Altay, China

I got this card from ConEtoiles for the favorites tag. I've gotten a lot of beautiful cards from her and this is definitely one of my favorites. :) It shows Kanas Lake, among the Altai Mountains in the Xinjiang region of China. Many Tuvan and Kazakh people live in this area, keeping traditional agriculture and nomadic lifestyles alive. (According to Wikipedia.) A beautiful place I would love to visit someday.

I think this is a postal-issued card. The "stamp" on the right is the same image as the card and is preprinted. The one on the left is a takin (Budorcas taxicolor), or goat-antelope, native to the eastern Himalayas, issued in 2001.

I am totally confused as to Chinese postage rates. I've gotten cards from there sent with 3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.2, 4.5, 4.6, and 6 yuen in postage. 3 and 4.5 seem to be the most common. Are those economy and airmail rate differences?

Stanley, Idaho

Stanley, Idaho

Nestled snugly at the base of the Sawtooth Range, Stanley, Idaho offers a tranquil mountain retreat. Fishing, hiking and exploring opportunities are only a step away.

I sent this card to myself when I went to Pocatello for my cousin's wedding in September 2011. It was a challenge to get postcards in Idaho since I was only there for 24 hours and none of the tourist attractions seemed to be open. I finally found some at a gas station, and mailed them from the airport.

Since I mailed it to myself, I used my faaaaaavorite stamp. This is from a 2011 set of four on the U.S. Merchant Marine. Clipper ships, ushered in by the California gold rush of 1849 and noted for their streamlined shape and majestic cloud of square-rigged sails, set numerous speed records for their time.

Hooker Valley, New Zealand

From Adriennegarry for the favorites tag. I'm sure you can see why I had this one in my favorites. You can't really tell from the photo, but it's a panoramic card... sooo beautiful!

From the back of the card: A view of the Hooker Valley from high on the walking track to Sebastopol. Mt. Cook (Aoraki) and Mt. Tasman are central, and being struck by a typical southerly front, bringing rain and snow. The alpine mosses and grasses seen are typical in the mountains.

2011 Rugby World Cup stamp. When my roommate saw this stamp, she asked the person who sent me the card for a private swap so she could also get the stamp. :)

Saana Hill, Finland

This card is from Merja for the Surprise Me round robin. "Saana hill is the highest one in Finland. We have no mountains," she writes. The summit is 3,376 feet above sea level.

There are a number of similar hills in Finland and in the rest of Scandinavia as well. This story involves the hills Saana, Malla, Big Malla, Pältsä, Paras, and the lake Kilpisjärvi which surrounds Saana.

THE SAGA OF HOW KILPISJÄRVI LAKE CAME TO BE
According to a legend - long ago Kilpisjärvi area was lived by giants. Sullen Saana got had a crush on lovely Malla. On the wedding day Pältsä wanted to have the procession stopped. He was also infatuated with Malla. The wedding ceremony would have been held by Paras, the magician. But Pältsä had called the evil elderly women of Lapland to come to the scene. All of a sudden fierce northern wind wiped all of the celebrants with cold wind. Very soon the whole area became filled with ice. At the last moment, Saana rushed the lovely Malla to her mother, Big Malla. Then the freezing cold took away all life. From the tears of lovely Malla was formed Kilpisjärvi - the lake.

The stamp, from 2009, shows the Pallas-Yllastunturi National Park. It has raised dots on it that appear to be Braille, but I'm not sure.

Happy Holidays

This was a holiday card from the families of one of my two-year-olds. Some of you know that I quit my job in December in order to go on my long trip to Asia (from which I returned on Monday - postcards from the trip coming soon!), so it was particularly meaningful to receive holiday/goodbye cards and gifts from some of the families. In my letter of resignation, which went out to all my coworkers and the families of all my children from the past 3 years, I offered to send postcards from my trip to anyone who gave me their address. Four of the families did, including this family, who wrote their address along with a sweet message on the back of this card. I sent them a card from Japan.

I am not sure where this photo was taken, but my guess is somewhere in the state of Washington, where we live.

Posted with permission from the family.

