My Favorite Postcards

Legion Lake - One of the delights of the Legion Lake area is paddling past the large granite boulders that form part of the dam for the lake, which was constructed in 1933.  The lake and adjoining cabins were named by the members of the American Legion who first managed the recreation area.  One of many attractive sights in Custer State Park, the lake offers good fishing, swimming and the nearby Badger Hole, home of the late South Dakota Poet Laureate Badger Clark.

This postcard is postmarked in 1974.

Bryce Canyon
National Park

Thor's Hammer, one of Bryce Canyon's popular hoodoos, is visible from Sunset Point.

Photographer: Chet Waggener

This postcard is postmarked in 2000.

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Bryce Canyon National Park is a National Park located in southwestern Utah. Despite its name, it is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters.

Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos.  A hoodoo is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland.

Tonto National Monument
Arizona

This is a 'Lantern Press' postcard Image number 43855 of an original poster.  It is postmarked in 2017.

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The Tonto National Monument is located in the Superstition Mountains in Central Arizona.

There are well-preserved cliff dwellings that were occupied by the Salado culture during the 13th, 14th, and early 15th centuries.

On the Seat of Pluto,
Park of the Red Rocks,
Mt. Morrison, Colorado

The sender writes:
We seen this rock the day we were in the park at Morrison.
Lovingly Alice

This postcard is postmarked in 1909.

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Red Rocks Park is owned and maintained by the city of Denver as part of the Denver Mountain Parks system. The park is known for its very large red sandstone rock formations.

Red Rocks Park was the site of the Start and Finish line of The Amazing Race 9 which aired in the spring of 2006.

Wickaninnish Beach, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Experience the beauty and grandeur of this magnificient beach in the Pacific Rim National Park.

The sender writes:
There are many beaches like this in British Columbia and Victoria.  We have a lot of trees and forests here as well.  We don't have a lot of fairs or community functions but we have a few.  There is the Luxton Rodeo, which has horse shows and rides with food that happens at the end of May!  We also have a lot of races (running) and walk-a-thons that raise money for different kinds of cancers and diseases like MS.  Camping is also a big thing here in Canada.  Taking a tent and traveling outside the city you live in.

This is postmarked in 2009.

Blue Ridge Parkway
North Carolina

Fall view of Mount Jefferson from the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

Photo by Gregg Balkcum

This postcard is postmarked in 2016.

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The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States that is known for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles (755 km) and was built to connect Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Around the Peak District

Hen Cloud
National Park
Edensor
Baslow
Monsal Dale
Alport

This is postmarked in 2009 with an 'Edward VI' Great Britain stamp.

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The Peak District is an upland area in England, most of which lies in northern Derbyshire but also includes parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire and Yorkshire.

The Peak District National Park became the first national park in the United Kingdom in 1951.

International Postcard Week
October 5 - 11, 2014

Mountainberry Hideaway
by R.L. Mullins

The sender writes:
A love drawing from my husband, after our first camping trip together at Indian Creek Campground on the Cherokee Reservation at the southernmost edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Click this link if you would like to sign up for the International Postcard Week swap. 

General Sherman, 5000 years old,
235 Feet High, 62 Feet in Circumference

This is from a set of 10 postcards, the envelope reads:
A Selection of 10 Hand-Colored
Santa Cruz "Big Tree" Views
Big Trees, Santa Cruz, California

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In 1879, the General Sherman was named after the American Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman, by naturalist James Wolverton, who had served as a lieutenant in the 9th Indiana Cavalry under Sherman.
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William Tecumseh Sherman  (1820-1891)
Union Major General
Blunt, grizzled strategist distinguished himself at Shiloh and Vicksburg.  Captured Atlanta. Introduced total warfare in his March across GA and through the Carolinas.  Negotiated lenient peace. 

Yellowstone National Park

Canary Springs is part of the main terrace in Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park.  It is named for its yellow algae and its deep blue pool.

Photo by Fred Plughoft

This postcard is postmarked in 2014 with a winter cardinal stamp.

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Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park. It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flow into Mammoth each day in a solution).

Providence Canyon is near Columbus, Georgia.  For a canyon that is approximately 100 years old, the progressive pace of erosion is remarkable. Beautiful colors make up the layers of soil of its 200 foot walls.  Providence Canyon encompasses more than 3,000 acres.

