For years AB and I have supported strongly national parks. We donate money to the parks system and believe strongly that it is an important asset.
I just have one beef.
The pet policy.
That would be the pet policy that basically says your dog should never leave your vehicle and even better - leave said dog at home.
Last weekend we went to Mt. Rainier National Park to the Sunrise Visitor's Center - a side we had never been to and man it was packed. We went to the visitor's center, found a place to take some pictures, grabbed some lunch and headed out.
You know, here, yes, I can understand a no pets please request. It was busy, the trails were packed and there was hardly room to get cars parked. We were just happy it wasn't hot in the car and were able to leave the dogs in the car.
But umm, the park is big. And we wanted to hike somewhere. And the dogs need to pee.
But nowhere that we stopped were those dogs allowed to leave our car. At each stop there was a park ranger wagging his finger and threatening hefty fines.
At one stop we thought we were over the border of the National Park and into the National Forest which does not have such pet laws.
We quickly found out we were 500 feet short of the National Forest boundary and those dogs could go right back into the vehicle.
And I know this will be an unpopular post because a woman standing near me went up and congratulated the ranger on his score of booting the dogs out by saying, "I just want to thank you, the GALL of some people to think they can bring their dogs ANYWHERE!" I couldn't help a quick retort to her citing the fact that it is a bit hard to know exactly where the park and forest boundary is when you are visiting a place for the first time. She, of course, glared at me fierce - but I think she was more embarrassed at being busted with a reasonable argument that she had no quick response for (not realizing *I* was with that crazy dog guy).
I get that not all pet owners are top notch. And for this, fine them. But not everyone is a bad apple! There certainly are enough rangers around to write those tickets out (and generate revenue in the meantime for the parks that we hear are starved for cash).
We found the invisible line separating park from forest and got out and set about a hike, where the trail was packed with dogs at every turn. Dogs not allowed just 500 feet away (with the same terrain and same views).
We love to travel. We love the parks. We love our long weekend adventures. We love hiking. We love our dogs. It makes me sad that this all can't be combined.
I am planning for a Yellowstone trip next spring break and already trying to figure out what the path forward will be with our dogs... who normally travel with us.
Showing posts with label venting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label venting. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Farewell 2009
I am no numerologist, but I like numbers. I like good numbers like 8 (my favorite) and 4 and multiples of such. Odd numbers have never been my friend. And I truly find it just perplexing that the two best things that happened to me were born not only on odd numbers, but on prime numbers. My sister loved the number 3 and so it should come as no surprise that I despised the number 3. The only thing worse than 3 is squaring it or even worse than that is raising it to it’s own power.
Given this, I expect the year 2027 to be a bad year only because 2009 really left much to be desired.
To this point in my life I can’t look back on a year in general and say, “that year just really sucked”, except for 2009. Because really, when I look back on junior high and high school and while I may not have liked them – they never held a candle to the complications of adulthood.
2009 was the year my mom faced the battle of her lifetime with an evil foe – cancer. And it wasn’t an easy cancer (like my squamous cell carcinoma on my nose that also occurred in 2009), nope my mom’s cancer is one of those nasty, rare cancers where little research has gone into it – cholangiocarcinoma or cancer of the bile duct. If you are faced someday with getting to select a cancer, don’t pick this one. It is evil. It is one of those cancers that is something like a lottery, no clear indication what causes it or why a person was selected which probably makes it harder to swallow when the unlucky recipient has been very health conscious for so much of her life. Negative cubed.
Life… ‘tis not a fair venture.
2009 was the year of my daughter’s terrible twos which was repayment for all those times I marveled that “Leif didn’t have terrible twos!” Don’t ever utter such proclamations or karma will bite hard.
2009 is the year one of our closest friends battled lymphoma, my best friend in Colorado’s dad was ill with pancreatitis for months, she was laid off her job and it seemed that everyone around us was affected by illness or hardship in some way.
2009 was also the best year in my and AB’s respective careers.
2009 brought us a new home and all the joy and frustrations that accompany that venture. The whole moving thing… all the boxes… wondering if boxes will eventually unpack themselves… wondering if the trash can may be the best place for all the boxes… selling the house we brought our babies home to… learning how to navigate stairs… sweaty or frozen nights trying to figure out how to heat a two story home comfortably… and a whole new “To Do Someday” list. Despite all the frustrations with the moving process it is still far better than the cramped, too small, ineffective house we moved from.
