National Park

The Google art thing for today is honoring the 123rd anniversary of the creation of Yosemite National Park. It's the second oldest, after Yellowstone, and one of the most majestic places on earth. Being conveniently located about half-way between San Francisco and Los Angeles, but far enough away that you kind of have to want to go there, the place is visited by thousands every year.

National parks are America's gift to itself. We, the people, set aside these areas to protect, preserve, and enjoy them, making sure that they're available for our own use, but also for future generations as well. It's one of America's best ideas, and one that is important to the legacy of conservation, environmental protection, and wildlife preservation. It was in a National Park that I first started feeling my own desire to become interested in the environment and its preservation.

I have been to many National Parks and Monuments, and they're all incredibly lovely. The National Parks Service deserves great credit for what they do. Having the dual mandate to preserve and protect, and also provide access to, the natural beauty, the Service is faced with difficult and often conflicting challenges. They handle these things well, however, carefully balancing the need to keep the places clean and natural with the need to help people become aware of the beauty that is there.

Today the National Parks are closed due to the political wrangling going on in Washington. Because it's well into the fall and slow season, I'd imagine not many are going to be affected by this closure - as opposed to say Memorial Day weekend. But it highlights the importance of these places. Even if we cannot go visit today, we can still explore online and discover new and exciting places to go visit. It's fun to plan trips out to these great natural treasures and dream about what it would be like to be there.

And perhaps, in the meantime, Congress can get itself sorted. :) We can only hope.