Photo by Steve Yost

This unused postcard was bought in 2010.

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I thought the one hundred year old written on the card was an error, but check this out....

Providence Canyon State Park is a state park located in west central Georgia. The park contains Providence Canyon, which is sometimes called Georgia's "Little Grand Canyon".
Providence Canyon actually is not a purely natural feature — the massive gullies (the deepest being 150 feet) were caused by erosion due to poor farming in the 1800s. 

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

This road tunnel in Red Canyon is not really a part of Bryce Canyon National Park.  However, as one leaves Highway 89 and approaches Bryce, the road enters Red Canyon and winds up the west side of the plateau from which the formations of Bryce are carved.  In the opinion of some, the beauty of Red Canyon "steals the show" from Bryce.
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Bryce Canyon from Rainbow Point

From Rainbow point, the southernmost spot reached by highway, the observer can look northward over most of the Park area, and see some 30 miles of Pink Cliffs.  Included in this panorama are beautiful amphitheaters of Black Birch Canyon and Agua Canyon, and magnificent views across "the land of the purple sage" to Navajo Mountain, 80 miles to the east, and Trumbull Mountains, 99 miles south.
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Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

This towering formation, named Gulliver's Castle, is a fine example of what nature can do with her tools of wind and water.  Erosion has been at work on these soft sandstone deposits for countless generations.  Old forms are gradually being worn away and new ones begin.  But the process is so slow that living memory is hardly long enough to note a major change.
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The Temple
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Resembling the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, this intriguing formation is only one of thousands to be seen in spectacular Bryce Canyon - a horseshoe-shaped amphitheater cut by water erosion, and extending down a thousand feet through pink and white limestone.  The ever-changing shadows create a thrilling panorama for the observer, with colors blending from white and gold to deep red and purple.

Weerribben

This is postmarked from the Netherlands in 2007.

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The Weerribben is a 35 km ² nature reserve in the province of Overijssel in the Netherlands . It forms part of the Weerribben-Wieden National Park.

Double Arch
Arches National Park, Utah

The unusual Double Arch consists of two arches stemming from a common base.  the larger arch extends 165 feet from reef to base and towers 156 feet above the debris below.  It can be seen from the road in the Window's Section of the park. 

Located in Petit Jean State Park near Morrilton, Arkansas, this unusual rock formation forms a natural bridge along Seven hollows Trail.

This is postmarked with a 24 cent Common Buckeye stamp in 2007.

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How the park got its name:

According to legend Petit Jean was actually a young 18th century French woman. When she discovered that her fiance planned to explore the Louisiana Territory, she cut her hair, disguised herself as a boy and managed to find a position as a cabin boy. She survived the voyage and the expedition began their exploration. Once they had reached the area of the mountain, the young woman became ill, on her deathbed she revealed herself to her fiance, and was buried on the mountain, not under her own name, but under the name she had been known by on the ship "Little John".

Parque de las Cavernas del Rio Camuy, Puerto Rico

Rio Camuy Cave Park, Puerto Rico

unused, from 2009

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The Camuy River Cave Park is a cave system in Puerto Rico. The caverns are part of a large network of natural limestone caves and underground waterways carved out by the third-largest underground river in the world, the Río Camuy (Camuy River). The cave system was discovered in 1958 but there is archaeological evidence that these caves were explored hundreds of years ago by the Taíno Indians, Puerto Rico's first inhabitants.

Over 10 miles of caverns, 220 caves and 17 entrances to the Camuy cave system have been mapped so far. This, however, is only a fraction of the entire system which many experts believe still holds another 800 caves. Only a small part of the complex is open to the public.

Sri Lanka
A land like no other
Udawalawa National Park

Giant Squirrels
Ratufa macroura

Photographer - A. Felix J. Perera

postmarked in 2013 with two Sri Lanka stamps

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The grizzled giant squirrel (Ratufa macroura) is a large tree squirrel found in the highlands of the Central and Uva provinces of Sri Lanka and in southern India.  The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as near threatened due to habitat loss and hunting.

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Udawalawe National Park lies on the boundary of Sabaragamuwa and Uva Provinces, in Sri Lanka. The national park was created to provide a sanctuary for wild animals displaced by the construction of the Udawalawe reservoir on the Walawe River, as well as to protect the drainage basin of the reservoir.