World's Largest Ball of Stamps - La Quinta

Greetings From Route LQ (Hotel chain La Quinta)

Think They Licked Each One?

World's Largest Ball of Stamps
Remember when people used to send letters in the mail?  Long before E-mail and the Internet, the Boys Town Stamp Collection Club began creating the world's largest ball of stamps.  Beginning in 1953, they collected 4,655,000 cancelled stamps and rolled them into a 32-inch, 600-pound ball, which is still on display today.  Why did they do it?  According to the staff's secretary, "It must have been a particularly cold winter."
13628 Flanagan Boulevard
Boys Town, Nebraska

Nearest la Quinta: 4 miles

With over 780 Locations, La Quinta Inns & Suites is everywhere you travel.

unused, from 2010

Frog Stamps and Postmarks on a Postcard

Frog stamps with postmarks 

postmarked in 2010 with a Suomi Finland Frog stamp!

New River Gorge Bridge - West Virginia

 New River Gorge Bridge


The Bridge is considered the "Western Hemisphere's longest single span steel arch bridge" and is part of US Route 19.  Located near Fayetteville & Lansing, West Virginia, this area of the New River is known for white water rafting and flows under The New River Gorge Bridge.

Photo: Frank Cerevalo

postmarked in 2010 with a 28 cent stamp

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The bridge is the centerpiece of Fayette County's "Bridge Day", during which the bridge is closed to vehicular traffic. This festival includes demonstrations of rappelling, ascending and BASE jumping, and is held every October on the third Saturday. Bungee jumping has been banned from Bridge Day since 1993.

BASE jumper Brian Lee Schubert, 66, of Alta Loma, California, died during Bridge Day 2006 (October 21) when his parachute did not open in time. His death was the first that occurred during BASE jumping at the New River Gorge Bridge Day Festival since 1987, and only the third ever. One other BASE jumper was killed while performing an illegal, non-Bridge Day related jump.

The bridge is within the New River Gorge National River and the National Park Service operates a visitor center at the northern end of the bridge with scenic overlooks and a staircase that descends partially into the gorge.

The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

The Pyramids of Giza

postmarked in 1955 with two Egypt stamps

the sender writes:

Perhaps tomorrow I might be riding one of these camels.  We have a lovely group.  So far I am alone in my bedroom.  At this hotel I have 2 twin beds and have been kidded lots by the gang.  Will have a room mate in Jerusalem.  We are having a grand time.  I have cast off all my cares, know my Saviour will work things out. 

Love my honey,

--

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The pyramids of Giza are truly a marvel of architecture. The three largest pyramids located in the valley consist of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Kafhre and the Pyramid of Menkaura. Each Pyramid is a tomb dedicated to a different king of Egypt.

All three pyramids were built during the Third and Fourth Dynasty; these structures resulted from a monumental effort by the king (and his sons). The Pyramid of Khufu has a base which covers roughly a nine acre area (approximately 392,040 square feet). The Pyramid of Menkaura, unlike the other pyramids, has granite covering one tier of its base. The Pyramid of Khafre had a two-tiered base encased in granite.  

I Want To Grow Up NOW

Mina Haluan Isoksi NYT!

(I want to grow up NOW!)

postmarked in 2009 with a great metallic Suomi Finland 'candle' stamp

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Sunset on the White Sands

By all means, visit the White Sands at sunset!  The feeling of mystery, the quietude of the great expanse of snow white sands, the golden sunset turning at its last moments to rose and violet as darkness finally closes in.  Then the day is gone, leaving this great bulk of whiteness still visible thru the shades of night.

unused

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Ripples of the White Sands

The 176,000 acres of crystallized gypsum which comprise the area known as the "White Sands" are blown into ripples and dunes, while the vegetation struggles thru in a fight for existence.  In the interior of the area, where drifts are extremely high there is no vegetation of any kind.

unused

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The White Sands National Monument - New Mexico
6-T-27

unused real photo postcard

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The White Sands National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located about 25 km (15 miles) southwest of Alamogordo, New Mexico, at an elevation of 4235 feet (1291 m). It is a field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals.

Gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because it is water-soluble. Normally, rain would dissolve the gypsum and carry it to the sea. Since the Tularosa Basin has no outlet to the sea, rain that dissolves gypsum from the surrounding San Andres and Sacramento Mountains is trapped within the basin, and the rain either sinks into the ground or forms shallow pools which subsequently dry out and leave gypsum in a crystalline form, called selenite, on the surface. Weathering and erosion eventually breaks the crystals into sand-size grains that are carried away by the prevailing winds from the southwest, forming white dunes. The dunes constantly change shape and slowly move downwind, covering the plants in their path. Some species of plants, however, can grow rapidly enough to avoid being buried by the dunes.

Cowboy Trail Bath - Texas

Texas

Cowboy trail bath

Photo: David Stoecklein

postmarked in 2010 with a 28 cent stamp

The sender writes:

What you don't see is the windmill that has provided the water.  We had tanks on the dairy farm where I grew up.  You could raise the biggest gold fish in them.  The cattle would drink water and leave a bit of food for the fish.  This tank is on a ranch.  You have to provide water for the cattle.  We don't have lakes that stay full!  It's pretty dry country.

Elveden, England

all are unused

A set of 11 postcards from Elveden were given to me (I have 3 posted here).  The Bottom card reads, "New Tower and Cloisters".  The tower on the postcard was built in 1922.

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Elveden is a village and civil parish in the Forest Heath district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 it had a population of 270.

The village is located on the A11 between Cambridge and Norwich and experiences a high volume of traffic. Since at least the 1980s, speculative plans for a bypass have been drawn up and repeatedly shelved.

Elveden Hall is centrepiece to the large country estate of Elveden, and it is the family seat of the Earl of Iveagh.

Valentine & Son's Postcard, Tallahassee, Florida

End N., Monroe Street, Tallahassee, Florida

Valentine & Son's Publishing Co,

unused

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I don't know where in Tallahasse, Florida this is, but I bet it isn't as pretty as this anymore!

Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin

unused, bought in 2010

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Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer, songwriter and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Joplin number 46 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004, and number 28 on its 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Gambel's Quail

Gambel's Quail

The name "Gambel' comes from William Gambel, an American naturalist from 1821-1849 and the word quail means 'to quack'.  Gambel's Quail have a 14-inch wing span and an average weight of 6 ounces.

Photo: Paul & Joyce Berquist

unused, from 2008

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Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds in the pheasant family. They eat seeds, leaves, berries and insects.

Peru - Machu Picchu, Incas Lost City

Machu Picchu

Detalle de una de las partes mas interesantes de las ruinas, con el torreon o edificio semi-circular al fondo

Detail of the ruins of the Lost City of the Incas, with the semi-circular watch tower, one of the most striking constructions of Machu Picchu

has writing on it, but never mailed, from 1968

Abbey Road by The Beatles

The Beatles

Album Cover Collection

Abbey Road

unused, bought in 2010 at the Beatles "LOVE" cirque du soleil in Las Vegas, Nevada

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Abbey Road is the eleventh studio album by English rock band The Beatles. Though Let It Be was the last album released before The Beatles' dissolution in 1970, work on Abbey Road began in April 1969, making it the final album recorded by the band. Abbey Road was released on 26 September 1969 in the United Kingdom, and 1 October 1969 in the United States.

Abbey Road is regarded as one of The Beatles' most tightly constructed albums, although the band was barely operating as a functioning unit at the time. Rolling Stone magazine named it the 14th greatest album of all time.

John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals)