Happy Birthday NPS

Today, August 25, 2016 is the 100^th anniversary of the National Park Service.  This is important.  In a time where technology reigns supreme, and development is at an unprecedented (and unsustainable) pace, we all must take the time to use and appreciate our public natural lands…before they’re gone or irreversibly changed.  Some facts:

As per www.NPS.gov, The National Park System is responsible for 412 areas covering more than 84 million acres across all 50 states, Washington D.C., American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Island.  All states you ask?  Where’s the New Jersey National Park?  Simple my simple friend.  The NPS is not just responsible for undisturbed (or minimally disturbed) large swathes of land.  No no.  They also preside over: “monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House.”  Don’t get me wrong, in NJ we’ve got the Delaware Water Gap (National Recreation Area) and the Gateway National Recreation Area which, in NJ, is Sandy Hook up into Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn and much of Staten Island’s Great Kills Park.  But, also there’s the Morristown National Historic Park (Washington slept there, didn’t you know?), and Edison’s home and lab in West Orange as well as the Paterson Great Falls commemorating “America’s first planned industrial city.”  There’s lots to do here.

Still, if you can venture out, I highly recommend it.  Whilst in California earlier this month, my family made it a point to get to Pinnacles National Park, the newest “park” in the system complete with natural caves, long-eared bats, and the occasional mountain lion.  While it was sweltering hot (in the dry desert, who wouldda thought?), the landscape was ridiculous.  Someone pushed up these jagged peaks in the middle of nowhere.   

http://www.studio534photo.com/SanFran2016/index.html#/view/ID600651

Popular with climbers, there was also ample wildlife unique to this terrain that the kids could immediately appreciate.

http://www.studio534photo.com/SanFran2016/index.html#/view/ID593552

And, it was a completely different kind of desert than the Coloradan and Mojave Deserts found in Joshua Tree in southern California, where we were able to find jack rabbits and road runners (meep meep). 

Today, the National Parks are free.  Do yourself a service and go to the website, search for the closest U.S. National Park Service museum, monument, park or site and visit it.  Also, when you next plan your vacation, make it a point to get out and see lands that have been protected due to their uniqueness and awe-inspiring vistas and wildlife.  Teach your children that this is something special.  Take them on a hike.  Encourage them to touch the trees, to touch the dirt, and to avoid the poison ivy.  Marry technology with nature by giving them a camera to capture their moments.  These lands and sites have been set aside for the good of the people; they're ours for a reason.  Hell, you’re already paying for it, it’s yours.  Might as well use it before we lose it.

New Best Moments

It seems that I've been having a few really good moments lately, and it seems that they stem mostly from my kids.  Sure, once you have the damn things, you're supposed to enjoy them, but I feel like, lately, they've made some lasting memories and I hope to capture them here...not for you to enjoy so much, but for me to eventually remember.

In San Francisco and Monterey (and Pacific Grove), two such memories come to mind.  First, any trip to San Francisco with children wouldn't be complete without a trip on the cable cars.  Don't you dare call them trolleys.  They've got those too, but these are cable cars...drawn up and down the hills by moving cables in the streets.  While Jude was concerned for my Sara's and my well being as we hung off the sides as if to star in the next Rice-A-Roni advertising campaign, Johanna felt the wind in her face and was all smiles as she sat there.  It's something that, due to my hanging on, I couldn't capture on my phone, but I hope to remember her joy for years and years...as she grows into a teenager and torments my very existence.

Secondly, Monterey is known for its aquarium...and rightly so.  The building is dedicated to the educating about the preservation of California's Pacific Ocean marine life.  One of the most moving parts for me was the numerous displays about how our waste, plastic in general, is contributing to the decline of certain species...and the growth of a huge mass of floating plastic garbage in the Pacific Ocean.  I've been to a few aquariums in my day, and even the National Aquarium in Baltimore, while an exceptional spectacle of sea life (and Australian and South American avian species), it's more of a "show" than a call to action.  That said, when Jude and I spent some time alone, playing on the rocky shore of Pacific Grove, we were able to see seals and otters, birds and anemones, crabs and mussels and fish.  He eventually turned to me as he replaced several hermit crabs into the pools and said, "Dad, we didn't even need to go to the aquarium.  All the animals are here." 

