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07/19/2008 - 2:42amSummertime: What National Parks Are On Your "Must Visit" List?Kirby, I'm not surprised that you enjoyed Congaree National Park. It's one of the best kept secrets east of the Mississippi. I'm a bit biased, I must admit. It's my home park, and I was part of the small (but tenacious) grassroots campaign that saved that magnificent river bottom hardwood ...
07/17/2008 - 6:56pmNational Park System Quiz 11: Blue and GrayAnon: The decisive Union victory occurred in New Mexico, and that is what the quiz item states. There isn't room in a quiz item to deal with every nuance. I don't dispute your facts.
07/17/2008 - 3:41amProposed Redesignation of Golden Gate National Recreation Area to Golden Gate National Parks Worries Dog WalkersAnon, I'm sorry, but I'm just not going to "rank" Directors. Even if I could do that objectively (a tricky task), it wouldn't take me or Traveler in a direction we want to go.
07/17/2008 - 3:30amWhere Are the Best Sunrises in the National Park System?Kirby, I've always thought that shoreline vantage points on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan only offered great sunsets. Is the east side of North Manitou so far offshore that all you can see on the horizon when you look east is Lake Michigan? If so, I've been fooled by ...
07/16/2008 - 11:19amProposed Redesignation of Golden Gate National Recreation Area to Golden Gate National Parks Worries Dog WalkersSteve, I've visited GGNRA many times over the past 27 years. During the course of numerous conversations with rangers, visitors, and Bay Area residents (including the occasional nude walker I've encountered while doing the B2B) I've come to know a thing or two about The City, GGNRA, and GGNRA visitors. ...
07/16/2008 - 2:20amProposed Redesignation of Golden Gate National Recreation Area to Golden Gate National Parks Worries Dog WalkersBeamis: Whether in war or peace, good times or bad, Congress should always find the time and wherewithal to attend to the essential needs of the National Park System. Think what kind of National Park System we'd have if Congress dealt with national park issues only after solving all of ...
07/15/2008 - 4:06pmProposed Redesignation of Golden Gate National Recreation Area to Golden Gate National Parks Worries Dog WalkersMike, I'm afraid that I'm not much help. Sandy and I are cat people. Cats don't listen, and leashes aren't relevant to their way of thinking about the world and their position in it. Perhaps there's a dog whisperer out there who could help sort out this voice command thing? ...
07/15/2008 - 3:32pmProposed Redesignation of Golden Gate National Recreation Area to Golden Gate National Parks Worries Dog WalkersBeamis, as near as I can determine, the rationale for the redesignation is "to elevate the park's status."
07/15/2008 - 9:55amProposed Redesignation of Golden Gate National Recreation Area to Golden Gate National Parks Worries Dog WalkersMRC, I certainly didn't mean to imply that the dog walking issue was the most important of the managerial issues that are likely to get special attention when this redesignation occurs. That said, there isn't any question that Bay Area dog owners consider the off-leash privilege to be something worth ...
07/14/2008 - 1:14pmPark History: Would There Have Been a Mesa Verde National Park Without Virginia McClurg?Thanks for the helpful comments, Mary. As you doubtlessly surmised, I am very appreciative of the work that Virginia McClurg did in behalf of Mesa Verde preservation. It's a shame that historians haven't treated her more kindly. As for my travels, well, I don't get around very much these days. ...
07/03/2008 - 9:21amWhat do People Take Home from a Visit to Gettysburg National Military Park?I can't be sure, Jim, but I strongly suspect that the trees you saw were some of those slated for clearing needed to restore the sightlines of the July 1863 battlefield. The Park Service planned to remove trees (some? all?) from nearly 600 acres (that's almost one square mile) in ...
07/03/2008 - 7:01amNational Park History: Renaming National Parks Can Show Respect for Native CulturesDarn it, MRC. I TOLD you I didn't want to know! :-)
07/03/2008 - 4:22amNational Park History: Renaming National Parks Can Show Respect for Native CulturesGotta love that U.S. Board of Geographic Names. They do a great job of vetting place name changes. My favorite Board decision was the renaming of a western place called Whorehouse Flats, which is now called Naughty Lady Meadow. At least that's the story as it was told to me. ...
07/03/2008 - 2:59amNational Park History: Renaming National Parks Can Show Respect for Native CulturesYou make an interesting point, MCR, but at the risk of blowing a fuse on the weaselspeak-o-meter I will point out that Denali is not celebrating a birthday this month like those two other parks are. ;-) Another thing, MCR. Can you tell me why Congress, in its infinite wisdom, ...
07/03/2008 - 1:10amSenators Willing to Legislate Clean Air Over National Parks if EPA Does Protect AirshedsPigeon Forge, TN, is a monument to bad taste. Please answer me this: If there is a God, why did He let Pigeon Forge happen?