2009 was the last full year before Leif will enter “real school” aka kindergarten, thanks to the decision we made to give him another year to mature. 2009 also brought mostly all kudos from people who agreed with this decision but was not void of criticisms from those people completely unaffected by this decision who felt the need to tell us what is best for our child and on occasion still take that opportunity to nip at it. But that’s part of parenting – listening to the people around you who you love and respect and then coming to the conclusion that is right for your family and moving on without regret. (Even if that regret is in not socking someone in the face for their comments…)
2009 brought a year of little sleep coupled with lots of middle of the night hugs and loves from a tiny little red headed girl.
2009 was my 50% year with yeast based breads. One failure for Easter and one success at Thanksgiving.
2009 was a year of reconnecting on Facebook and sudden realizations of why certain friendships were dropped so long ago. As well as some ponderings of why I would have let some friendships drop off because they are truly one of a kind. And can’t forget those paralyzing moments of seeing ex’s faces on my Suggested Friends lists… then a little bit of curiosity that comes up and forces you to click on them and “just see” how miserable they have to still be. Followed by the reality that they look darn happy. But mostly it was a year of wow – everyone I knew in high school, for the most part, really rocked it and are doing superbly as well.
2009 was the year I found out the boy I had a major crush on in junior high, died at age 37.
2009 was the year I became a touch obnoxious (or obsessive) with my iPhone.
2009 was the year of the Wii and AB’s and my first foray into trying to figure out how much is too much for a 5 year old.
2009 was the year of wondering if we will EVER see another good movie? Star Trek saved us from just assigning a big, huge NO as the answer to that question.
2009 was a most frustrating year with my 86 year old grandmother who should not be driving, nor living at home by herself. It has required patience and a sense of humor approaching her repetitive statements, her stubbornness, her paranoia, and reconciling them with her lucid moments. It is hard to understand how a person can believe that those people who surround her and love her the most, would be identified as so horrible in her mind.
2009 brought a decent sushi restaurant to the area (blocks from our home) and not only that, but it has become my kids’ favorite place to eat. Umm yay! Want a guarantee that my kids will eat and enjoy the food? Then let’s go for Japanese. 2009 – Leif loves miso soup.
2009 was the year my son first questioned whether Santa was real or not… but has not yet asked where babies come from. Phew.
2009 brought weeks… maybe months… of debate over vehicles and many declarations about “not buying new” and trying to reconcile our need for a large towing vehicle with the current “go green” mentality. When we got over it all, 2009 brought us a shiny new 2010 Toyota Sequoia along with a hefty car payment that is painful after years of no car payments.
2009 introduced us to a new church that felt amazingly like home.
As I type this out I look at all the good. All the blessings. All the love. All of these things that goes along with the sadness. The despair. The knowledge that I cannot move mountains.
But I can hope and pray and look towards a bright 2010. Because that is what we do, we persevere. We lift up and move forward. We do what we can full of love.
Given this, I expect the year 2027 to be a bad year only because 2009 really left much to be desired.
To this point in my life I can’t look back on a year in general and say, “that year just really sucked”, except for 2009. Because really, when I look back on junior high and high school and while I may not have liked them – they never held a candle to the complications of adulthood.
2009 was the year my mom faced the battle of her lifetime with an evil foe – cancer. And it wasn’t an easy cancer (like my squamous cell carcinoma on my nose that also occurred in 2009), nope my mom’s cancer is one of those nasty, rare cancers where little research has gone into it – cholangiocarcinoma or cancer of the bile duct. If you are faced someday with getting to select a cancer, don’t pick this one. It is evil. It is one of those cancers that is something like a lottery, no clear indication what causes it or why a person was selected which probably makes it harder to swallow when the unlucky recipient has been very health conscious for so much of her life. Negative cubed.
Life… ‘tis not a fair venture.
2009 was the year of my daughter’s terrible twos which was repayment for all those times I marveled that “Leif didn’t have terrible twos!” Don’t ever utter such proclamations or karma will bite hard.
