2014 Exploring the Northwest – Reflections
Now that we’ve been home a few days and put some distance between the trip and today, I want to reflect on what seems to have lasting value.
This 5,000-mile trip is in the top tier of trips we’ve taken. The beauty and grandness of the national parks – Glacier, Waterton, Banff, Cascade, Olympic, Mt. Rainier – were breathtaking. The Oregon coastline is everything we’ve ever heard about – a must-see and experience for everyone.
The creation and preservation of national parks here and across the world is a priceless legacy to Theodore Roosevelt who started the whole thing by establishing the world’s first national park: Yellowstone. The cadre of Rangers has moved way beyond enforcement and is now committed to preserving and improving these natural resources. It seems you can’t be a Ranger without a Master’s Degree and special interest and focus on nature. They are a very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and committed group of women and men. I would entreat everyone to make sure these national resources have the financial support to ensure that future generations can enjoy these parks as much as we have.
The surprise treat was learning about Lewis and Clark. All of us read about it in one of our American history classes in high school. Given so much to learn, this expedition was mentioned in just a few passing paragraphs. So immersing ourselves in their experience, who they were, how they arrived at decisions, how they survived, and the knowledge they acquired and passed on to the nation, had enormous impact on us. President Thomas Jefferson had the strategic vision, while Lewis and Clark made the vision a reality. The strength, resourcefulness, and courage of this team is without equal. Our generation’s equivalence is President John F. Kennedy’s setting a vision and goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 60’s decade, and NASA fulfilling that mission. Just reinforcing that setting and reaching high goals, is what defines the American spirit.
Living out of a small trailer was not only physically simplifying, but also metaphorically on our day-to-day lives. Everything is smaller, less complex. A large contributor was the restrictive communication with family, friends, and what was happening in the world – at times we were very isolated. We couldn’t even participate in the Fantasy Football draft, nor set our teams – OMG! Does it get any worse? It does feel great to be back in the ‘larger’ world.
Our next trip, which I intend to blog, is next February when we spend two weeks in Viet Nam and Cambodia. If anyone has suggestions on how I might improve these blogs [e.g. More or fewer photos, reporting or interpretation, etc,], please send me a note.
Comments