Glacier National Park

When was the last time you were able to experience complete and total quiet?  Have you ever experienced it?  The places we can go to truly get away from it ALL are disappearing before our very eyes, but there are a few gems of the National Park Service that can still boast of little traffic or loud music.  Take the kids now, and experience this together as a family before it’s too late, and if you don’t think the kids can handle being quiet, maaaaaybe best to wait a little while and not spoil it for everyone else. 

If the next few generations don’t value these sorts of places, they’ll be sure to disappear in our lifetime.  Don’t let it happen!

Resources:

• A Natural Resource Called “Peace” — a lesson plan for grades 7-12.
• Soundscape at Big Bend National Park, TX
• Soundscape at Shenandoah National Park, VA
• Soundscape at Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
• Soundscape at Biscayne National Park, FL

Parke Diem!
– Jon

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The Top Five National Park Service units for peace, quiet and natural sounds in the lower 48, according to the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees:

• Great Basin National Park, Nevada. “You can hear the birds’ wings as they fly,” says a retired superintendent of this park. “Come to Great Basin National Park to experience the solitude of the desert, the smell of sagebrush after a thunderstorm, the darkest of night skies, and the beauty of Lehman Caves,” beckons the park’s Web site.
• Isle Royale National Park, Michigan. Isle Royale is a remote wilderness park, at least remote for the Eastern half of the country. It is surrounded by the large, clear, cold, and untamed waters of Lake Superior. The land base is 99% designated wilderness, although the majority of the park acreage is in Lake Superior where motorized boating is allowed—requiring some attention to location and timing to find places where the sounds of nature prevail.
• North Cascades National Park, Washington. Jagged peaks and deep valleys, encompassing 9000 feet of vertical relief, cascading waterfalls, over 300 glaciers, temperate rainforests and ponderosa pine systems make the North Cascades National Park Service Complex scenic, diverse, and a great place to explore. Opportunities for solitude are greatest in the more remote cross-country zones. Overnight recreational use is closely managed to provide a high level of solitude, including permits, designated campsites, and party size limits. As in other parks, ask the rangers for their advice to help plan your trip to the quietest parts of the park.
• Big Hole National Battlefield, Montana. The battle at Big Hole grew out of a long struggle between non-Indians, hungry for land and gold, and the Nimiipu, or Nez Perce. It is considered a sacred burial ground by the Nez Perce. The battlefield sits in the beautiful U-shaped Big Hole Valley near Wisdom, Montana.
• Muir Woods National Monument, California. This small park in the greater San Francisco Bay area hosts daily crowds of tour buses from the city who come to enjoy the half-mile path through the redwood forest. But this park has a big commitment to a natural soundscape. When visitors commented that rambunctious kids were the main source of human noise, the parks’s Junior Ranger program was reworked to have quieting exercises and a new poetic treasure hunt that emphasizes listening and appreciating the natural soundscape. The park has also tested quiet days and quiet zones. In December 2007, a Winter Solstice celebration included quiet times and five Quiet Days are planned in 2008.

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Sign of the Geologic Times:
Labelled and dated… how easy is that?

While the Cowboy State is HUMUNGOUS and keeping kids interested in what’s outside the car window can sometimes be a challenge, the State of Wyoming earns king-sized kudos from me for its roadside geological signs.

Last summer my son and I criss-crossed the state on our way from South Dakota to Yellowstone with several destinations between, and this became a great opportunity for him to practice some scientific field collection methods.  In the past we’d simply been collecting neat rocks and fossils, bagging them up, and taking them home.  But this time, with the aid of many roadside guides, we upped the ante a bit, and my son was required to keep notes in a notebook as he collected some really old rocks to take home.  

Keeping on top of collection process

Each sample was wrapped in toilet paper and placed in a ziploc bag, and the outside of each bag was marked with a permanent marker using the ID number system he created on his own.  His notes were to include the name of the road we were on (ex: U.S. Highway 16), the information shown on the sign, the unique ID number for his collectible (using the date and a number (ex: 08/26/2007-4), the GPS coordinates of the find, and the number of the photo he took showing the area from which he took the sample. 

