Money gets fishy

Voting has begun on the upcoming Washington state quarter. The options are, shall we say, a little odd. (Use the little arrows under the one image to see the other two.)

The first option looks like eleventy billion other state quarters, kind of a crazy quilt of state symbols and images. There's the state outline, as if it's uniquely cool on its own (it's not). There's an apple, because -- hey! we grow 'em! (Along with a ton of other states). There's a mountain! Ooh, look out, Colorado and Utah! There's a creepy looking salmon, because it's the one food people are supposed to think of when they think of us.

The second option takes some of those symbols and just uncrowds things a bit. There's that salmon, but instead of looking like he's been served up on a plate, he's leaping out of the water, as if mocking the state's fishermen: Can't catch me! There's Mount Rainier, the legendary monster volcano that's eventually going to cover us all with ash, looking so tiny that the salmon could easily block it out. And there's a row of trees, and the state motto, "Evergreen State," because it's just such a damn catchy slogan.

The third one -- well, it's definitely different. It's supposedly an orca (whale, to those who don't remember the seedy 1970s movie), done in what I guess is a traditional Northwest Native American style. Some people love this style. I'm not one of them. I think it looks more like a video-game token than actual cash currency. I kind of think that, were it chosen, it would quickly become the laughingstock of the quarters, with even lame designs like New Hampshire's Big Ol' Rock With a Face snickering at it behind their hands.