National Parks

I am still attempting to get through the 200 hours of Ken Burns' National Parks special. I feel inspired when I watch this, it does make me pump up my chest a little and say, OK some Americans did have a good idea and saved something truly magnificent. I also feel a little foolish that I've seen so few of them. And, I had been awed at the topography of Turkey this summer only to realize that Yellowstone had similar calcium cliffs to Pamakkule.

I'm jealous of my friends who took the few weeks or months to do that Western trip. I've been to 41 states and missing include Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming. Yet, it rarely occurs to me to visit those states but rather to look overseas and beyond these borders. I'm not ashamed by that, I've experienced the world in different ways. However, hiking in Turkey over beautiful landscapes spoke to me, reminded me that there are things I enjoy that go beyond urban living. I'm still a city girl, and when I lived in Madison, all I wanted was to get back to the city. But maybe I have realized since then that taking time to admire nature rather than human structures might give me more fulfillment than I realized.