When my nephew, Cole, was a about 12, we decided it would be fun if he visited every town in the state of Washington.  To document his travels, he has his picture taken in front of the post office in each town.  He’s now 16 and he isn’t finished yet, but this has been lots of fun and meant lots of trips to different parts of the state.  Recently, he and my sister, Sally, did a loop through the southeastern part of the state.  As you’ll see, post offices vary greatly.  Here are some highlights!

Pullman had a huge post office, with covered parking—covered by the building!

Some cities have lovely, old buildings like this one in Walla Walla.  I love the arched windows.

Clarkston’s was very nice, too.  For those of you who don’t know, Clarkston lies at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers, and is opposite Lewiston, Idaho.  The towns were named, of course, for our friends Lewis and Clark!

Here’s another classic post office—this one in Colfax, population 2800!

There are a lot of post offices that look like the were built in the 1960′s and 70′s.  I’m not too familiar with Royal City, but every time I go to Five Guys Burgers it seems like the white board announces that potatoes for their fries are from Royal City!

Too bad those 60′s and 70′s government buildings weren’t as architecturally interesting as the earlier ones.  They commonly have these applied letters identifying the building as the post office, listing the town name and the zip code.  Sally pointed out that they must have only given Rosalia one “1″ for their zip, since they had to use and “i” or and “l” on the sign!

Connell was overrun with bronze critters.

Apparently the most noteworthy event in Connell was the flood of 1907, commemorated with a mural.

Hmm, the Dayton post office is also identified as a “Federal Building.”  Aren’t all post offices federal buildings?  Do you suppose they hold court there, too?

They had a charming courthouse in Dayton, the Columbia County seat.

Pomeroy is also a county seat, and while the post office is rather average….

…they, too, had a great court house.

Wallula didn’t even get individual letters for their sign.  This seems to be the new trend in post office signs.

This was the view across from the post office – the Columbia River.

This area is called The Columbia Basin and produces a lot of grain.

Poor little Starbuck really got cheated in the sign department!

This is the post office in Eltopia, not to be confused with Utopia!

I think Touchet’s post office is very cute!

So is the one in Anatone!

Welcome to Anatone!

No gas today.

Dixie has a tiny post office, but then, it’s a tiny town.  Population 197.

Kahlotus isn’t far behind with 193 people.  I don’t know how many dogs, cats, etc.!  It does have adorable, small buildings, though.

The tiny city hall was open…

…but the jail was empty.  No crime in Kahlotus, perhaps.

I’m not sure if this was the church or schoolhouse—perhaps both!

They even had a tiny library!

Their book mobile drove up as Sally and Cole were leaving.  Isn’t it wonderful?

For a little perspective, here’s a long view with a grain elevator in the background.  If the building didn’t look small before….

Uniontown…

…had the best city government buildings!

I think the Mesa post office may have been converted from some other use.

Steptoe had a combination post office/antique/new and used store!

Poor Beverly didn’t even get their name on their post office!

Oh no!  The post office was totally missing in Washtucna!

Hope you enjoyed the tour.