If this is Thursday it must be postcard, 680

 

 

 

 

 

 

House of Giulio Romano, Mantua, Lombardy, Italy

[painting by Ettore Roesler Franz]

 

The unused postcard, featuring a painting of the house of Giulio Romano (c. 1499-1546), is identified as a product of Casa Bestettie e Tumminelli, Milano-Roma along the left margin on the reverse.  At the top center on the reverse is “Roma Sparita, Acquarelli di F. Roesler.”  At the bottom of the center line on the reverse is E.V.R., Serie II – N. 34.  At the lower left is “Casa di Giulio Romano. 

 

The watercolor painting is by the Italian painter and photographer, (Ettore) Roesler Franz (1848-1915).  It was part of a series consisting of 120 pictures titled “Roma Sparita” or Vanished Rome, that featured watercolor paintings depicting parts of Rome that were in danger of disappearing.  Today many of these places have vanished or changed making the pictures a valuable historical record.  The paintings were completed between 1878 and 1896.   In 1875 Franz along with Nazzareno Cipriani developed a plan and created what became the Association of Watercolorists and included 8 other artists as founding members.  Among his clients were the Empress Maria Feodorovna, Kings Victor Emmanuel II and Umbert I, and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. 

 

Giulio Romano was born around 1499 and died in 1546.  He was an Italian painter and architect.  He started out as one of Raphael’s assistants, and became an important member of Raphael’s studio.  His drawings are said to be a significant contribution to the spread of 16^th century Italian style art and are treasured by collectors.  However, it is his architectural work that has had more influence.  He designed his own house in 1540 and completed it in 1541-42.  The exterior of the original building was described as having a fantastic façade all worked in colorful stucco.  At the time of the Franz painting on the card in the late 1800s the building had already been remodeled and expanded from six bays to 8 and would have been quite different than it was in the 1500s.  The central hall with its original fireplace and frescoes have been preserved.  The ground floor has shops with the main floor contains what was Romano’s home. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_di_Giulio_Romano

[Note: there is a translation option]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Romano

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Roesler_Franz

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 679

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alpi Giulie – Julian Alps, Italy and Solvenia

 

Recently I received the postcard shared this week from my friend who lives in Italy.  He had returned from a week-long trekking (hiking) trip in this region and picked up the card to show me what the mountains look like.  On the reverse of the card, at the upper left and in Italian, is: “Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy.  Alpi Giulie – Julische Alpe.  Gruppo del Canin, Val Rio del Lago e Gruppo Montasio.”  The card is an edizioni CARTOLNOVA with the number 2267 at the bottom left margin on the reverse.

 

The Julian Alps are named after Julius Caesar and are a mountain range that stretches from northeastern Italy to Solvenia.  The Western Julian Alps include the Canin Group which is partly located in Solvenia and the Montasio Group found in Italy.  The three highest peaks are:  Jôf di Montasio at 2,755 meters or 9,039 feet high; Jôf di Fuart at 2,666 meters or 8.747 feet high; and,  High Mount Kanin (Canin) is 2,582 meters or 8,471 feet high. 

 

Jôf di Montasio is located in the Province of Udine, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy.  This would not be too far away from where my friend lives.  On the back of the card he in part wrote:  “… spent a week … in a valley in Friuli, north Tarcento.  The landscapes were beautiful… Mainly woods and very steep slopes but wonderful views on the surrounding peaks and valleys…this is the most rainy of the whole of Italy and it was indeed very green.  We saw many beautiful flowers and even some chamois!...A gondola lift took us on top of this historical mount offering jaw-dropping views…”

 

Chamois are not found in the U.S., the closest look-alike might be a prong horn antelope.

 

 Chamois

 

By Giles Laurent - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=121240048

 

 Prong Horn Antelope

 

By Yathin S Krishnappa - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24551366

 

As always, thank you to M. for sharing the card.

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Alps

https://en.wikipedia.org/Friuli-Venezia_Giulia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamois

 

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 678

 

Firehole River, Yellowstone National Park

 

This unused Yellowstone Forever postcard shows an aerial view of the Firehole River in the Upper Geyser Basin, photograph by Tom Murphy.  The number 46 appears on the reverse center line.  The blurb at the upper left on the reverse:  “Yellowstone National Park   Upper Geyser Basin, one of the three significant geyser basins near the Firehole River, contains the largest concentration of active geysers in the world.  In an area covering less than two miles, more than 200 geysers are found, including the famous icon of Yellowstone, Old Faithful.”

