My Favorite Postcards

International Postcard Week
October 6-12, 2019

Full Moon
Seattle, Washington USA
Photo by Tim Durkan

Hello,
Warm greetings from the "Evergreen State" of Washington!  Our state is famous for apples, salmon, Starbucks coffee, and the beautiful skyline of our largest city, Seattle.

Wishing you peace and happiness,

Kimberly from Washington

The Columbia River Series

Stonehenge
The millionaire road builder, Sam Hill, built a complete town here and no one came to live in it.  He tore the town down and built the Stonehenge in its place as a memorial to soldiers who gave their lives in W.W.I. "What in Sam Hill did you do that for?"

This is an unused postcard.

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The Maryhill Stonehenge is a replica of Stonehenge located in Maryhill, Washington. It was commissioned in the early 20th century by businessman Samuel Hill and dedicated on July 4, 1918 as a memorial to those that died in World War I. The memorial was completed in 1929. It is constructed of concrete.  It was the first monument in the United States to honor the dead of World War I (specifically, soldiers from Klickitat County, Washington who had died in the still on-going war).

Space Needle

Nestled in the Seattle Center, a 74-acre city park that was built for the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, is the Space Needle, the result of a vision shared by Jim Douglas, of the Westin Hotel, and Eddie Carlson, the World's Fair chairman.  Inspired by a television tower seen in Stuttgart, Germany, the 605 foot Space Needle has become the symbol of Seattle.

A 43-second elevator ride takes visitors to the observation platform at the 520 foot level for a spectacular view of the city, Puget Sound, the Cascade and Olympic Mountain ranges, as well as Mount Rainier, 60 miles to the southeast.

Dine at "the Needle's," revolving restaurant found at the 500 foot level, where diners not only enjoy the many Northwest delights fond on the menu, but also take in the panoramic view as the restaurant slowly turns 360 degrees each and every hour.

Seattle, Washington

Photo by Gary Greene
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Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter in Seattle, Washington

The Four Seasons

All three postcards are from 2010. 

Deception Pass, Washington

unused
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A group of sailors led by Joseph Whidbey, part of the Vancouver Expedition, found and mapped Deception Pass on June 7, 1792. George Vancouver gave it the name "Deception" because it had misled him into thinking Whidbey Island was a peninsula.

The Deception Pass Bridge was completed on on July 31, 1935.  It is  976-foot (297 m) long and connects Whidbey Island to the tiny Pass Island, and Pass Island to Fidalgo Island. Prior to the bridge, travellers and businessmen would use an inter-island ferry to commute between Fidalgo and Whidbey islands.

Sea-Tac International Global Airport
Sea-Tac, Washington

Sea-Tac International Airport as seen on Inauguration Day, July 1949, and now. This is the largest and busiest airport in the Pacific Northwest, serving as the terminus for Alaska, the Pacific Rim, Hawaii, as well as all corners of the Globe.

Photos by Kyle S. Smith

postmarked in 2010 with two USA Stamps

Greetings From Beautiful Washington

Washington State
State Capital: Olympia
Admitted to Statehood: November 11, 1889
Highest Elevation: Mount Rainier (14,410 feet)

Illustration by J. Acoba

postmarked in 2010 with two vintage USA stamps:

Benjamin Franklin
Bicentennial 13 c
1776-1976

and

Airmail
1875-1949
The Universal Postal Union
15 cents

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Washington was named after George Washington, the first President of the United States, and is the only U.S. state named after a president. Washington is commonly called Washington State to distinguish it from the District of Columbia. However, Washingtonians (residents of Washington) and many residents of neighboring states normally refer to the state simply as "Washington" while usually referring to the nation's capital as "Washington, D.C." or simply "D.C."

Mt. Rainier Mirrored in Lake Spanaway, Wash.