2009 is the year one of our closest friends battled lymphoma, my best friend in Colorado’s dad was ill with pancreatitis for months, she was laid off her job and it seemed that everyone around us was affected by illness or hardship in some way.
2009 was also the best year in my and AB’s respective careers.
2009 brought us a new home and all the joy and frustrations that accompany that venture. The whole moving thing… all the boxes… wondering if boxes will eventually unpack themselves… wondering if the trash can may be the best place for all the boxes… selling the house we brought our babies home to… learning how to navigate stairs… sweaty or frozen nights trying to figure out how to heat a two story home comfortably… and a whole new “To Do Someday” list. Despite all the frustrations with the moving process it is still far better than the cramped, too small, ineffective house we moved from.
2009 was the last full year before Leif will enter “real school” aka kindergarten, thanks to the decision we made to give him another year to mature. 2009 also brought mostly all kudos from people who agreed with this decision but was not void of criticisms from those people completely unaffected by this decision who felt the need to tell us what is best for our child and on occasion still take that opportunity to nip at it. But that’s part of parenting – listening to the people around you who you love and respect and then coming to the conclusion that is right for your family and moving on without regret. (Even if that regret is in not socking someone in the face for their comments…)
2009 brought a year of little sleep coupled with lots of middle of the night hugs and loves from a tiny little red headed girl.
2009 was my 50% year with yeast based breads. One failure for Easter and one success at Thanksgiving.
2009 was a year of reconnecting on Facebook and sudden realizations of why certain friendships were dropped so long ago. As well as some ponderings of why I would have let some friendships drop off because they are truly one of a kind. And can’t forget those paralyzing moments of seeing ex’s faces on my Suggested Friends lists… then a little bit of curiosity that comes up and forces you to click on them and “just see” how miserable they have to still be. Followed by the reality that they look darn happy. But mostly it was a year of wow – everyone I knew in high school, for the most part, really rocked it and are doing superbly as well.
2009 was the year I found out the boy I had a major crush on in junior high, died at age 37.
2009 was the year I became a touch obnoxious (or obsessive) with my iPhone.
2009 was the year of the Wii and AB’s and my first foray into trying to figure out how much is too much for a 5 year old.
2009 was the year of wondering if we will EVER see another good movie? Star Trek saved us from just assigning a big, huge NO as the answer to that question.
2009 was a most frustrating year with my 86 year old grandmother who should not be driving, nor living at home by herself. It has required patience and a sense of humor approaching her repetitive statements, her stubbornness, her paranoia, and reconciling them with her lucid moments. It is hard to understand how a person can believe that those people who surround her and love her the most, would be identified as so horrible in her mind.
2009 brought a decent sushi restaurant to the area (blocks from our home) and not only that, but it has become my kids’ favorite place to eat. Umm yay! Want a guarantee that my kids will eat and enjoy the food? Then let’s go for Japanese. 2009 – Leif loves miso soup.
2009 was the year my son first questioned whether Santa was real or not… but has not yet asked where babies come from. Phew.
2009 brought weeks… maybe months… of debate over vehicles and many declarations about “not buying new” and trying to reconcile our need for a large towing vehicle with the current “go green” mentality. When we got over it all, 2009 brought us a shiny new 2010 Toyota Sequoia along with a hefty car payment that is painful after years of no car payments.
2009 introduced us to a new church that felt amazingly like home.
As I type this out I look at all the good. All the blessings. All the love. All of these things that goes along with the sadness. The despair. The knowledge that I cannot move mountains.
But I can hope and pray and look towards a bright 2010. Because that is what we do, we persevere. We lift up and move forward. We do what we can full of love.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The music of Christmas
So I promised a post of substance. And well I am not sure this will qualify, but it isn't a diary type post.
I have probably blogged about my favorite Christmas song before, but just a quick recap. I have a special affinity in my heart for John Denver. (My husband is screeching and writhing in pain.) I suppose it comes from growing up near the Rocky Mountains and either near or in Colorado much of my life. Plus, my parents played his albums (yes, vinyl lp's).