 

Firehole Falls, Yellowstone National Park, 2024

 

The Firehole River has three main waterfalls; Kepler Cascades, Firehole Falls, and the Cascades of the Firehole located in Firehole Canyon. 

 

Steam rising from the river looked like smoke and prompted early trappers to give the river its name of Firehole.  Surrounded by geothermal features that empty extremely hot water into the river can cause the river temperature to rise up to 86 degrees F or 30 degrees C.  The usual temperature is between 40 to 50 F or 10 C.   

 

The geothermal features dissolve chemicals and minerals, such as boron and arsenic, that have been found in the river water above standard safety limits.  However, fish do live and spawn in the river.  Brook trout were introduced to upper Firehole in 1889, Brown trout came next in 1890 and Rainbow trout in 1923.  The fish stocking programs were discontinued in the 1950s and today all the Firehole trout are completely wild populations.  The Firehole River is now designated as Fly Fishing Only.  Brown and Rainbow trout are catch and release but up to 5 Brook trout are allowed.  Fishing has been popular in the park for more than 100 years. Of the approximately 4 million visitors to the park each year, 50,000 are fishermen.

 

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehole_River

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/fishing.htm

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 677

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tower Fall, Yellowstone National Park

 

This unused postcard features a photograph of Tower Fall by Steve Hinch and is a Yellowstone Forever product.  The number 45 appears on the center line on the reverse.  At the upper left is a blurb:  “Yellowstone National Park  The mist from the waters of 132 foot Tower Fall gives birth to a rainbow.  A member of the Washburn Party of 1870 described the fall in his diary:  ‘Campt near the most beautiful falls—I ever saw—I named them ‘Tower falls’ from the towers and pinnacles that surround them’.” 

 

When we visited Yellowstone National Park earlier this summer we were in the western part of the park and did not see these falls which are located in the northeastern section.  However, the card shows some of the beauty and wild nature of the region. 

 

There were two expeditions to Yellowstone prior to its being designated as a national park.  The first was the Cook-Folsom-Peterson Expedition that took place in September 1869.  This was a privately financed expedition carried out by David E. Folsom, Charles W. Cook, and William Peterson of Diamond City, Montana.  They spent one day, 15 September, in the Tower Fall area before crossing the river and traveling up the Lamar River, an eastern tributary fork of the Yellowstone River the next day. The second expedition was almost a year later, in August of 1870, led by Henry D. Washburn and Nathaniel P. Langford, with a U.S. Army escort headed by Lt. Gustavus C. Doane for a total of 18 members in the group.  They followed the general route that Cook-Folsom-Peterson had taken the year before.  Both groups kept journals and made maps during the expeditions. 

 

Following the first expedition, Folsom went to work for Washburn as a surveyor.  One of the members of the second group was Judge Cornelius Hedges who was a Montana writer and lawyer who wrote articles for a Helena, Montana newspaper describing where they went and what they saw.  Hedges was a vocal supporter of preserving the Yellowstone region as a National Park. 

 

For more information, including photos and a journal excerpt, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Fall

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/lamar-river.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook%E2%80%93Folsom%E2%80%93Peterson_Expedition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washburn%E2%80%93Langford%E2%80%93Doane_Expedition

 

Palouse to Cascade Trail, Hyak, Snoqualmie Pass, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

Palouse to Cascade Trail, Hyak, Snoqualmie

 

The trail, now called the Palouse to Cascade, was previously called the John Wayne Trail.  Located just east of the Snoqualmie Summit, it is in the Iron Horse State Park and requires a Discover Pass or a day use fee.  The picture shows the almost empty parking lot.  We cross-country ski here often in the winter when the lot is nearly or completely full of cars.  In addition to the groomed cross-country trail there is a sledding hill and snow shoe trails.  The orange building is a replica of an old railroad depot and is a public restroom that is open all year.  It has unheard of luxuries like heat in the winter, flush toilets and sinks with running water and hot air blowers.  Two of the six unisex units also have showers. 

