Earlier this summer I participated in a postcard swap over at Shutter Sisters. I got matched with a very lovely woman named Katherine in Ottawa. Our agreement was that we would exchange, by snail mail, a postcard of the city where we live and then later, a postcard of a photo we had each taken.
Since I live in the middle of California, about an hour in either direction from San Francisco and Yosemite (more like two hours of driving time up the mountains), I had thought about sending Katherine a postcard from these pretty places. But everyone has seen, somewhere, a photo of San Francisco and Yosemite--the Golden Gate Bridge and Half Dome, respectively. Very iconic images. Instead, I turned to the postcard rack at the Walgreen's next to my office. Who knew? There were postcards of San Francisco and Yosemite, of course, and Stockton's UOP and the Capitol in Sacramento. Of course, there were no postcards of this town I live in so I decided on Modesto just south of where I live but where I work.
That's the Modesto Arch at 9th & I streets. It was built in 1912, inspired by the Modesto Business Men's Association as an ornamental and electric arch across I Street.
And this is the postcard I received from Katherine:
I've never been to Ottawa but doesn't it look beautiful?
I guess that's the point of postcards--makes you want to be there.
