Know Your Fork: Icelandic Memorial
Have I ever told you that I love small towns? It's kind of strange, because I grew up in one and therefore spent much of the first 18 years of my life wishing for a more cosmopolitan lifestyle. Something with more shopping and less mangy dogs sleeping in the shade of decrepit farming implements. More culture, less cows.
Anyway - fast forward a decade and I just can't get enough of rural living - from the safe distance of my town home. The CAL Ranch store, horses across the street and did you know we have our own rodeo ground? The other day I saw a guy at Autozone with spurs on his boots! Wait... now I sound like I'm obsessed with cowboys, not small towns. I digress. The point I am trying to make is that small towns have their own little flavour that you just don't find a city or the suburbs. And our new(ish) home of Spanish Fork is no exception. This is what I hope to illustrate in my new blog series, Know Your Fork:
In our quest towards becoming Spanish Fork locals we visited the illustrious Icelandic Memorial. Now, as I'm sure you were all keenly aware of, Spanish Fork proudly boasts the first permanent Icelandic settlement in the United States, commemorated by this memorial.
Because it's not a very big memorial, it didn't take us very long to bask in its Scandinavian glory, so here are some of the highlights:
-First there was the commemorative monument which is actually pretty cool, especially when you take the random house in the background out of the equation. I got all nerdily excited about how much Icelandic I could understand, and it was nice to feel the Scandinavian connection. When you're from where I'm from, you've got to take what you can get.
-Then they had a big chunk of volcanic rock from Iceland which, seeing as Iceland itself is made up entirely of volcanic rock, was like a little piece of Iceland. A little piece of Iceland that had blasted out of the earth's mantle, become part of a country, then been picked up and transported 3777 miles to sit at the intersection of 400 South and 800 East in Spanish Fork, UT.
-And finally, there was the big, stone "lighthouse" memorial. I tried very hard to get a photo of it with the Icelandic flag in the background, but the wind wouldn't cooperate. You can get a better idea of what it looks like in the first picture, I just liked this one:
It also seems there is an Icelandic Festival in Spanish Fork every June, to which we will have to go. Especially seeing as we just missed Thorrablót 2009...
This has been "Know Your Fork".
Anyway - fast forward a decade and I just can't get enough of rural living - from the safe distance of my town home. The CAL Ranch store, horses across the street and did you know we have our own rodeo ground? The other day I saw a guy at Autozone with spurs on his boots! Wait... now I sound like I'm obsessed with cowboys, not small towns. I digress. The point I am trying to make is that small towns have their own little flavour that you just don't find a city or the suburbs. And our new(ish) home of Spanish Fork is no exception. This is what I hope to illustrate in my new blog series, Know Your Fork:
In our quest towards becoming Spanish Fork locals we visited the illustrious Icelandic Memorial. Now, as I'm sure you were all keenly aware of, Spanish Fork proudly boasts the first permanent Icelandic settlement in the United States, commemorated by this memorial.
Because it's not a very big memorial, it didn't take us very long to bask in its Scandinavian glory, so here are some of the highlights:
-First there was the commemorative monument which is actually pretty cool, especially when you take the random house in the background out of the equation. I got all nerdily excited about how much Icelandic I could understand, and it was nice to feel the Scandinavian connection. When you're from where I'm from, you've got to take what you can get.
-Then they had a big chunk of volcanic rock from Iceland which, seeing as Iceland itself is made up entirely of volcanic rock, was like a little piece of Iceland. A little piece of Iceland that had blasted out of the earth's mantle, become part of a country, then been picked up and transported 3777 miles to sit at the intersection of 400 South and 800 East in Spanish Fork, UT.
-And finally, there was the big, stone "lighthouse" memorial. I tried very hard to get a photo of it with the Icelandic flag in the background, but the wind wouldn't cooperate. You can get a better idea of what it looks like in the first picture, I just liked this one:
It also seems there is an Icelandic Festival in Spanish Fork every June, to which we will have to go. Especially seeing as we just missed Thorrablót 2009...
This has been "Know Your Fork".
hehe I like your new project!
ReplyDeleteWhat a satisfying post. I believe this to be one of the best ways to utilize blogging, this 'know your fork' idea is great. Three cheers for Tamsin.
ReplyDeleteSå ut som et fint sted:)
ReplyDeleteHåper du får ei flott helg:)
Thanks for the kind comments, friends :) I was worried that no one would be even remotely interested in the wonders of Spanish Fork, but it seems I was mistaken!
ReplyDeleteWHAT!? there's a MEMORIAL??? Hot dang! The iclandic thing is provable! Not that I ever doubted. Good things come from Iceland. See: Sigur Ros. But. You know. Others probably might doubt. From iceland to cowboy boots and jeans at church? That's a seemingly far leap, wouldn't you agree?
ReplyDeleteOh, and also: hurray for projects! And hip hip hooray for project project!
Time for a McCrery family outing perhaps?
ReplyDeleteWell I have to say that I am jealous that I was not invited on this great adventure you took a couple blocks from our house. I though we were friends :). I have driven past this monument quite a few times thinking to myself, we should see what that is all about sometime. So next time you go out on a little Fork adventure, don't hesitate to invite the Meeks, we could use a little cultural uplifting.
ReplyDeleteNext time, Jennifer. Perhaps we should take the McCreerys on an Icelandic picnic to the memorial one of these fine spring days?
ReplyDelete