Is this exactly the way a true geologist would have collected some rock samples?  Perhaps not exactly, but it gave him a good taste of the difference between a kid collecting rocks and a scientist studying them.  Over the past year he’s pulled out his collected rocks several times and continued the process of labelling them with whiteout and permanent marker so he won’t forget where “cool rock #37″ came from. Even if he never looks at those rocks again, it was a worthwhile experience, and knowing approximately how old the rocks were as we collected them kept up his interest stop after stop (and we stopped a LOT of times) along the way.

Our final challenge was getting the rocks home.  My suggestion to you if you’re attempting a similar feat, is to arrive early at the airport so you can load balance your various pieces of luggage.  I weighed all our bags prior to check-in, got a sense of which bags were overweight and which were under, and shifted our treasures around until all bags got in under the 50-pound limit.  I can only imagine what the x-ray image looked like to the TSA technicians in charge of scanning all the bags!

Parke Diem!
– Jon

From an NPS press release:

Barrett Young, age 12 of Paola, Kansas, earned Dinosaur National Monument’s Junior Ranger and Junior Paleontologist badges during his visit to the Monument in early May 2008. Beginning when he was just a year and a half old, Barrett has now completed 161 Junior Ranger Programs and visited over 180 National Park Service sites around the country.

Barrett’s parents, Wayne and Dee, introduced him to the Junior Ranger program while visiting national parks as part of their family vacation. Today, Barrett is home-schooled. “[The National Park Service Junior Ranger Program] works well with home school curriculum,” according to Dee Young. On their two-month trip, the Youngs and Jim, a family friend, visited over 30 NPS units in the West and Northwest to help Barrett expand his knowledge of American history and the environment.

“By visiting some of the national parks with living history demonstrations, I have gained a love and interest in re-enacting,” said Barrett. “I really like re-enacting the French & Indian War, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War.”

Barrett volunteers at Fort Scott National Historic Site in Kansas, where he dresses in costume and portrays a child from the 1840s to 1860s. His zeal for events in the 18th and 19th centuries has Barrett considering a career related to history. Perhaps in the future, Barrett will add a National Park Ranger badge to his collection of Junior Ranger badges.

Lake Superior Day is a special day held annually on the third Sunday in July that encourages people to take action that helps protect or restore one of the world’s biggest freshwater lakes.  There’s a long list of things to do on the days leading up to Sunday, July 20th — be sure to check ‘em out.

For more information on Lake Superior Day and ways you can celebrate it, go to the Lake Superior Binational Forum website.  Be sure to visit http://www.superiorforum.info for more information!

Lake Superior’s National Park Service units:

• Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
• Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
• Isle Royale National Park

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Top Ten Ways You Can Protect the Lake Every Day

1.  Install water saving devices on your kitchen and bathroom faucets and showerheads. Purchase these at local hardware and building supply stores–most cost between one dollar and nine dollars.

2. Replace regular light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs. Burning an energy bulb requires less energy, which means power plants burn less coal and that produces less mercury in the air.

3. Never burn garbage, especially plastics or tires, in burn barrels on your property. These produce more toxins in the air than an industrial incinerator. Not only do you breathe these toxic fumes as the garbage burns, but the pollutants enter the lake when it rains.

4. Instead of burning garbage, recycle or compost what you can and throw away the rest.

5. Take your lawn and household hazardous materials to area Cleansweeps collection days in Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, and Iron counties this summer. Call the Northwest Regional Planning Commission at 715-635-2197 for dates and locations of collections in your county.

6. Put your lawn on a chemical-free diet. Poisonous lawn herbicides and pesticides seep into waterways that end up in the lake and soil, which can hurt your family and neighbors. Lawn chemicals can also sicken or kill birds and pets. Bring these kinds of chemicals to a Cleansweep event where they are disposed of safely.

7. Never pour any liquids into a storm drain. Storm drains empty untreated liquids into a nearby river, stream, or Lake Superior.

8. When you’re boating or fishing, inspect your boat and trailer and remove any plants and animals before leaving the water body. Drain water from the motor, live well, bilge, and transom before leaving the water body. Never release live bait fish in the water or live earthworms on the land or water.

9. When planning landscaping or gardening activities, use plants that are native to the region. Consult with garden centers or the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute for a list of the best native plants for this area. Learn what non-native species look like and additional prevention tips by contacting your local state or federal natural resource management agency and ask for information and identification material for non-native species.

 And the number one thing you can do to protect the lake is…

10. Love it! When you care about something as grand as Lake Superior, you’ll feel good about making sure it stays a Great Lake.

