Kansas IS known, however, for beef cattle, which is what those were. Not that I’d go into any detail for 2nd graders about what beef cattle are! I just said that cows are very curious animals and they were curious about Flat Stanley. One was TOO curious!
Nice @Cruiser! Are all of those close to where you live? Love the waterfall. Oklahoma has some waterfalls.
Well, @Dutchess_III , I saw a cow, I gave an example of what context would be appropriate for a cow. And Kansas may not be specifically “known” for cows, but there are many there. If you have so little that represents your state near you, why did you volunteer to host Flat Stanley?
@Dutchess_III The waterfall is from a state park just south of me called Starved Rock. There are about 20 of them in the park and a lot more up and down the Illinois River. Pretty place.
She asked me to @canidmajor. Kansas is a lot like Texas, the state she’s in. They have pretty much the same weather, same crops, same geography, so she had a pretty good idea of what we had to offer.
Why would dairy cows be the only appropriate venue for cows?
Really pretty @Cruiser. I was amazed to learn Oklahoma has places like this and this. On the second pic the pool has been messed with by men, but the one we went to a few years ago was a natural swimming pool. It may have been the same one before they screwed around with it. :(
I’ve never been to Starved Rock, I need to see that.
@jaytkay If you can get there it is really a wonderful place. The white bass should be running soon and you can Eagle watch from the bluffs. Staying at the lodge or camping if you are so inclined are options.
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@Dutchess_III Sorry to have distressed you with just some basic queries. I hadn’t realized you were somehow obligated. My mistake.
You must have misread my post, I never said “only”.
You didn’t distress me. It’s just a cow. And, as far as I know, they only have cows for two reasons, milk and food. So there are only two contexts for a domesticated cow and I only had one available to me. Besides, what she wanted to use was her call. If she didn’t think cows should count, she didn’t have to include them in the project.
@Cruiser..I am SO jealous! I’m moving to Illinois. I had no idea Illinois could offer stuff like that. When I think of Illinois I think of….um….um…nothing? What is it famous for?
Road construction, road construction, road construction, road construction. Welcome to Illinois. We have 2 seasons; winter and construction.
I have to go commute now.
LOL! Winter and road construction!
@Dutchess_III That ain’t nothing compared to Southern Illinois. The Ice age glaciers essentially pave Illinois and most of the Midwest into flat plains. But the glaciers stopped ¾’s of the way down our state and the bottom ¼ is untouched valley and canyon wonderland and left behind places like The Garden of the Gods
And Camel Rock
More Garden of the Gods
If they click on this link, I’m sure most US residents will be able to name the state where the sign is located.
Illinois is synonymous with Abe Lincoln and modern-day dirty politics. Most the the past 10 or so governors are in prison or served time there after being elected Governor.
I made a boo-boo. My heart resides in Missouri, my body in Illinois. If I took a picture out my front window, you would see the Mississippi river basin and the Missouri hills on the far end. I live in the Illinois hills that are the eastern side of the basin.
The cardinals in my yard. (state bird)
The beach! The pier! Beautiful south australia
An honest tourist guide to Maryland from east to west:
-A tacky beach boardwalk where the people of walmart go to vacation
-the city where The Wire was made
-Soul-sucking communter suburbs, some of the worst traffic in the nation
-low-density suburban sprawl
-miscellaneous woods.
The Murrumbidgee river- walking distance from my house
@Harold Where is that located? It sounds like India.
@Harold Oh that makes more sense. I was in New Zealand and many of the place names were going back to Maori names from the English names they had been given.
Wow @Harold Good luck with that! Did you have to evacuate?
I’m really glad I asked this question! I had no idea that Illinois had anything like that! Now we have a new destination for our RV!
@ragingloli That is a beautiful old building.
@trailsillustrated Got any pics?
Have you been to the Ozarks, @Dutchess_III? Even closer to you. There are magical things in Missouri, too (just not within 20 miles of my house.)
Oh, yes. I’ve been to the Ozarks. I love, love, love it there. Been to a cave there….forget which one.
I don’t know exactly why, but there is a ruins of a house (on the highway south of Columbia, Missouri) that haunts me. Just the foundation remains, and in the valley below was a bright green stream or river. I loved watching the fish below the damn, too. What a beautiful area!
Have you been to Nauvoo? I swear, the drive from Keokuk, Iowa to Nauvoo, Illinois is the Pacific Coast Highway of the Midwest. 2 lane road that follows the Mississippi river, but not a difficult drive.
