Postcard of the Week: Classic Motel

Even though most of us travel by RV these days, many of us, me included, once stayed in motels. Nowadays, you hardly ever find a "motel." Instead, they're hotels, inns, lodges, and even motor hotels and motor lodges. Anything but "motel" (Motel 6 the exception). This week's postcard typifies the motel design of three or four decades ago -- one level, pool in the middle, and female guest ever so proper with her bathing cap. This postcard is of the Sacramento Motel in North Sacramento, Calif.

A tulip with a message

About 60 miles north of Seattle is the Skagit Valley, home to the largest tulip growing area in the USA. For about two weeks every spring before the tulips are harvested, the public is invited to walk through the stunning landscape of reds, pinks, purples, whites and yellows -- the colors of the magnificent flowers. When I saw this red tulip all by itself in a field of yellow ones, two words popped into my head: "Be different!" Of the countless tulips I was seeing, only one stood apart. And isn't that the way it is with people, too? I want to be the red tulip.

Postcard of the Week: Man or Beast?

Is Jake the Alligator Man for real? At Marsh's Free Museum in Long Beach, Wash., visitors wonder. He's enclosed in a glass case so you can't touch. But people approach the case all day long, staring, not quite knowing for sure. Legend has it that Jake is half human, half alligator, which certainly seems a stretch as in "how the heck could that happen without the human getting eaten?" Anyway, Jake postcards are popular items at the checkout stand as are Jake bumper stickers and tee-shirts. Across the street is a small park with the "World's Largest Frying Pan." Long Beach is on a long, thin peninsula on the southwest coast of Washington. The peninsula's wide beach is an official state highway, so you can drive your car or RV right on it.

Postcard of the Week: Big rabbits Out West!

Yup, they sure do have big jack rabbits Out West! Why, they're so big you can ride 'em, just like this cowpoke is doing in this untouched, 100 percent authentic postcard photograph. And we'll tell you a little secret: it's darn tough to catch one of these big rodents! Those big ol' bunny ears can hear ya coming for a mile or better, and as amazing as that sounds, it's the honest truth. And, as you know, the honest truth is a whole lot more believeable than the dishonest truth!