I was surfing the web late a few nights ago as I often do, looking for interesting tidbits, and stumbled on a U.S. map that showed all the counties of every state.  I was first amazed that any single image could contain such information in readable form, and then I thought it’d be neat to figure out how many of these counties I’d actually visited, and see that visually on the map.  The shrunk-down results are included here for you to see (click on the image for a larger version — the original version, not included here, is 5 times larger than this one and I can read the county names).

I think I’ll easily manage to visit all the National Parks well before I even come close to visiting all the counties in the United States.

So many counties, so little time.
Parke Diem!
– Jon

Today at the White House Visitor Center, my family represented the Maryland Delegation of the Continental Congress — Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton – as we deliberated, voted on, and signed the final draft of the Declaration of Independence.  Two components of the Declaration were of particular concern to those in attendance, including a very unflattering section regarding the British and another piece which may have started the ball rolling on the abolition of slavery.

I came dressed in my colonial garb, but they had tricorner hats for all in attendance who participated in the event.  Each state delegation had a cheat sheet so they’d know the viewpoint of their representatives at that moment in history, and each delegate was given a profile sheet of their character to use as a guide to roleplaying. My daughter immediately gave us the “worried look” when her sheet said the Maryland Delegation did not want to abolish slavery because plantation owners here and further south depended on the labor to remain profitable.  We explained to my daughter that we were just “acting” and that we all knew that slavery was wrong, but we had to play the part to give everyone a feel for what it was like way back when.  My character, Thomas Stone, was also worried about upsetting the British and wanted to avoid war at all costs.  Reluctantly at first, and then with slightly more conviction in the end, Stone voted for passage of the Declaration of Independence to make the Maryland vote unanimous.

The kids also got an opportunity to roll beeswax candles, practice their handwriting with real quill pens, and play some colonial games while we were there. Kudos to the gentleman who played John Adams.  He seems to have the names of all the delegates and their states memorized and led the event effortlessly, steering the audience participation in the right direction regardless of the responses he was getting from the crowd.  We all learned a lot about the less-famous signers of the Declaration of Independence and had a great time.  If you can find some of these special events at a park near you this summer and during the September-May traditional school year timeframe, we highly recommend it!  Huzzah!

Parke Diem!
– Jon

What’s going on in your neck of the woods on July 4th?  Check out the news for some of these National Parks and Historic Sites!

Mammoth Cave National Park, KY
July 4, 2008: Homecoming: Before Mammoth Cave National Park opened in 1941; its lands supported 600 farms and 30 small communities. Following creation of the park, “Going to the Fourth” was the common phrase that brought the scattered neighbors back together for a homecoming celebration on July 4th. The event dwindled in the 1970s, but is revived this year for what will become an annual event.

Fort Scott National Historic Site, KS 
July 4-5: Military Holiday
Celebrate Independence Day 1840’s style with games and cannon firing on Friday. The festivities continue Saturday with Civil War baseball and period dancing.

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site, KY
On July 4, 2008 a musical tribute to Abraham Lincoln with period and patriot songs at will take place at 5:00 p.m. at the Memorial Building.

Thomas Stone National Historic Site, MD
Thomas Stone was a signer of the Declaration of Independence so July 4 th, 2008 is a special event. This year, a year-long series of events commemorating this county’s 350th anniversary will take place. The event on the 4th, entitled “Charles County; Player Through Time” will offer a look at individuals and groups that made significant contributions towards developing this county, this state, and this nation and will feature representation by Native Americans, African-Americans and the European settlers in this area. Activities include historic toys demonstrations, horse and buggy shuttles between activities and a moving reading of the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Stone’s uncle, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer. The free event will be held from 10am until 2pm at the Thomas Stone National Historic Site in Port Tobacco, Maryland.

Morristown National Historical Park, NJ
Friday, July 4th – Free Independence Day Events
Washington’s Headquarters, 30 Washington Place, Morristown, NJ
Program begins at 2:00 p.m.

A short rededication program will be held in front of the newly renovated Washington’s Headquarters Museum and will be followed by a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Both the Museum and the adjacent Ford Mansion will be open for self-guiding tours from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Visitors are asked to bring blankets or folding chairs for the outdoor events.

Saratoga National Historical Park, NY
On July 4, 2008, America’s birthday will be celebrated during the 5th Annual Citizenship Ceremony on lands where freedom was earned. Lemonade toasts to the 13 colonies and cannon firings will delight the new citizens and hundreds of visitors.

