POSTCARD N.97 - USA

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 22nd November, received on the 5rd December 2022

Postcard image: Mammoth hot springs - Yellowstone National Park
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Yellowstone...the first ever national park created in the world, I believe...and a giant pressure cooker said to blow off one day, but hopefully it's rather unlikely that day will be witnessed by anyone currently alive.....

Anyway, my first contact with Yellowstone came from the TV and from Hanna-Barbera's  famous character: Yogi bear and Boo-boo bear, who for me will always be remembered as Zé Colmeia e Catatau, because these were their names in the Brazilian version that aired on Portuguese T&V when I was a little lad.

Later, I would marvel at the images of such distinctive features as old faithfull geyser and tge grand prismatic spring in the pages of my daddy's National Geographics...and i would dream of the day i would go and see them for real.... the bad side is that I never did, the good is that I still long for it and maybe one day I will be bale to make just another tourist photo of Old Faithful spitting out the earth's expectoration....

So thanks a lot Lori, for a beautiful postcard that adds volume to my already enormous wishlist of places to visit someday...

Stamps, left to right, top to bottom

- The Mississippi is the second longest river in the US, after the Missouri, and it has the third largest drainage basin in the world, only surpassed by those of the Amazon and the Congo.

Having Lake Itasca, in the State of Minnesota, as source, the Mighty Mississippi runs for 2,340 mi or 3,770 km before delivering its waters to the Atlantic,  the Gulf of Mexico, a mere 160 km away from New Orleans.

Over the years, the Mississippi has inspired countless works of art - Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer and their creator Mark Twain come immediately to mind, as does the image of Pole Robeson singing Old man river - so the fact that the United States Postal Service in 2022 had decided it was high time that such a significant landmark should be honoured with a dedicated set of stamps came as no surprise.

As such, a minisheet of ten domestic "Forever" self-adhesive stamps were issued by  USPS on 23MAY2022, each stamp featuring a photograph of the river taken at different locations, such as the one that was used on this postcard.

- ON 16OCT2020, USPS issued a set of 10 USA/Forever self-adhesive stamps themed in "winter scenes". The stamp illustrated with the photo of two deer is part of this set.

- William M. Harnett (1848-92) was an American still life Painter that would become well known and respected for his masterly use of the tromp l'oeil technique.

On 03DEC1969, USPS issued a six cents stamp illustrated with a reproduction of one of his most famous paintings: Old Models, painted in 1892 and which now can be seen in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.

- To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Commercial Aviation, or better, of contracted airmail flights  (Dearborn, Michigan to Cleveland, Ohio on  15FEB1926 and  Pasco, Washington to Elko, Nevada, on 06APR1926. USPS issued a 30 cent stamp illustrated with the image of the two aircraft that were used for these flights, respectively a Ford-Stout AT-2 (top) and Laird Swallow (bottom).

On 22MAR1963, USPS  issued  a stamp dedicated to the country's 7th president, Andrew Jackson. The monochrome (green) in taglio printed  stamp with a face value of 1 cent is illustrate with a side portrait of Andrew Jackson. 

The mechanical postmark indicates that the postcard was sent from Knoxville, in the state of Tennessee.