 

Part of the trail is used as a short cut between Tacoma Pass and Snoqualmie Pass for Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) thru hikers, some having spent the previous night at Tacoma Pass.  We had a nice visit with a couple from Switzerland.  Most thru hikers try to go 20 miles or more each day putting their goal of the Canadian-US border about 10 days to 2 weeks from the day we met them. 

 

 

 Most of the trail looks like this

with views of Lake Keechelus here and there.

 

Since it is an old railroad, it is mostly flat with gentle curves and very gradual or minimal elevation changes.  There are views of Lake Keechelus, mixed forest, and little streams feeding into the lake below.  This week Bob timed our hike to extend our distance a bit to approximately 5.3 miles RT. 

 

 

 

 

There are informational placards in a couple of places along the route.  This one featured information about the electric trains.  The original line was called the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific, known as the Milwaukee Road.  The passenger train was named the Olympian-Hiawatha.  This particular passenger train was one of the fastest and most luxurious transcontinental trains during the era of the Milwaukee Road, 1905-1974. 

 

 

 

 A little fall color, mostly on vine maples, a few late flowers, lots of brilliant blue sky with clouds, cool breeze, sunshine and comfortable temperature.  

 

 

 

A little fall color, vine maple

 

Daisies

 

Mullein

 

Spotted Knapweed

 

Butter & Eggs, Toadflax

 

Spotted Tussock Moth caterpillar sometimes called "woolly bear"

 

Count for the day:

30 people total, 18 mountain bikers, a few were on electric bikes, 7 were thru hikers, and 5 day hikers

No dogs

Our timed hike = 5.3 miles RT 

 

If this is Thursday it must be poscards, 676

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yellowstone National Park, illustration by Heinrich Berann

 

Featured on this Yellowstone Forever unused postcard above is an aerial view illustration by Heinrich Berann.  The number 43 appears on the center line on the reverse.  There is also a blurb on the reverse at the upper left corner:  “Yellowstone—the world’s first national park—encompasses an area of over 2.2 million acres and is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.  The park’s landscape is also diverse, from the forest and rolling hillsides surrounding Reese Creek at the park’s lowest point at 5,282 feet to the mountainous terrain of its highest point of 11,358 at Eagle Peak.” 

 

Yellowstone National Park is such a fascinating and amazing place.  The overview view on the card helps to show how vast and varied the area the park encompasses.  There are animals such as bison, deer, elk, moose, antelope, bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars, fish, reptiles, amphibians and many different kinds of birds. The landscape is almost surreal with mountains, geysers, boiling mud pots, rivers, meadows with hundreds of flowers, and forests.  

 

 

 This second unused postcard is also a Yellowstone Forever product.  It has a collection of 10 acid free stickers and are "perfect for Scrapbooking" according to the blurb at the upper left on the reverse.  From the left top row:  Canary Spring, American Bison, Emerald Pool, Black Sand Basin.  Middle row:  Wolf, Grand Prismatic Spring, American Grizzly Bear.  Bottom row:  Castle Geyser, Cow Elk with Calf, and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone (river).  The stickers were produced by Pigment & Hue, Inc.

 

 It is not possible to see everything in the park on one trip there.  On a previous visit we saw entirely different parts of this huge park.  This time we had opportunities to make multiple trips into the park during our 10-day stay as part of an extended family gathering.  Bob and I probably had more ventures into the park than most of the rest of the group since we were interested in the park itself rather than shopping or exploring neighboring areas.  Although, as previously noted, we also went with the group to visit Bear World, and spent part of one day in the town of West Yellowstone visiting the Bear & Wolf Museum as well as getting a few postcards and souvenirs. 

 

As expected, there were many people and lots of cars in the park.  Huge crowds waited for Old Faithful to erupt.  Boardwalks around geyser basins were crowded too.  We were stopped more than once by “bison (or buffalo) jams” as the animals lumbered across the roadway seemingly uncaring of cars or gawking people with cameras.  Once three bison mamas, each with a calf, started across right in front of our car.  One of the babies decided to dance around unpredictably in the roadway, darting in and out of road and the forest alongside the road.  We did not dare to drive forward until it crossed over to join its friends and then the mother ambled slowly after once the dance was done. 