Mission Accomplished.

Finally, another missed photographic opportunity, Jude and I, joined by friends of ours, were able to make the first New York Giants preseason game.  And, while the spectacle is a bit toned down due to the fact that it's not a "real" football game, the Giants still put out the smoke machines and fireworks when they announce the team as they run out of the tunnels and onto the field.  Jude's face was all smiles.  Mine was too.  I love football, and have obviously instilled my enthusiasm and excitement about the start of the new season into the boy.  There will be many opportunities this season for high fives and belly bumps (and our secret hand-shake) when the Giants do well (and they will, I promise), but nothing can replace the pure joy in his face as he saw them for the first time this season.  Jude is why I have the tickets, and thanks to Sara and Bruce's forethought and understanding that this was going to be something special.  So far, the return on investment is incalculable.

In short, I think I'm getting a handle on these kids.  As they get older and start developing preferences, it makes it easier, however, presenting them with new experiences is largely trial and error.  I'm excited that we've had some awesome successes, with dramatically positive results (you should have seen Johanna hugging the coastal sequoias).  Now, if there was only a way to make roasted beats with agave super exciting.  Methinks that might be a square peg in a round hole.

The Wheel

I've said it in other posts, but as we age, more and more people I know are dealt a raw hand that is completely out of their control.  If you have a minute, keep in your thoughts today my cousin who really deserves to have a baby.  Keep in your minds my friend who has a rare form of inoperable cancer...and while it's shrinking with standard therapies, it's still a long road ahead.  Think about my friend who recently had to put their family dog down.   

For most of you, this isn't a big ask.  I believe that I typically surround myself with good people.  This doesn't mean we don't spoil ourselves once in a while with a purchase or two...a pair of shoes...a new bag...or both (P.S.  I love shoes and bags).  It just means that when shit hits the fan we come together and help prop each other up, not because we have to...but because we want to.  Do me a favor, when learning about these life challenges, resist the urge to say "Please let me know if there's anything I can do..."  It rings hollow.  If you think something will help someone, just do it.  Trust me, it will be appreciated.

As my friends and family descended on the Stirling Hotel last Sunday to listen to This Old Engine play the Dead, it reminded me how lucky I am to have all of them in my life.  We're a fucking cool group of people, friends and family alike.  Shit's about to get really noisy with the election coming on full steam.  I just hope that you can cut through the hype and just be yourselves helping make this place a bit more comfortable for all of us.

The wheel is turning and you can't slow down,
You can't let go and you can't hold on,
You can't go back and you can't stand still,
If the thunder don't get you then the lightning will.

Won't you try just a little bit harder,
Couldn't you try just a little bit more?

On the left coast

Look, this isn't about politics.  This year's family vacation has taken us to San Francisco and Monterey Bay, just north of some really serious forest fires (which we can smell every day).  But, that's a post for another time.  

This trip has been ridiculously amazing already.  We've been able to share things like humming birds at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, giant sequoias in Muir Woods, whales surfacing while we were driving down the PCH, and sea otters and a host of sea birds here in the Bay and in Pacific Grove.  

Ultimately, we've been able to share things that are disappearing, albeit slowly.  What you say?  Yeah, fool, global warming is for freaking real.  The Mouse in Florida is (if they get their way) everlasting.  However, the warming is for realz.  Right now, due to their ability to adapt to slightly warmer temperatures, sea urchins are doing the nasty at an incredible pace.  So much so that they're eating all of the kelp.  And, while the otters love themselves some Uni sashimi, they can't eat them fast enough, and there's fewer otters in the bay than in years past.  It's happening, and Uni is an acquired taste, am I right?  

Look, glaciers are melting, there's bleaching of the coral, and I want my kids to see some of what they will likely lose in their lifetimes.  Also, it's mind blowing how many elected officials have their fingers in their ears and their hands over their eyes so that they can appeal to the moron middle of the country.  Sorry to those friends of mine who live there.  The uneducated of this country are so easily manipulated that a failed businessman is inline to be the next president of the United States.  I just threw up in my mouth a little.  So, I guess this is about politics, but also about a diminishing opportunity, not just for me, but for our children.  It's time to do more and make this stuff important to our kids, because it's them who will hopefully carry the torch and fix what we broke.