I heart the National Park Service.

(Or... Yes, that is actually how we Reeds spend our days off.)

"National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst." -- Wallace Stegner


Some personal highlights:

• Night tour of Mammoth Cave (during a tornado)
  
• Camping in Acadia
  
• Best. Guide. Ever. at Adams
  
• Hiking in Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef
  
• Rafting in Yellowstone
  
• Sunset at the Grand Canyon
  
• Conservation at the Everglades
• Boot Mills at Lowell
  
• Iron Works at Saugus
  
• Counting roadkill in Saguaro (bet you've never done that for a ward service project)
  
• School trips to Mesa Verde and Casa Grande and Montezuma Castle
  
• Poetry at Longfellow
  
• Communing with Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Adams, Kennedy, etc.
  
• National Park passports
  
• Gettysburg roadtrip with Em
  
• Christmas pictures at Organ Pipe
  
• Minute Man with Saskia
  
• Getting lost on the Freedom Trail (a big red line painted on the ground)
  
• Potty breaks at Glen Canyon
  
• Jamestown in the sweltering heat
  
• Plymouth in the freezing rain (on Thanksgiving, of course)
  
• Memorials at night (and also the time we didn't because I was throwing up on the beltway)
  
• Et al.
  

With many more to come. When I retire, I want to be a park ranger.

(In the meantime, if anyone wants to spend 12 hours of their life watching Ken Burns' newest documentary on the National Parks when it releases in September... just let me know. He has researched the story for 10 years, spent 6 years on the photography, and it cost more than any other project Burns has done. Should be great. Nerds unite.)