Beyond the Scenery

Park News

Get ready to celebrate America’s 250^th birthday in the national parks!

         In November, 1775 the British still held Boston in a siege. As George Washington and other Continental Army commanders pondered how the break the hold. For one thing, they needed more weaponry. Colonel Henry Knox had a brilliant suggestion: what about the cannons and other artillery left behind by the British when the patriot fighters took over New York’s Fort Ticonderoga earlier in the year?

         That same month, Washington dispatched Knox to retrieve what was left in the fort. Joining them were the heroes of that take-over, Benedict Arnold and the Green Mountain Boys, led by Ethan Allen.

         The problem, as you can imagine, lugging 59 cannon and mortars back to Boston. But in 56 days, Knox and the others did, moving the artillery 300 miles, using heavy sleds and teams of oxen, and arriving in Boston in January 1776.

         Stay tuned for my March post, in which I relate the rest of the story…

         Also that January, the pamphlet Common Sense was published, at first anonymously, but its author was soon identified as Thomas Paine. He was born in England, yet became a staunch supporter of American independence.

         In his 47-page leaflet, which sold an astonishing 500,000 copies, Paine emphasized not just resistance, but breaking off from Great Britain and forming a new nation. As an author of a book about Paine put it, “He encouraged [the colonists] to realize they weren’t British, they were Americans.”

         Common Sense also put more pressure on the Continental Congress to take the final step of formally declaring independence.

Great places to go in the Park Service in Winter

• Yellowstone National Park, which straddles Wyoming and Montana, has about 10,000 geothermal features, including around half the world’s geysers. features in the world, and in the icy cold, the hot steam arising from them is a spectacular sight.
• New Jersey’s Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park creates a dazzling display of shimmering ice and frosty mist when temps plummet.
   
• Full moon hikes are popular in Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, held every month in the year, but through March, you can do so wearing snowshoes; rent them at a venue just outside the park (the snowpack depth must be greater than 16”, though).
  
• And now for a warm one: Death Valley National Park’s brutal heat abates in the winter, with the thermostat usually hovering around 60-70 degrees, although overnights can dip into the freezing zone. The season’s cool, crisp air means it’s a great time to observe the night skies. Another plus at this California spot during January-February is less visitors.

Free Days!

         More days in 2026 in which to enter those National Park Service sites that charge admission:

• • Presidents Day, February 16
  • Memorial Day, May 25
  • Flag Day, June 14
  • Independence Day weekend, July 3-5
  • The 110^th birthday of the Park Service, August 25
  • Constitution Day, September 17, the anniversary of its signing in 1787
• • Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, October 27; as president, he greatly expanded the number of recreational lands in the U.S.
  • Veterans Day, November 11

What I’m working on in 2026

         One thing is a book on praising God, a non-fiction book. A project that I’ve been doing, on and off for a looong time, is an historical fiction book inspired by my great-grandfather’s flight from Germany. It’s a story very dear to my heart, and I’m determined to pitch it to my editor this year. Below are the opening paragraphs. Do you think this is something you'd read? Let me know!

Rudi stood on the rain-washed deck, wincing as his hands gripped the worn wooden edge, still damp from the squall that had moved in earlier. Though hardened from farming, his palms ached after only two days at sea. Shoveling a seemingly limitless supply of coal into the voracious fire deep in the Europa’s belly for hours on end was like nothing he’d ever experienced before.

There was no more land, just water as far as he could see, disturbed only by the boat making its way through the now-smooth surface, leaving little white, foamy waves in its wake. He watched idly as birds, their wings spread wide, swooped and dived in search of fish.

His old world was gone. He wouldn’t see another speck of solid earth again for another fifteen days, maybe longer if more bad weather followed them across the Atlantic Ocean.

His eyes shifted to the horizon, the sun slowly dropping into the ocean, and impatiently brushed away the wisp of hair persistently blowing in his eyes. At least the ship wasn’t pitching up and down as much as before, and his stomach had settled down—for now. Gaining his sea legs was another story. His fellow fireman, especially the sour-breathed Franz, and other seasoned seamen enjoyed poking fun at his unsteady footing while he worked. They laughed even more at his drunken-like gait as he lurched from one handhold to the next along the narrow corridors as the ship navigated the rolling sea.

A cool breeze rippled over his bare arms and sweat-soaked body, carrying a light ocean spray, a welcome relief to his heat-scorched cheeks. Despite the balmy, pleasant evening, though, he couldn’t stop the shiver that ran through him. The terror of the previous week was too fresh in his mind.

In this precious, secluded spot on the boat, in the fading light of a July twilight in 1870, Rudi deliberately shut out the distant shouts of the crew, the three enormous, snapping canvas sails high above him, and the massive paddlewheels’ deep groanings. He shook his head slightly, hardly believing that instead of helping his father in the fields, he was hundreds of kilometers away, on his way to a place he’d never dreamed of, not knowing what would happen when he got there. He’d never sought adventure, never craved anything but what he had. Yet now he found himself on the run.

Happy New Year!

         When Solomon considered life’s seemingly endless sameness in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, he lamented, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  But his summary is this: “I know that there is no good but for one to rejoice, and to do good in this life. And also that everyone should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all one’s labor, it is the gift of God…Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear [Reverence] God and keep His commandments: for this is our duty” (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13, 12:13; see also 3:22, 5:18-20, 9:7-10).