Highway 79 from Hannibal Missouri to around Elsberry Missouri is fantastic in good weather, too, but not necessarily good for the driver. Still, there are a lot of scenic overlooks to stop at, and the Village is just too cool for words.
Amazing early summer/fall drives if you’re not looking for Vegas. :)
^^^ Gimme that stuff over Vegas any day.
There is also the beautiful town of Galena. in Illinois.
I swear, the right time of year, and the drive to Nauvoo is just a little slice of Heaven. Yeah, mankind had done some impressive things, but non of them hold a candle to what nature holds.
Easter a young in-law made the comment to me that the Grand Canyon didn’t impress her, “Just a really big ditch.” I was speechless. I mean, short of pity, what can you say? I mean, standing there at the rim of the Canyon, I was just wiped out of existence for a minute.
Odd, as an agnostic, you know what catches my fancy, @Dutchess_III? Rural churches. I could drive the country and make coffee table books of pictures of rural churches. I also love old schools and court houses, but churches are my passion.
Not odd at all @ibstubro. No odder than being fascinated by 17th century houses that are still standing.
I visited Colorado Springs last year. With the mountains, the entire place is scenic. If you visit, I recommend taking the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway. You can see the original trail that inspired America the Beautiful. Hiking through Colorado’s Garden of the Gods was incredible. Just don’t hike the first couple days. It takes time to acclimate to the altitude. After that, head to Rudy’s for some brisket.
DID YOU LOOK AT THE VIDEOS OF THE TRAIN ON THE PIKE’S PEAK COG RAILWAY?? OMG, NO WAY!!
I’ve spent vacations with my family in the Rockies. Beautiful. As long as you aren’t riding the train on the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway.
It was very safe. If you don’t take the cog railway, you could drive up to Pike’s Peak. It takes a long longer though. The view is worth it.
My husband’s dad tried to make it up Pike’s Peak every year from the time the kids were little. This would be in the 50’s and early 60’s. The road wasn’t like it is today, and I don’t think they ever did make it!
So many places to go and see!
@Juels Did you get to try a doughnut at the Summit House? One of the best you can find.
@Cruiser Screw you, now I want a doughnut. I haven’t has a real doughnut in years.
I’ve never had a Valium in my life, but I think the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway would be the perfect opportunity to end my Valium virginity!
You’ve been eating fake doughnuts for years, @Coloma??
@ibstubro LOL…touche!
I was at a car wash the other day deciding on the wash I wanted, the deluxe wash came with a “fresh water” rinse, the 2nd in line was just a “rinse.” I had everybody laughing in the gas station when I asked the clerk all seriously if the cheaper wash was a stale water rinse.” haha
@Cruiser – That was about 1 year before we moved here from Sydney. We made sure when we bought here that we were out of the flood zone!
@Cruiser Yes, we did. They were delicious. Got a bag of them to share on the ride back.
@ibstubro The pictures make it look scary. It was pretty tame.
I wouldn’t go in the St. Louis Arch. All that man-made construction without anything underneath is frightening. It wasn’t the height so much as expecting the thing to fall apart.
I’ve been in the Arch, and it was pretty much a yawn, for the ordeal of getting there. @Juels Downtown St. Louis isn’t that remarkable. I recommend the Arch itself, but there are much better things to waste time on in St. Louis than the Arch view.
I rode the roller coaster around the top of the Stratosphere in Vegas, and I was cool with it. Then I rode the ‘jump to the top of the needle’ ride there, and it ruined me on heights forever.
I like the part of St. Louis that’s out in the woods and fields and rivers.
The Butterfly House ranks high on my list. I hear that there is a ‘St. Louis City’ museum that I’ve been missing. Grant’s Farm is very cool, and you get 2 free beers at the end. Finally seeing the Bush Brewery is on my list of things to do this year. I’m also planning my first pro-baseball visit.
Somebody want to buy me a cheap farm in Missouri? lol
There’s no such thing. Farm ground is at a premium.
But I imagine it is in Kansas, too.
Um…we bought 5 wooded acres in the middle of farm ground. It didn’t seem to me like we paid too much, but then again, it isn’t “farm ground,” and I don’t know how much is too much.
Okay..forget the term “farm”, just a couple acres for me and some cats and geese. lol
I have the perfect place for you! But…we own it so….
The perfect acreage just sold here, too. Privacy, access and affordability! $10.000. Room for a house and ‘stuff’.
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