07/02/2008 - 5:05pmNational Park System Quiz 9: The American RevolutionWhy, of course I can name them. And their spouses and children and pets, too. Don't want to spoil a good quiz item, though, so I'm not going to share that information here.
07/02/2008 - 11:30amNational Park System Quiz 9: The American RevolutionRangertoo, your comments highlight at least two quite troubling issues. One is the need to quit perpetuating historic myth. Here at Traveler we want to avoid passing along bad information, so we really appreciate it when you help us sort fact from myth. I really mean that. Another problem is ...
07/02/2008 - 7:49amNational Park System Quiz 9: The American RevolutionRangertoo: I’m not sure I understand your first point. Guess I’m feeling a little dense today. (Maybe I’ve caught the National Geographic best list disease?) I thought I had my bases covered when I said “…signed in 1776” without specifying day and month. Or were you referring to something else? ...
06/30/2008 - 6:01am“10 Best National Parks”? National Geographic, You Have Got to be Kidding!Mookie, if even half of what you say about National Geographic operations is true (and I have no reason to doubt it), we should be including National Geographic in our nightly prayers. That noble institution has gotten itself into a deep hole and is still furiously digging.
06/30/2008 - 3:39amPark History: Would There Have Been a Mesa Verde National Park Without Virginia McClurg?The initial version of this article contained a serious mistake, which has been corrected. I stated that Mesa Verde National Park was proclaimed by President Theodore Roosevelt using powers granted by the Antiquities Act, whereas the park was actually created via Congressional legislation signed into law by President Roosevelt. That's ...
06/29/2008 - 10:07am“10 Best National Parks”? National Geographic, You Have Got to be Kidding!Sorry, MRC, but saying "if you go by the codes" is a non-starter. The codes are dismayingly unreliable indicators of national park status. There are at least eight instances in which the Park Service has given the same code to two different National Park System units. You've mentioned SEKI, and ...
06/29/2008 - 6:09amComment Period For Revised Gun Regulations for National Parks About to CloseJ Longstreet might be the right guy to ask a question that has bugged me for a long time. Which should it be: Pickett's Charge, or Longstreet's Assault? The NPS can't seem to make up its mind. :-)
06/29/2008 - 5:30am“10 Best National Parks”? National Geographic, You Have Got to be Kidding!Sabattis, this is what I said in the original version of the article: [quote]My criteria say that Santa Fe National Historic Trail shouldn’t even have been made a national park, for crying out loud, much less given a place among the ten best.[/quote] So you see, I did originally give ...
06/29/2008 - 5:19amPark History: Olympic National ParkThanks for the feedback. Olympic is a truly special place that deserves all the praise it gets. I'm curious; have high fuel prices caused you to cut back on your RV travel lately? Do you think there will be lots fewer RVers in the national parks this summer?
06/29/2008 - 3:19am“10 Best National Parks”? National Geographic, You Have Got to be Kidding!Sabattis, thanks for the reminder about Santa Fe National Historic Trail. My weaselspeak excuse is that I was lulled by the fact that the trail has a code (SAFE) like a regular national park does. Thank goodness you were not similarly stupefied. If you will look at the article again, ...
06/27/2008 - 3:19amComment Period For Revised Gun Regulations for National Parks About to CloseFrank, let's make it clear to Traveler readers WHICH debate is over. The Supreme Court ruling clarifies that the Second Amendment extends to individuals, not just to militia, the right to bear arms. The debate over that matter (individuals vs. militia) is over. But you didn't mention, Frank, that the ...
06/26/2008 - 2:40amYellowstone National Park Relocates the 45th ParallelIf you want something really weird, contemplate the fact that the Northern Hemisphere 45th parallel most emphatically does NOT mark the halfway point to the North Pole! The actual halfway point is about ten miles north of the 45th parallel. That's because Earth is not a perfect sphere. Due to ...
06/25/2008 - 10:11amNational Park System Quiz 8: FirstsI know you want to college, Sabattis, so I have to ask you this; Are any of your professors still alive? I mean, are there any that you didn't drive to suicide?
06/25/2008 - 5:49amNational Park System Quiz 8: FirstsJeez, Sabattis, now I gotta take ten minutes out of a busy day just to deal with your questions and make sure my weaselspeak is as bulletproof as I can make it. :-) Don't be downtrodden that you missed #1. Until now only four people in the world, all of ...
06/23/2008 - 2:30amNational Park System Quiz 7: IslandsThat's great to hear. Looks like Apostle Islands National Lakeshore may be due for an onslaught of visitors. (That should make Bayfield C/C happy.) Got room for 'em all? BTW, do I have to buy Outdoor Life to read the article that rates APIS the number one park?
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