Mt. Rainier, three miles in height, is an isolated extinct glacial volcano. Only mountain in the United states that shows all its form, sea level to the clouds. Tourists visit blown-out caverns, eternal snow banks, steam fissures, wonderful waterfalls, marvelous canyons, great forests, lakes and rivers that burst from the gigantic glaciers upon its sides and proclaim wonders surpassing the Alps. Flora renowned for 364 varieties of flowers, many thrust their heads through snow in June. The sight of "Rainier" from Seattle at 9 P.M. in summer season all aglow in gorgeous colors of our Northland twilight is a heavenly sight. It was discovered in 1792 by Capt. Geo. Vancouver, named by him for Rear Admiral Rainier; is 14,408 feet elevation; reached by Government Auto Roads through Big Tree Forest Reserve to New Paradise Inn, to "Camp of Clouds" in Paradise Valley.

This postcard is unused.

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Here it is at 'the Northland Twilight' .....

Mt. Rainier, Washington
Mount Rainier with full moon

Photo by Edward Nugent

This one is also unused but it has a date of 2008.
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Here is a card with some of the wild flowers .....

Mount Rainer National Park - Washington

Photo: Jacek Kociolek
This one is also from 2008. 

San Juan Islands

John Hinde Curteich postcard
postmarked in 2010 with a 28 cent stamp

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The San Juan Islands are a part of the San Juan Archipelago in the northwest corner of the continental United States. The archipelago is split into two groups of islands based on national sovereignty. San Juan Islands are part of the U.S. state of Washington, while the Gulf Islands are part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. There are over 450 islands in the entire archipelago at high tide, but fewer than one-sixth are permanently inhabited.

The Fremont Troll
by Steve Bandanes, Donna Walter, Will Martin and Ross Whitehead

Photo by Nance Carter

This was postmarked in 2009 with a 28 cent polar bear stamp.

The sender writes:
The Fremont Troll lives under a bridge in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. He's covered in concrete, and that's a real Volkswagen Beetle in his left hand. We've been assured he's a friendly troll - he presides over neighborhood festivities such as Trolloween.
(thank you Violet!)

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The Fremont Troll (also known as The Troll, or the Troll Under the Bridge) is a piece of public art in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington in the United States.

The Troll is a mixed media megalithic statue, located on N. 36th Street at Troll Avenue N., under the north end of the Aurora Bridge. Aurora Avenue North was renamed "Troll Avenue" in its honor in 2005. Despite its name, the Troll is not under the nearby Fremont Bridge. It is clutching an actual Volkswagen Beetle, as if it had just swiped it from the roadway above.

The piece was the winner of a competition sponsored by the Fremont Arts Council in 1990, in part with the goal of rehabilitating the area under the bridge which was becoming a dumping ground and haven for drug dealers. It was built later that same year. The Troll was sculpted by four local artists: Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead. He is interactive—visitors are encouraged to clamber on him or try to poke out his one good eye (a hubcap). The Troll is 5.5 m high, weighs two tons (1814 kg), and is made of steel rebar, wire, and concrete.

The Troll was featured in the film 10 Things I Hate About You.

Mt. St. Helens & Yale Lake, Washington, before and after the volcanic eruptions. These scenes offer a dramatic comparison - on the left, the mountain's majestic beauty is captured, and on the right, the awesome power of the eruption is visible. The eruption occurred on May 18, 1980. The force blew 1300 feet off the top of the mountain, spreading ash eastward across the continent. - Photo(right) by Steve Terrill - the sender writes, "Even though we live about 250 miles away, we got about 1 inch of ash all over everything!" - postmarked in Feb 2007 with 24 cent Common Buckeye stamp

Seattle Washington To-day and yesterday...
(top photo) - To-day: Looking up Second Ave. from James St., Seattle.
(bottom photo) - Yesterday: Second Ave. from the same Point in 1886.
postmarked in 1915 with one cent stamp

I've not seen a lot of comparison postcards. If you have one you'd like to swap for, please let me know ;-)