 

Some days there were long lines of cars at the entry gate.  Thankfully there is a separate gate for people with National Park passes, so we could get through quickly and did not have to pay an additional fee.  On the day we carpooled as a group to the park, each car had at least one person with a pass making it much easier and less expensive than it could have been otherwise. 

 

The park spans the northwest corner of Wyoming and extends into Montana and Idaho.  The 42^nd U.S. Congress established the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act which was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872.  The park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.  “It is the largest remaining nearly intact ecosystem in the Earth’s northern temperate zone.”  It is believed that Native Americans lived in the Yellowstone region for more than 11,000 years. 

 

For more information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park

www.pigmentandhue.com

 

 

 

 

Paradise, Mt. Rainier National Park, 2024

 

 

 

Mt. Rainer National Park entry sign

 

 

Beginning this year reservations to visit Mt. Rainier National Park during the high-volume summer months were required.  There was a two-hour window for arrival time.  Bob made a reservation with an arrival window between 9 am and 11 am.  That meant we had to get up around 6 am for the long drive, about 2 ½ hours, not counting an accident on the freeway that resulted in the closure of two lanes and cost us another half hour of creep and stop traffic; however, we still made it by 9:30 am.  

 

We did several short "walk-abouts," that included Christine Falls, Paradise Falls, Narada Falls, Myrtle Falls, part of the Lily Trail, and Reflection Lake.  We stopped at Christine Falls first, walking down to look at the lower falls and then up and across the roadway to see the upper falls.

 

 

 

 Lower Christine Falls

Upper Christine Falls 

On the way up to the main day use parking area at Paradise, we stopped at Paradise Falls.  The trail down to the viewing area looked rough and a little eroded, so I remained up while Bob went down and took some pictures.   Then we drove to Reflection Lake hoping to get some pretty shots of the mountain and lake, but the mountain was being shy and invisible as shown in the picture below.  So, we got back in the car and headed up to Paradise to park.  We held on to the hope that the clouds would dissipate and we could return to Reflection Lake later in the day and get some pretty pictures of the mountain and lake. 

 

 

 

A shy Mt. Rainier poking out of the clouds above Reflection Lake

 

 

After parking in the very full parking area, we headed up to Myrtle Falls.  We have been here several times and usually see marmots and sometimes deer near the falls.  There is a steep stairway down to a viewing area.  The bottom portion of the stairs is not in good repair.  Once again, I stayed up on top and Bob went down.   

 

 

 From the bridge looking up from Myrtle Falls

Bob's photo of Myrtle Falls from the lower viewing platform.  I stayed up by the bridge.

Looking up at lower Myrtle Falls from the road below

 

 

 

 

 Buck

A beautiful antlered buck posed and nibbled on shrubs near the bridge that crosses over the top of the falls.  Later, we also saw a doe and fawn on the road as we drove down to exit the park.  But still no marmots. 

 

 Doe crossing the road

 

followed by the fawn

 

The Lily Trail or Nisqually Loop was another short hike that we have done before.  Earlier in the summer this trail winds around through thousands of lilies and marmots like to eat the lupine that grows here too.  But the lilies were finished for the year and we did not see marmots or much lupine.  However, there were still flowers, gentian, lupine, asters, foraging golden rod, hellebore or corn flower, magenta paintbrush, fireweed, rosy spirea, pink monkey flowers, besides the pearly everlasting growing near the parking areas, on the various trails, and along the road everywhere.

 

 Gentian

 

Fireweed

Asters and False Hellebore, also known as Corn Lily

Closer look at the Corn Lily flowers

Magenta Paintbrush

Lupine

Foraging Golden Rod

Rosy Spirea

Mountain Arnica

Pink Monkey Flowers

The mountain, which should be huge and dominate the horizon this close, was still mostly invisible, shrouded in mist and clouds.    

 

On the Lily Trail, Mt. Rainier still being shy

On the way out we stopped at Narada Falls and walked down the rocky, steep, trail to the viewing areas. This is low water season but the falls were lacy and very pretty.  There was even a little rainbow in the falling water. 

 

 Narada Falls

 

Count for the day:

Note:  Since hundreds of people visit Mt. Rainier National Park, we do not attempt to count the people. No dogs are allowed on the trails in the park.