Happy Birthday NPS

"We live on electronic media and often spend days seeing nothing but pixels. The [National] parks remind us life should be better than that. We can be strong and independent, self-reliant and brave. They remind us that Earth was not meant to be paved, and we were not meant to be the sole inhabitants of it, that true beauty does not hang on walls, but is ever-changing, unpredictable, dangerous, and awesome."
~Nevada Barr

I've used this quote before, and it is one of my favorites because it so eloquently describes what National Parks are. Hand it to a writer to put it down perfectly. National Parks are also a place where one can still stand in awe of something and feel like one is discovering something for the very first time. It is easy to understand how John Hillman must have felt when he came up over the side of the mountain to see Crater Lake. We discover it the same way today. I mean we arrived in a car and drove later to a hotel, but the visual discovery was the same.  National Parks hold wonders that we don't see in our everyday life, and they preserve the vast places of America. 

Our traveling adventures started as nothing more than a chance for mother and daughter to travel. In fact, they did not include National Parks until 2003. Of course, before then we had been to Mount Rainier and Hawaii Volcanoes, but those are like our backyard, not actual destinations. Yes, I get that one of those is Hawaii, but we have a long familial relationship with the place.  It's less vacation and more like a piece of home.

Exploration run in both the Rawlinson and Acton blood, thus, probably answering the question for sure about nature vs nurture.  We often mused about completing a National Park visitation map that includes several generations.  For now, we are working on our own.  On the birthday of the National Park system, we finally filled out our park map. Of 59 parks, we have, together, been to...16.  ???  The discovery felt like a deflated balloon, not a celebration. National Parks have become a part of who we are and what we value. How have we seen so few?  Of course, several courses were plotted, and plans were made. I wonder where T & L will end up next?  While you wait, here are a few of our favorite memories.  

Favorite Remote Picture (we do like these more than selfies!)
Ann: Great Smokey Mountains

Erica: Bryce Canyon


Favorite Park (if one can pick a favorite)
Ann:  Probably Haleakala.  (Erica frowns). Because of all the different ecosystems we went through and the interesting plants, like the silver sword.  Or..Crater Lake. Definitely Crater Lake.  (Erica's eyebrows go up).
Erica: Which is the one that had the ladder? (Ann frowns). Mesa Verde!  I loved the ruins. And I was glad you didn't fall off that ladder.  ;)

Favorite National Park experience
Ann:  Hiking the Narrows was the best. Crater Lake was amazing with Wizard Island too.  But the Narrows was physically challenging and amazing. So amazing.
Erica:  I was going to say the Narrows! I will say biking down Haleakala. That really was fun (terrifying too when I didn't have brakes, but that just added to the thrill!).  ;)

Favorite or Weirdest Motel
Ann: The weirdest was probably at Great Basin - that B&B. It was sort of lodgy, and they were getting carpet replaced...
Erica: Oh yeah - very B&B. Less like a motel, and more like someone's guest room.  

Worst Road (there are very few good roads...)
Ann: Between Deadwood and Mount Rushmore. Remember the deer? And it was curvy and dark. So stressful! I know it's not a National Park, but we were visiting National Monuments.
Erica: Where did we land on Kennicott Mine? Is that part of a park or a National Monument? That road was washboard and never ended. Never. Ended.

Park You'd go back To
Ann: Bryce. We didn't see enough of that park. 
Erica: I always want to say Arches.  

A Park You've Seen Enough Of
Ann: I guess, the Badlands.  
Erica:  Um, hello. Great Smokey Mountains. I would like another run at the signage on the other side of Gatlinburg. I'm still processing some of that.

Favorite Wildlife Moment
Ann:  Was that in a park when we went through that herd of buffalo? We must have been on the way to one!
Erica:  We have seen far too many Europeans enamored taking pictures of squirrels, and not enough buffalo!

Favorite or Weirdest Small Town
Ann: Makawao. Remember at the bottom of Haleakala where we got that great donut in that questionable shop? That place was weird.
Erica: I'm still in Cherokee Nation on the other side of Gatlinburg. Weird.

Favorite Historical Info
Ann: That there were bristlecone pines in Great Basin. I thought they were just in the Sierra Nevadas in California. And I was sad that we couldn't see them.
Erica: Okay... That is your "historical" information? Sigh. I guess there wasn't a plant question, so fair enough.  Although you already worked in plants in one other question!  My favorite information is on the big TR. I love that guy. I love that we see traces of him in so many parks and continue to learn about how he helped protect so much of our national treasures. 

Favorite NPS site (monument, landmark, memorial etc.)
Ann: Lincoln Memorial.  At night.  :) 
Erica: There's so much! Mount Rushmore. No -- National Mall.  Or Devil's Tower.  Nope -- you're right. Lincoln Memorial is something special. 

The Place that Took Your Breath Away
Ann: Crater Lake. That water was so blue. 
Erica: Grand Canyon. (At this point in the narrative, Thelma has started a geology monologue...).  

I really want to go...
Ann: Acadia National Park in Maine.
Erica: I really want to go to Katmai. Oh -- actually, I really want to go to Teddy Roosevelt in North Dakota. Buffalo!!!

Favorite Park Picture
Ann: Saguaro National Park

Erica: Zion National Park


Until next time...Find Your Park!!!