NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA'S BEST IDEA
Go west, young man. Manifest destiny, catch it. Fifty-four forty or fight! There’s a land grab coming. At least that’s what Speilberg told Fievel.
First to Vegas. Played a bit of tennis, visited the Neon Museum and a local public library. Textbook. That’s how you DO Vegas. Boom!
Next, we drove towards Zion National Park.
Ken Burn’s documentary claims national parks are America’s best idea. I for one was skeptical.
Have you tried fries? (Actually is that a French invention?)
Have you ever tried cheese fries? (Did Poutine originate in Canada?)
Whatever. You get the idea.
America has a lot of great inventions, but are national parks really the best?
Yes.
Yes.
A thousand times, yes!
In a world of constant partisan bickering, there is one middle ground we can all stand together on. Nature.
Nature is truly awe-inspiring, awe filling, really awesome. In short, nature is neat.
$80 buys an annual parks pass granting admission for two. If you are debating getting a pass, instead estimate the cost of Disney World, one day skiing or even just a night out for cocktails.
If you do buy a pass, please note the following:
At sites that charge vehicle entrance fees, the annual pass will cover entrance for one car. The pass covers two pass owners on foot who have signed the pass. If arriving on motorcycles, remember: one signature, one motorcycle; two signatures, two motorcycles.
The National Park Service celebrated its 103rd birthday, Sunday, August 25. On that day in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act into law, thereby establishing the National Park Service (NPS).
The National Park System includes 419 sites, covering more than 85 million acres throughout the country. In addition to 61 national parks, the system includes national monuments, national historical parks, national seashores, and more. The newest national park was established in February of this year, with the upgrade of Indiana Dunes from national lake shore to national park.
The NPS is managed by the Department of the Interior, previously headed by Ryan Zinke. Zinke resigned December 2018 after he came under at least 15 investigations, including: inquiries into his connection to a real estate deal involving a company that Interior regulates; whether he bent government rules to allow his wife to ride in government vehicles; and allowing a security detail to travel with him on a vacation to Turkey at considerable taxpayer cost.
Zinke’s replacement is David Bernhardt, who operates a similar agenda as Zinke. Bernhardt differs from Zinke in one way; he carries around a conflict of interest card.
WOW! You are good at scrolling.
Here is a quick summary:
National Parks are amazing. You should make an effort to visit or at least help protect our National Parks. If we allow our greatest national parks to fall into disrepair or be treated as mineral deposits we are squandering one of America’s greatest ideas.
“There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value.” - President Theodore Roosevelt