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, NY
July 4, 2008: Independence Day Celebration with a program that includes the Rough Rider Re-enactors of the Nassau Suffolk Horsemen’s Association, the Sagamore Hill Band, and James Foote portraying Theodore Roosevelt.

Moores Creek National Battlefield, NC
July 4th Weekend at Moores Creek, July 4-6, 2008.
Celebrate Independence at Moores Creek National Battlefield. The park will offer living history demonstrations and guided tours of the battlefield. The American victory here in February, 1776 convinced North Carolina leaders to instruct their delegates at the Continental Congress to vote for Independence. Enjoy blacksmithing, musket firing, and more. The event is free and lasts from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Park hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial, OH
Independence Day, July 4, 2008 - New Citizen Naturalization Ceremony at 11:00 am on the Visitor Center steps. A formalized ceremony for 20-25 new citizens, attended by local civic leaders, judges and special guests.

William Howard Taft National Historic Site, OH
The park will host a free concert by the Last Boppers on Friday July 4th from 1:00 to 4 p.m. This phenomenal band combines improvisational jazz with ethnic sounds. By combining improvisational jazz, traditional ethnic sounds, spoken word and visual art, the Neo-Ancestralists are a truly unique force in local music. Visitors will also be treated to free ice cream.

Cowpens National Battlefield, SC
Cowpens National Battlefield will celebrate our nation’s independence on Saturday, July 5, 2008. This 16th annual FREE event is a traditional visitor and local favorite. The day will begin with the regularly-scheduled guided battlefield walk at 9:30 a.m. and end with fireworks behind the Visitor Center around 9:15 p.m.

In the afternoon reenactors will set up a soldier’s camp and give musket and rifle firing demonstrations. Between 7:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., the Spartanburg Community Band will play patriotic music. In the evening, visiting children can participate in special family activities and 18 th century games. The fireworks will begin around 9:00 p.m.

Bring a picnic and enjoy the evening with your family and friends. In the event of inclement weather, only the fireworks will be rescheduled for Sunday, July 6, 2008.

Chamizal National Memorial, TX
The 4th of July Music Extravaganza and Independence Day Celebration/Fireworks Display (in partnership with the City of El Paso and the El Paso Symphony Orchestra) will be held on July 4, 2008.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, DC 
Want To Learn How to Grow Aquatic Plants? A ranger will demonstrate how it’s possible to grow aquatic plants in a small yard or shady spot without a pond. The program, for ages 9 and up, will take place on Friday, July 4 at 1:00 p.m.

National Mall & Memorial Parks, DC
America’s 2008 Independence Day Parade, 11:45 a.m., Friday, July 4, 2008 between 7th to 17th Streets on Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC. The parade celebrates the 232nd birthday of the United States of America traveling down Constitution Ave, from 7th to 17th Streets. More than 3000 performers, dancers, cultural organizations, giant balloons, floats, and military personnel from thirteen States will march down Constitution Avenue. The parade is estimated to last approximately 2 hours. The parade is free and open to the public.

Independence Day Celebration, Friday, July 4, 2008 on the National Mall, Washington, DC. The day promises to be exciting and fun-filled! Musical and interpretive performances on the Washington Monument Grounds and the Capitol Concert at the West Lawn of the Capitol Grounds. The day concludes with the traditional NPS fireworks beginning at 9:10 p.m.

From the National Park Service website:

Visitors who have the “liberty” to stop at the White House Visitor Center on Friday, July 4, 2008, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. may experience what it would be like to be a “Signer of the Declaration of Independence for a day” with the help of National Park Service rangers and volunteers from President’s Park. The White House Visitor Center is located near the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets, N.W., on the north side of the Commerce Department building.

During this full day of free programming, visitors of all ages will have the opportunity to sample some of the sights, sounds, activities, and personages that helped to form the United States of America on July 4, 1776. The day’s events will include games, crafts and other activities for both children and adults.

