Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Ken Burns national parks day2









Here's a couple more pictures from a national park we were able to visit.  This one is on the island of Maui.  It's called Haleakala

This is my second post inspired by the PBS series The National Parks: America's Best Idea by Ken Burns.

This second night of the series did NOT jump to this Maui park, but I couldn't quickly get my finger on pictures from places they did cover.  Two places they covered in the second episode were Mt. Rainier  and the Grand Canyon.  We visited those places  before I used a digital camera.  I need to scan those pictures which involves digging them out and setting up the scanner.  I'm a little lazy at times.

Also, I'm not a morning person.  When my wife strongly (no option type of idea) suggested that we sign-up for the bike ride down the volcano, I thought cool, do they have an afternoon run?  Well I failed to catch-on that watching sunrise was part of the big deal.  (sunrise gets my mind thinking of tequila sunrise and well you where that goes)

I tried to convince her that sunset and sunrise are basically the same you just look in the opposite direction.  Didn't work.

Two things on the downside of this idea:
  1. it starts in the middle of night - a van picks you up at the hotel (our pickup was 2 or 3 am)
  2. it's cold on top of a volcano at 5 in the morning (wife still teases me about not dressing properly)
One great thing about this idea:
  1. really cool, exciting, fun, all downhill - just a blast
The bottom picture is also from this same park but on a different day and very different location.  The park goes all the way to the ocean where the beautiful seven sacred pools can be seen.  We hiked up to see the waterfalls.  It was very very muddy that day but the views were worth the effort.

Back to the PBS program -
In the second episode the continuing story shows how conflicting views and political influence make national parks controversial at times.  You also learn about the difference between a national park vs. a national monument.  The big difference - our President can declare a place a national monument without any say from congress.  The Grand Canyon started as a national monument.

I'm enjoying the series.  It certainly devotes much of the time explaining the history behind the parks.  If you were JUST looking for scenes from the parks then you might be disappointed.





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8 comments:

nursemyra said...

Nice photos

Bill Lisleman said...

@nursemyra - thanks for stopping by

Lisa said...

Beautiful pictures lisleman! And I think the bicycle thing is cute and romantic :)

Fantastic Forrest said...

Incredible sunrise. Don't feel you have to unearth your pics of Mt. Rainier on my account - I live very close! :)

Yay for Burns talking about the history of the parks. If only the noisy teabaggers of this country could appreciate the incredible value in supporting government and public monies spent on things that benefit us all...sigh.

Bill Lisleman said...

@ocean girl - thanks - maybe I should have expanded on the bicycle story. It was a well run operation and ranks right up there with snorkeling with turtles for the highlights.

@FF - Mt. Rainier pictures - hmm I wish I could just hop on a plane, go in the park and take some more. I noticed a nice picture of the lodge you had on your blog.
Of course there is an organized group behind that noise. Often people tire of noise and just turn it off, I hope so.

Mrs4444 said...

This was a cute post. I love national parks, but I can relate--I prefer to sleep in! :)

lisleman said...

Thanks for checking out the link.  Were you surprised by the new colors?
I'm glad I had the comment system working for you.
thans

Mrs4444 said...

Yes! I forgot to mention that--It's gorgeous in here :)

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