Behind the Stamp

Washington DC is home to a great amount of sites, memorials, fancy buildings, lack of votes in Congress, and taxes; one of these great sites is the World War II memorial, commemorating the lost lives in the war. A totem is there for every single state, with thousands of gold stars for the dead, surrounding a large fountain in the middle. The foliage and decor puts the memorial in direct view of the Lincoln Memorial, giving a very pretty This stamp shows the memorial against a sunset; this was only the planned version, as the actual memorial hadn't been finished yet. It was issued in Washington DC, on May 29, 2004, in zip code 20060, shown above. It's worth 37 US cents.

Enjoy the great outdoors, or at least virtually for now. This set features five stamps repeated twice on the paper. The stamps depict activities like building a sandcastle, cross-country skiing, hiking, biking, and canoeing. Fun fact: the full sheet for this stamp uses what I believe is the Rockwell Thin font. Please correct me if wrong. The stamp will be released on June 13, 2020, in Incline Village, NV; it has no set face value as it's a forever stamp. It was designed by Derry Noyes and Gregory Manchess. Stay home, and don't do any of the listed activities until at least July. Please don't.

Squaw Valley, California, was the host of the 1960 Winter Olympics, the 13th of it's kind. It's nomination was a surprise, considering it, in 1956, only had one lonely chair lift and was an unincorporated village, and that it beat the likes of Innsbruck (barely) and St. Moritz. Thirty countries came to participate in the Olympics that year. Today, you can still visit the location right next to Lake Tahoe and 30 miles from Reno as the crow flies, and 25 miles from Carson City as the crow flies. The stamp shows the Olympic rings over a snowflake, with all that under the words "XIII Winter Olympics", and is worth 4 US cents. On the side are the words "California 1960". At the bottom are the words "United States Postage". Shown: Single stamp (left), FDC Artcraft (bottom)

The Antarctic Treaty stamp was released on June 23, 1971 in Washington D.C., and was designed by Howard Koslow.. The face value is 8 US cents. It commemorates the ten year anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty, signed by twelve countries originally to promise to keep Antarctica for research purposes only. It shows a map of Antarctica, adjacent to the words "Antarctic Treaty- 1961-1971".

I love the design of this stamp. It depicts a photo by Art Wolfe, showing the Big Sur coastline, arguably one of the most breathtaking places in California. The text at the bottom says "California" in shiny letters, in an art-deco style font.. It was designed by Carl Hermann, and was released on September 8, 2000, in Sacramento, California 95813. California joined the Union on September 9, 1850. It's a 33 US cent commemorative stamp.

Four priority mail stamps were or are going to be released in the years of 2019/2020:  Joshua Tree - Released January 27, 2019. Depicts a Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) against a stack of boulders. Costs $7.35/stamp. Bethesda Fountain - Released January 27, 2019. Depicts the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park (NYC). Bethesda Fountain is one of the most famous structures and monuments in Central Park. Costs $25.50/stamp. Big Bend - expected release on January 18, 2020. Shows the Rio Grande runnning in a canyon. Costs $7.75/stamp. Grand Island Ice Caves - expected release on January 18, 2020. Shows the ice caves on Grand Island, near Munising, MI. Costs $26.35/stamp.

The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the greatest engineering feats in US history, with two sections meeting up at Promontory Point in Utah. That was in 1869. Operated by Union Pacific, it's still in good shape and freight trains run on it. The railroad was built by a variety of people, mostly immigrants, from anywhere you can think of. It's been 150 years since the 'Golden Spike' got hammered in, and USPS has released a new sheetlet to commemorate. The sheetlet shows two trains, the Jupiter and No. 119. They carried passengers to Promontory Point, the location of the Golden Spike. First released March 11, 2019.

In 1969, the Woodstock Music Festival was held in the small town of Bethel, New York. It was a three day party, with around 500,000 people in attendance! There were over thirty performers in Bethel, both famous and obscure. Woodstock is often said to be the most famous rock festival in history. It was a 'dramatic expression of youth counterculture'. And now, fifty years later, the USPS has created a sheetlet to commemorate the festival. It was first released on August 8, 2019 and was designed by Antonio Acala, art director.

In 2018, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system celebrated its 50th birthday, as it was founded in 1968. USPS made a sheetlet commemorating the NWSR's 50th birthday. They released a sheet of 12 stamps depicting different WSRs. In the background is the Merced River of California. It shows (on row 1) the Merced River, the Owyhee River, the Koyakuk River, (on row 2) the Niobrara River, Snake River, the Flathead River, (on row 3) the Missouri River, Skagit River, the Deschutes River, (on row 4) the Tlikakila River,   Ontonagon River, and the Clarion River. It's still commonly confused with the National Parks and Monuments, etc. The sheetlet was released on May 21, 2019 in Bend, Oregon.