Tatra Mountains, Poland

PL-97799
"High Tatras: Icy Peak in the Rays of the Sun"

I LOVE this card. Exactly the type of mountain view that is my absolute favorite. There is definitely snow in the mountains around here, and we even got a tiny bit of snow last night here in Seattle. Nothing sticking to the ground, though.

The Tatras are on the border between Poland and Slovakia, and the highest part of the Carpathian Mountains. The highest peaks are actually all in Slovakia, but since this card is from Poland, that's how I filed it. Several animal species are endemic to the area, such as Tatra chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica), a type of goat-antelope which is critically endangered. The Carpathians as a whole also have the largest Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) population west of Russia. Both Poland and Slovakia have established national parks covering these mountains, and both are part of a biosphere reserve designated by UNESCO.

I have a couple cards of Eurasian lynx. I also have Slovakian cards of the Tatras. I'll post those at some point. :)

The stamps are the same as here.

Granada, Spain

This is another one of those locations that I love to get multiple cards of 'cause it is so lovely. :)


From Rafal's vacation RR group when he visited Granada.

I was lucky enough to have a friend who lived in Granada and sent me the next two cards. Thank you very much, Elizabeth! :D


This one was mailed from the US, so she taped a Spanish stamp to the front. Awesome.

This last one is basically one of my most favorite postcards ever. Gorgeous castle. Gorgeous mountains. What's not to love?


The Alhambra was built in the 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada. Each new ruler added onto the original building, so it doesn't follow a unified plan; however, certain elements of architecture and design were preserved. In 1492, the area was taken over by Spanish Catholics. They used part of it and allowed the rest to fall into disrepair for several centuries. Restoration began in the 19th century, and now the Alhambra is a major tourist attraction. It was listed as a UNESCO site in 1984. The name "Alhambra" comes from the Arabic for "red fortress," referring to the red clay from which it was built.

My friend wrote, "The Alhambra is one of the only places in Spain where you can see Moorish architecture that wasn't made over by the later Christian rulers, trying to show that they were bigger and badder than the Muslims they had defeated. It's a pity that Spain's nearly 8 centuries of Muslim history has been largely overwritten."

I would love to visit this place one day.

Three U.S. definitives: Navajo jewelry from 2004, American clock from 2003, and bighorn sheep, not sure what year that one was originally issued.


2005 issue on the theme of "struggle against poverty."


From a 2009 set of four on renewable energy. This one is geothermal energy. It's the same stamp on the front of the middle card, above.

Western Highway

I am a driver on a western highway



from the mountains



and to the sea



And there's a song on the western highway saying I will be free.

The sky is fading to the color of the valley
Dust of angels and dust of dreams



Your city lights will shine until tomorrow



but I will not be here.

Your light is brighter than anything I've ever seen.
I hear your voice on every station, singing out of your dream.

By the roadside, the trees are shivering, black and silver in the cool night air



and under the moonlight I hear a song you're singing
saying I will meet you there.



Here I am on the road again



The song begins
and in the end
I'll be standing by the sea.



I am a driver on a western highway
from the mountains and to the sea
and there's a song on the western highway
saying I will be free.

Jasper, Alberta

I found this cool map card at a thrift store. Jasper is a Canadian national park, the largest in the Canadian Rockies, in the province of Alberta, west of Edmonton and north of Banff. It is home to glaciers, mountains, hot springs, and waterfalls, along with grizzly bears, moose, elk, mountain goats, pumas, wolves, and pika, some of which you can see on the card. The park was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984 as part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. This is definitely a place I would like to visit!

Mt. Kinabalu, Malaysia

This is by far the most magnificent card I have ever gotten in the Native Plants tag. :) According to the sender, the native plant (bottom right) is called periuk kera, or monkey's pot. This species, Rafflesia keithii, can only be found in Borneo, and it is the state flower of the Malaysian state of Sabah - and the sender has never actually seen it in real life! It has no stems, leaves or roots, as it is an endoparasite, most of the plant growing inside the host vines. The only part of the plant you can see is the flower, which looks and smells like rotting flesh. Yum! (Although I have been watching a lot of Bones lately, even while eating.) Apparently, men sometimes use it as an energy drink or an aphrodisiac...

