This week, the Sunday Stills’ challenge theme is “Iconic Places and Spaces.” The definition of ICONIC is “widely considered to epitomize an era, culture, community, or place.” An icon is something or someone who is widely influential, recognizable, and/or revered. Source
I tend to believe “ICONIC” is in the eye of the beholder.
As many of us in the Northern Hemisphere long for spring, we may already be making plans for upcoming vacations and travel. We booked an RV campground for mid-October to attend a family wedding in Northwestern Washington. Oddly, after three years of living in Washington, we’ve only traveled within the state’s Eastern, Central, and Southern portions.
We hadn’t had the urge to visit the Seattle/Tacoma area known to Eastern Washingtonians as the “West Side.” Mostly we didn’t visit because the pandemic caused restrictions in 2021 to some degree and other events and travel didn’t take us in that direction. We hope summer 2024 changes that! After all, we have some family and friends in the area as an added incentive!
“There’s nothing greener than Washington state. They have the most beautiful vegetation on the planet. And the water is so clean.” ~ Fabio Lanzoni
But, believe me when I tell you that Eastern Washington has many sights to see.
Local Eastern Washington Iconic Places
We live within a few miles of Riverside State Park, which boasts amazing geologic formations, two dams, and the beginning of the 40-mile-long Centennial Trail.
“There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness.” ~ E.A. Poe
The town of Nine Mile Falls takes its name from the actual falls. After a snowy winter, water was let out of the dam on the Spokane River in December, and I never get tired of seeing the falls in their spring glory.
The falls tickle ALL of my senses. As I drive by, I roll the windows down in my car, hear the incredible ROAR of the falls, and see the dense mist rising as I use my windshield wipers to better see. Walking along the trail downstream, I stoop to feel the ice-cold water. A quick taste–the water is sweet. You can see for yourself its stunning beauty!
The Nine Mile Dam was built on the site of the falls in 1908, creating Nine Mile Reservoir.
Of note is also the Spokane House Interpretive Center. Spokane House was a fur-trading post founded in 1810 by the British-Canadian North West Company, located on a peninsula where the Spokane River and Little Spokane River meet here in Nine Mile Falls. The murals were repainted in 2022 and the dedication ceremony was held in the summer of 2023, complete with a drum ceremony from members of the Spokane Tribe of Indians.
These attractions are close enough that visitors can walk from the Spokane House to the waterfall.
Arizona Icons
“There’s something wonderfully healing in Arizona air.”
~ Zane Grey, The Call of the Canyon, 1924
A desert icon, the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea), is one of the defining plants of the Sonoran Desert, seen here along Hwy 87 in Tonto National Forest.
Along the Mogollon Rim
“Then the wind blew cool through the pinyons on the rim. There was a sweet tang of cedar and sage on the air and that indefinable fragrance peculiar to the canyon country of Arizona.” ~ Zane Grey
The Mogollon Rim is a 2,000-foot-high escarpment rising 5000 feet above sea level that defines the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau. The Rim stretches 200 miles across central Arizona into New Mexico.
Although I had never heard of the Mogollon Rim until we moved Dad to Payson, Arizona, which sits at the base of the Rim, I am transfixed by the iconic views that live there along the Rim Country.
The day after New Year’s was “warm” and sunny so our family caravanned to Sedona for a day trip.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross has been a fixture of the Sedona community since its completion in 1956. I made a point to finally see the iconic Chapel for myself! Inside is an active Catholic church.
Page, Northern Arizona
“What are men to rocks and mountains?” ― Jane Austen
The town of Page, Arizona sits at the border of Arizona and Utah. I’m sure the residents of Page would declare their pride over the various attractions found in the area including the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell. I need to visit here again to see everything Page has to offer.
In 2023, we stopped for an hour to visit Horseshoe Bend State Park. Just wow!
And just recently in January, I toured Antelope Canyon. Not much to look at from above, right?
“Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms, you would never see the beauty of their carvings.” – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Our Navajo Guide was a talented photographer and flutist!
“Where words fail, music speaks.” – Hans Christian Andersen
Iconic National Parks
“Within National Parks is room — glorious room — room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve.”
— Enos Mills
Marsha mentioned in her WQ post that beliefs are inherited, whether taught by our parents or inspired by others. My parents LOVED visiting national parks every summer. Because of that leisure ethic and legacy, I can’t drive within 100 miles of a national park (or state park) without stopping in for a visit. We have several iconic national parks here in the Western USA, and I have been so fortunate to have visited many of them and several state parks.
Gallery of visits to National Parks: Sequoia, Yosemite, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, and the Kilauea Crater in Volcanoes (Big Island, HI).
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.” ~ Baba Dioum
What I’m Inspired By this Week
Each week I find inspiration from my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I enjoy incorporating these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.
Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders
The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. If you choose to link to Sunday Stills, kindly leave a comment on my post.
- Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
- Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
- Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
- Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
- Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
- I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.
This Week’s Featured Bloggers
Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers, poets, artists, and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Below are this week’s links from bloggers who shared their photos of iconic places. I add these all week as new links are posted.
- YOUR BLOG’S NAME GOES HERE…
- Always Write
- Between the Lines
- Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
- The Day After
- The DogLady’s Den
- NEW Eva’s Moodboard
- Graham’s Island
- LadyLee Manila
- Loving Life
- Mama Cormier
- Natalie the Explorer
- Now At Home
- In Primo Piano
- Quaint Revival
- Stevie Turner
- Walkin’ Writin’ Wit & Whimsy
- Woolly Muses
This week, think of the places you visit and consider your favorites. Would you categorize any of them iconic? No doubt every country and culture has its iconic places and spaces that attract your eye or inspire you. Please share and tell us a bit about them. Have a great week.
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