Visiting the USA With Vintage American Postcards

by Elmer Prather, guest blogger

My latest puzzle is a one thousand piece titled Vintage American Postcards. The puzzle picture was arranged by a talented artist at Cobble Hill Puzzles. Before I spend a lot of time putting puzzles together, I must have a connection to the puzzle theme. My connection to this puzzle is that I have toured most of the states in America.

This puzzle highlights so many wonderful places to visit in America. The puzzle was a complicated one to put together but well worth the effort. In the puzzle picture the name of each state is written in bold letters and within each letter are pictures of places and things that state is noted for: for example, Florida, its oranges; New York, Niagara Falls; Kentucky, Abe Lincoln, etc.

It is a well laid out puzzle that will make you want to visit some of the places you see as you put the puzzle together. It also has a “Greetings from” written in different fonts and colors at the top of each states' area on the puzzle. This is something the Chamber Of Commerce would appreciate.

After putting this puzzle together, I did not want my readers to think I was bragging but felt that it would be appropriate to share some of the locations I have been fortunate enough to have visited. My travel adventures started with a Volkswagen bus. I later traded my first bus for a Volkswagen camping bus, then I purchased a fifth wheel camper I towed with my pickup truck. Later, I purchased a gas motor home and a few years later a diesel motor home.

Using these camping vehicles I have been able to see much of America. There are some states that I flew into and toured. There are some states like California that I flew into to take a cruise up the West Coast beginning in San Diego and making multiple stops to end in Vancouver, Canada. While in California, I saw the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the Reagan and Nixon Presidential Libraries and many other interesting places. One fascinating stop we made on the cruise was in Astoria Oregon, where the Lewis and Clark expedition spent the Winter of 1805.

One of my favorite trips was to Utah where I toured all five of the National Parks located in that state. I have toured many locations in states as far west as Colorado and as far North as North Dakota and as far South as Key West, Florida. While I was in Key west, Florida, I toured Earnest Hemingway’s home and museum, President Truman’s Little White House and took a tour boat to Dry Tortugas Island where Fort Jefferson is located. Fort Jefferson is the largest masonry structure in the Americas. It was constructed in the 1800s using sixteen million bricks.

America has so many interesting, educational, and beautiful places to see. As I was working on this puzzle, I watched it come together and was mentally revisiting some of the different trips I have made to these states. My memories and flash backs of these trips kept going even after I finished the puzzle. I felt emotionally drained from being so mentally involved in the revisiting. Excellent job Cobble Hill.

Elmer Prather
Canton, Georgia
U S A

Vintage American Postcards 1000 piece by Cobble Hill Creations