Moving on.
I'm not sure about the date of issue on the stamps, but I think they are definitives. The one on the left is the ochraceous bulbul (Alophoixus ochraceus) and the one on the right is the spotted dove (Streptopelia chinensis).

Altai Mountains, Russia

This gorgeous card is from Siguanea for the favorites tag. It's one of the giant cards - 21cm by 15cm! And sooooooo pretty. The back of the card says "View of the North-Chuysky Ridge from Sagandu." The Altai are located in central Asia, with parts of the range in Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. The name comes from the Mongolian words for "gold" and "mountain," and the area is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site under the name "Golden Mountains of Altai." It is critical habitat for the endangered snow leopard and Altai argali, a wild sheep; however, in a 2009 incident, several Russian VIPs were killed in a helicopter crash here during an alleged poaching expedition.

The large stamp on the right is a 2009 commemorative from a set of 4 on the subject of "National Head dress." This one comes from middle of XIX century (honestly, I'm not clear on what century that would be), Moscow district. On the left are two definitives from 2009, Zaraisk Kremlin on the bottom and Moscow Kremlin on the top.

Pura Besakih, Indonesia

I got this from a friend traveling to Indonesia. Thank you Caitlin! It shows Bali's largest Hindu temple, Pura Besakih, on Mt. Agung, which is the principal volcano of Bali. Mt. Agung erupted in 1963, killing over 1500 people, but missing this temple by meters. This was taken as a signal from the gods that they wanted to demonstrate their power, but not destroy the monument the faithful Balinese had erected. It was nominated as a UNESCO site in 1995 but hasn't been given world heritage status. Whoever decides these things ought to read this guy, who's been there:

By then, I had enough of Pura Besakih. Divine intervention had me that I was not up for it. When the guide offered to bring me to a pura devoted to Dewa Iswara (or God of Lightning), I politely refused and insisted on returning down to the parking lot. Enraged the God of Lightning probably was that it rained cats and dogs as soon as I stepped out of the Besakih complex. I got myself drenched and had only my indifference to blame.


"Ucapan Selamat" means "greetings," but I can't find any information on this particular stamp. Unfortunately Indonesian cancellations always seem to be so hard that they often damage the card on the other side! It's not too bad on this card - but even though you can see the imprint of the cancellation on the picture side of the card, you can't really see the ink of the cancellation on the stamp!

Pieniny Mountains, Poland

The Pieniny mountains are limestone and dolomite rock strata in southern Poland and northern Slovakia. The highest peak, Wysoka, is 1,050 meters tall. Several plants are endemic to the area, and trees grow so high on the rock that one wonders how they manage to grow at all. Unfortunately, I couldn't find much other info in English.

On the left is one of the stamps of the Polish Manor Houses issue from 1999, Manor in Krzesławicach (near Krakow). The one on the right is from 2005, in the Polish Cities series, featuring the beach and wooden pier - the longest wooden pier in Europe - in the town of Sopot.

Los Angeles, California

From katielucie for the June 2010 RR

Celestial alignment sets the stage for dramatic view of downtown Los Angeles as a full moon rises behind the San Gabriel Mountains at sunset, according to the back of the card. What I want to know is, how many days out of the year can you see these mountains, and how many days are they covered by smog? I've only been to LA once, but I definitely don't remember it being this beautiful–this makes it look almost as nice as Seattle. :P

The San Gabriel Mountains are north of LA and separate the city from the Mojave Desert. The highest peak in the range is Mt. San Antonio, commonly referred to as Mt. Baldy.

The stamp is the 2009 definitive for the domestic small postcard rate, a polar bear illustrated by Nancy Stahl.

Taormina, Italy

Taormina Teatro Greco. IT-88046 from Ilaria.
Taormina is a small town on the east coast of Sicily. This area was inhabited as early as 832 B.C.E., which is kind of hard for me to imagine. Pictured on this card is the teatro Greco, or Greek theatre. It is thought to be a Roman theatre built on the foundation of an earlier Greek period theatre. According to wikipedia, it is still in use today as a theatre, opera house, and musical venue. I think the mountain in the background is Mt. Etna, Europe's largest active volcano.

The stamp was issued in February 2004, in a series of "women in art". This one is from "Courtesans," a painting by 15th century Venetian artist Vittore Carpaccio.