The Signature Event, scheduled at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. will be a one of a kind chance to don a tricornered hat and play a role in one of this nation’s greatest dramas, the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. In this fun and engaging interactive program that is suitable for all ages, members of the audience will actually assume the roles of delegates to the Continental Congress and represent their colonies in a debate that will determine the fate of a nation! Led by the “Atlas of Independence” John Adams (portrayed by a National Park Service interpreter) the debate becomes heated as the time draws short before the final vote is called. After the debate each delegate signs with a quill pen his or her name to a giant sized copy of the document, receives a facsimile of period currency from their respective colony, rings a Liberty Bell, and receives a copy of the Declaration of Independence to keep as a memorial to their great efforts in the service of their nation!

“Chat” with John Adams about the decision that he and his fellow delegates made to commit treason against the King of England by signing the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Fine tune your congressional correspondence by writing with a quill pen and protecting the privacy of the letter with sealing wax. Have your portrait taken in a tricornered hat affixing your signature to America’s most famous document. Enjoy “the Pursuit of Happiness” by sampling period games and entertainments of the 18th Century. Participate in a formal reading of the Declaration of Independence at 1:00 p.m.

Program Schedule:

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. - Portrait opportunity signing the Declaration of Independence.

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. - Test your Congressional correspondence skill as well as your writing skills with a quill pen.

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. - Roll a Beeswax Candle.

9:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. -“The Pursuit of Happiness”- A Round Robin Tournament of 18^th and 19^th Century Games.

9:30 a.m. to 10:15 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.- A public audience with John Adams.

11:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. - A Signature Event: An opportunity to don a tricornered hat and play a role in one of this nation’s greatest dramas, the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. (Program Duration: 60 Minutes, Space is limited)

1:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. - Reading of the Declaration of Independence

Hey all you Central Maryland families out there — don’t have the money for a big trip to Yellowstone or Acadia this summer? Check out the Junior Ranger programs right here in your own backyard!

Patapsco Valley State Park will offer Maryland Junior Rangers programs for children ages 8 to 13 at the Orange Grove and Hilton areas and Soldier’s Delight Natural Environmental Area this summer.

Participants will take part in a variety of nature activities, complete an activity book, attend a Ranger Round-Up and perform a service project.

The cost is $20 per child and $10 for each additional family member.

Programs will be held Tuesdays from June 24 to July 22 at Soldier’s Delight, Wednesdays from June 25 to July 23 at Orange Grove, and Thursdays from July 3 to July 31 at the Hilton Area. Hours are 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at each location.

For more information, call: 410-461-5005.

I’ve seen a lot of parks in the past several years, and I’ve seen a lot of parks that formerly had well-staffed living history demonstrations and characters that roam the grounds and interact with visitors that are now lucky if they have one or two unpaid volunteers.  So just when I was beginning to lose faith in the NPS mission’s commitment to living history — whammo! — A great visit to Fort Laramie National Historic Site in eastern Wyoming was just what the doctor ordered.  Granted, it was on a post-Memorial Day weekend, but still I was pleasantly surpised by the number of “costumed characters” walking the grounds on the first Sunday in June.

After stopping at the Visitor Center to get oriented, we set out on our Junior Ranger mission around the fort’s grounds and planned on visiting most of the buildings that were still in a decent state of repair.  EXTREMELY IMPORTANT LOGISTICAL TIP: If you’re doing the Junior Ranger booklet with your kid(s) at Fort Laramie, don’t attempt to rent one of the audio tour units at the same time.  The audio tour leads you from building to building in a counter-clockwise manner while the Junior Ranger booklet leads the kids around in the opposite, clockwise, direction.  Talk about confusing and frustrating!  We quickly abandoned our earplugs and decided to interact with the nice soldiers instead, and what a great decision that was!

Particularly clever was the park’s sneaky communication methods by which they informed every living history character on the grounds of my daughter’s presence, so everywhere we went, we were greeted by name.  Very nice touch!  Of course, all the people on staff were well aware of the Junior Ranger requirements and were armed to the gills with information and hints to help us complete the mission.

Finally, as our day was wrapping up, my daughter wanted to visit all the soldiers, the bartender, the laundress, and anyone else she had met along the way for a final goodbye and a picture.  And hopefully, just maybe, my daughter was cured of her interest in the high-tech I-pod gizmo tour, and truly appreciated the interaction with real people that much more. 

In fact, even if you’re not planning on completing that Junior Ranger book, and even if you don’t have kids along on the trip – forget the headset and numbered information points where you hit the Play button to learn about the park.  Save your money and have a real conversation with the wonderful people who work at Fort Laramie.  You’ll be glad you did.

Parke Diem!
– Jon