We find comfort in the dependable rhythms of life, yet we also crave the new and different as well. And God understands that. Revelation 21:5 says, “He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’” A new start doesn’t come just on January 1—God makes every moment new.

And Jesus showed us a “new and living way” to a close relationship with Him (Hebrews 10:20). Because of Him, we can walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4) any time of the year. And that is my prayer for you, that if you haven’t already, you would ask the Lord for the new spirit He longs to give you (Ezekiel 11:19).

Park News

The federal government shutdown

         Not all the 433 National Park Service sites are closed, but several former park superintendents wish they were. In a letter sent to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, they noted that during past shutdowns, when some parks stayed open despite limited staff, there were more incidents of vandalism, trash piled up, and visitor safety was compromised. With the newest personnel reductions (25% of the National Park Service’s permanent employees, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, it’s sure to happen again.

The changing of the leaves

        If you crave seeing the fall foliage in our parks, Travel + Leisure and Forbes have some ideas for you. Check first to make sure the sites are open, and what the hours are.

It's not even Halloween but the Christmas stuff is already out

I started seeing it mid-September!

The Park Service has to work that far in advance for the annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. This is held on the Ellipse, part of the Park Service’s White House and President’s Park. As of today, information about the lottery for tickets to this the event hasn’t been posted yet, but keep checking the site if you’re interested in attending.

One hundred years for Mount Rushmore National Memorial

         A century ago, on October 1, 1925, the area in South Dakota’s Black Hills where four presidential faces would be carved was dedicated as a national monument. The actual sculpting, conceived and begun by Gutzon Borglum, didn’t begin until two years later. Read more about its construction here.

By the way, do you know why Borglum chose those specific Commanders-in Chief, and what each stands for? Washington, the most prominent figure, embodies America’s founding, Jefferson, its growth (think Louisiana Purchase), Lincoln the country’s preservation, and Theodore Roosevelt its development.

Mount Rushmore continues to be a sore subject with the Lakota Sioux. The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie returned the Black Hills, known by the Native Americans as Paha Sapa, to the Sioux. In exchange for giving up thousands of acres of land, they were “allowed” to relocate their reservation there, a sacred space for them. That pact was never rescinded so it remains valid, but obviously was never enforced. The reason? Gold was found in them there hills. FYI: Wyoming’s Fort Laramie is a national historic site in the Park Service.

Some of you may remember the 1970 American Indian Movement protest at Mount Rushmore about this issue. AIM leaders Dennis Banks (pictured) and Russell Means led the demonstration.

The lead-up to America’s 250^th birthday in our national parks

         In July 1775, the Continental Congress adopted what’s called the Olive Branch Petition (note John Hancock’s large signature, just as is on the Declaration of Independence). The paper aired the American patriots’ grievances, and entreated King George III to resolve the crisis between Great Britain and the colonies.

         The King didn’t even bother to read the petition. But what he did do was issue a proclamation the following month, declaring the revolt in American was the work of those “misled by dangerous and ill-designing men”…who forget “the allegiance which they owe to the power that has protected and sustained them…by open and avowed rebellion.”

         During this month 250 years ago, in an address at the opening of Parliament, King George offered his own magnanimous olive branch: “When the unhappy and deluded multitude [in America] become sensible of their error, I shall be ready to receive the misled with tenderness and mercy.”

         The song “You’ll Be Back” from the musical Hamilton is based on this speech, sung by the character of King George.

         Following the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, British soldiers occupied by Boston in a standoff between them and the patriot troops. This eleven-month period became known as the Siege of Boston.

         Since July 1775, after being appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington was stationed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in what's now the Park Service’s Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site (yes, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow later lived there). In October that same year, by his own authority and at his own expense, Washington organized a small fleet to fend off British ships trying to resupply their dug-in soldiers. On the schooners, he hoisted this pine tree flag.

         This banner is also known as the Appeal to Heaven flag. The phrase, which has seen a resurgence in recent years, comes from English political philosopher John Locke’s writings of 1689: “Where the body of the people, or any single man, is deprived of their right, or is under the exercise of a power without right, and have no appeal on earth, then they have a liberty to appeal to heaven.”

Minute Man National Historical Park and Boston National Historical Park in Massachusetts are where to find more information about these events. In September, my husband and I walked the Freedom Trail (5 miles round trip!).

October’s Sub-par calendar park review

         “It rained on me in the friggin’ desert!” is the incredulous review of Big Bend National Park in Texas. In its defense, the park does have indoor places to go to—its four Visitor Centers and the Fossil Discovery Exhibit,

          When the sun’s out (fall through spring bring cooler temps), there are plenty of outdoor activities. And because the park is so remote, it’s one of the best places in the lower 48 states for stargazing.

Life’s Sun and Rain

         I love the verse in Matthew 5:45 that says God brings both sun and rain on the evil and good alike. This is His “common grace,” as the phrase goes, but really, there’s nothing common about it. God’s undeserved favor, kindness, and goodness extend not only to those who follow Him, but also to people who don’t, either openly or indifferently.

         That alone should move all of us to thankfulness.