Mt. Merapi, Indonesia

Mt. Merapi, located on the island of Java, is the most active volcano in Indonesia. "Api" means "fire" in Indonesian. Smoke can be seen emerging from the top at least 300 days out of the year, and Merapi has been designated a "decade volcano" by the International Association of Volcanology: particularly worthy of study due to its history of large, destructive eruptions and proximity to the city of Yogyakarta (pop. 511,744). I got this card from Shinta for the mountain and forest tag.

These stamps are (obviously) from the issue commemorating Indonesia's hosting the 2009 World Ocean Conference. On the right is Goldback Anthias (Pseudanthias evansi), and on the left anemone shrimp (family Hippolytidae).

Hualien, Taiwan

According to the tourism board of Hualien County, this scenery, on Taiwan's eastern Pacific coast, is what prompted Portuguese explorers to call Taiwan Formosa (meaing "beautiful"). If Hualien looks anything like this card, the Portuguese were making a pretty big understatement...


Rocky Mountain Sixty of Taiwan's Hualien County
(from Yen for the mountains round robin group 15)

Hualien was originally known as Kilai, but the Japanese changed it to Hualien during their occupation, because Kilai sounds like "I hate it" in Japanese. (No joke, it really does.)

On the far right is a stamp celebrating the Girl Scouts centennial! The R.O.C. Girl Scouts organization, which is now known as the Girl Scouts of Taiwan, was established in 1919. It became a tenderfoot member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1963 and a full member in 1966.
In the middle is Murraya paniculata or orange jasmine, one of a set of four flower stamps issued in 2009.
On the left is Dicrurus aeneus or bronzed drongo, a subspecies endemic to Taiwan, immortalized on this 2008 definitive stamp.

New Zealand Extreme

I received this card today for the mountains round robin group #15, from Wildfire in New Zealand, who writes, "I imagine that this guy/girl has a fantastic view of the mountains - me, I prefer to look at the mountains from down here on the flat - and maybe have just enough snow to play in a little." A good card for today since it's once again insanely hot here in Seattle, and I wouldn't mind a little snow myself...

Three awesome stamps. The big one at the top is celebrating Maori New Year, or Matariki 2010, featuring a traditional Maori kite–"manu tukutuku"–which is produced and flown during Matariki. It's one of a set of 4 in various denominations, this one depicting "manu patiki".

Down on the right is Tolaga Bay. Located on the North Island’s east coast, Tolaga Bay is well known for its wharf – the longest in New Zealand, at 660 metres. The wharf was built in 1929 to accommodate large coastal trading vessels, but it fell into disuse as improved roads and motor vehicles offered more efficient transport options.

On the left, Lake Coleridge, one of Canterbury’s most popular lakes, enticing visitors from near and far. Set in the eastern foothills of the Southern Alps, Lake Coleridge is a natural paradise – with glacial blue water, breathtaking scenery and abundant marine life. Located near the Raikaia River, Lake Coleridge is the site of New Zealand’s first hydroelectric power scheme, which was completed in 1914 and continues to run today.

These are both "scenic definitives," Tolaga Bay from 2009 and Lake Coleridge from 2007.

Carson Valley, Nevada

I saw my dad today for the first time in many years, so I felt like I should commemorate the occasion by posting the cards he sent me from his home in Nevada.


Winter in the Carson Valley
Carson Valley is between the Sierra Nevadas and the Pinenut Mountains. The big mountain on the right is Jobs Peak, in the Carson Spur of the Sierra Nevadas, which my dad climbs several times a week as a training exercise. He lives at the base of the mountain, more or less behind that barn. The peak itself is actually in California (though right on the border with Nevada, obviously), according to Wikipedia.



Carson Valley
"The Carson Valley's rustic charm is reminiscent of the old west," according to the back of the card. Well, my dad said he wants to get a dog, but he is afraid of predators. Coyotes, mountain lions, eagles, and bears are all common in that area.

It came with just a normal forever stamp, but in case that's a novelty for any international readers, I'll go ahead and post it. This non-denomination stamp shows the Liberty Bell. The forever stamp will always be valid as first class postage, even when the first class rate increases.