Global Positions

Let's do some globe-trotting today--here are some out-of-this world items from my personal collection of globes, maps and cartography-related curios!  Above are a few of my vintage globes.

 I think Valentine's with globes or maps are the sweetest!  They are hard to find, though.

Detail of the graphics on a vintage game board called, "Game of the United States."

An older copy of Lucy Hammett's Texas Bingo game, found in a thrift store in Louisiana. Lucy Dittmar Hammett of Austin, Texas came up with the idea of Texas Bingo while playing Loteria, a Mexican picture bingo game, with her children. The illustrations on Lucy's other games such as Bug Bingo, Nature Bingo, and Texas Bingo are her own. Find out more about her games here.

A vintage lunar globe--from Etsy--made from metal, and mounted on a plastic stand.  It came with the original box and descriptive paper, too.  The Viewmaster reel, "Project Apollo," was published in 1964, and had artist's renderings of what  a lunar landing would look like--designed to excite young would-be astronauts!

I lived in Hawai'i from 1998 to 2001, so I have a number of vintage cartographic images of the islands.  This is a scan from a tourist brochure from the 1960s.

This is one of my favorite illustrated map images of Hawai'i, from a vintage tourist booklet. Each island is shown with it's official flower (the Hawai'ian names are in bold type).

 A couple summers past, I gave a "Global Positions" party for my husband's work associates.  The attendees were all Chevron employees with varied backgrounds and not everyone knew each other, so I needed a way to get people to talk.  The invitations were "passports" and each family was asked to bring a dish from their favorite country.  The party was a huge success--we had about 50 people and some really delicious food.  This was my coffee table centerpiece.  I put travel-related stuff all over the house and even hung a world map outside by the pool!

Travel Time

 Photoshop work done on a photo of a puzzle box graphic.

I'm excited about our summer travel plans--I've got trips planned to Waxahachie, New Braunfels (both in Texas) and to New York City and Washington, D.C.

This is not the license plate on my Red Van--it's a nifty hand-painted license plate I found at a Tomball, Texas Craft Mall.  While I am touring, I'll be gathering supplies and ideas for my ART.

While traveling, it's always important that you have maps and guidebooks.  BK (Before Kids) we used to lead friends in small caravans over the historic Mojave Road, which crosses the California desert between Needles and Barstow.  The Mojave Road Guide, by Dennis Casebier, is the definitive guide, with mile-by-mile narrative.  You can still travel most of the Mojave Road today,  but some areas we were fortunate enough to see are now off-limits.

After a long day of touring, you might want to check into a motel.  The Oasis has a great sign, but it's located right next to the West Bank Expressway in Gretna, Louisiana, so it might be a bit noisy.  Perhaps you'd rather go camping:

I always like to send postcards to friends while traveling.

And I generally buy some tacky souvenirs:



Of course, it's always nice to come back home:

Because I can have plenty of adventures right at home!

What are your plans for summer travel?  Leave me a comment and let me know!  I might have an image in my ephemera collection that would be perfect for your post-trip scrapbook.