I was and am still a huge fan of the John Denver and the Muppets Christmas Together. I had it on vinyl as a kid, on tape and then about a decade ago I bought it on cd. My parents bought John Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas when I was a kid. It was more "serious"... except for the whole "Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Christmas" song. Which my sister and I just laughed at. Now I realize how sad it really is...
Anyways. My favorite Christmas song ever is "Christmas for Cowboys" off of this cd.
Despite the fact that I have never been impressed by anything remotely cowboy-ish, this song speaks to me. It reminds me of my childhood growing up in Wyoming and then in Colorado. It's everything to me that Christmas should be - the gift of the sky, stars, the wind singing and the snow on the plains.
Now let's jump to the flip side.
My least favorite song. AB tells me that my disdain for this song may be a little... hmmm... not wrong really... but off? The song had such intentions to be good and do good things. But to me it shows such incredible self centered views of the rest of the world and the strife in other nations and the strange notion that we know it all and can fix it all.
This song makes me nearly ill.
Aside from the images of the Georges (Boy and Michael) singing as if they have any notion whatsoever of what is going on around the world. The song just misses the mark and I am continually amazed that people actually remake this song. (Hello BNL... I was so disappointed.)
No, they do not know it is Christmas and they probably don't care because most are not Christian.
"Feed the World, let them know it's Christmastime". First off, let's not just feed the world because it is time to be generous, let's work at it year round. But even moreso, throwing food at the problem is not a solution since the main problem is getting the food to the people. But maybe we didn't know this in the mid-80's.
And the line that I have a major problem with is, "well tonight thank God it's them instead of you". This is like praying to win the lotto. Instead of thanking heaven that someone else is the one starving how about being grateful for all we have been given in our lives.
Poor AB... he knows when this song comes on (which it invariably does since I keep my XM Radio on XM Holly quite often) he gets to hear my rants and raves.
I threw in another one the other day... Bandaid... I can't believe they named the group Bandaid, because it is like putting a Bandaid on something will fix it. Wrong, Bandaids just cover it up.
Then AB pointed out that it was Band Aid and the goal was to get Bands together to provide Aid.
Ok, he may be right there. But that doesn't make me like the song anymore!
I have probably blogged about my favorite Christmas song before, but just a quick recap. I have a special affinity in my heart for John Denver. (My husband is screeching and writhing in pain.) I suppose it comes from growing up near the Rocky Mountains and either near or in Colorado much of my life. Plus, my parents played his albums (yes, vinyl lp's).
I was and am still a huge fan of the John Denver and the Muppets Christmas Together. I had it on vinyl as a kid, on tape and then about a decade ago I bought it on cd. My parents bought John Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas when I was a kid. It was more "serious"... except for the whole "Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Christmas" song. Which my sister and I just laughed at. Now I realize how sad it really is...
Anyways. My favorite Christmas song ever is "Christmas for Cowboys" off of this cd.
Despite the fact that I have never been impressed by anything remotely cowboy-ish, this song speaks to me. It reminds me of my childhood growing up in Wyoming and then in Colorado. It's everything to me that Christmas should be - the gift of the sky, stars, the wind singing and the snow on the plains.
Now let's jump to the flip side.
My least favorite song. AB tells me that my disdain for this song may be a little... hmmm... not wrong really... but off? The song had such intentions to be good and do good things. But to me it shows such incredible self centered views of the rest of the world and the strife in other nations and the strange notion that we know it all and can fix it all.
This song makes me nearly ill.
Aside from the images of the Georges (Boy and Michael) singing as if they have any notion whatsoever of what is going on around the world. The song just misses the mark and I am continually amazed that people actually remake this song. (Hello BNL... I was so disappointed.)
No, they do not know it is Christmas and they probably don't care because most are not Christian.
"Feed the World, let them know it's Christmastime". First off, let's not just feed the world because it is time to be generous, let's work at it year round. But even moreso, throwing food at the problem is not a solution since the main problem is getting the food to the people. But maybe we didn't know this in the mid-80's.
And the line that I have a major problem with is, "well tonight thank God it's them instead of you". This is like praying to win the lotto. Instead of thanking heaven that someone else is the one starving how about being grateful for all we have been given in our lives.
Poor AB... he knows when this song comes on (which it invariably does since I keep my XM Radio on XM Holly quite often) he gets to hear my rants and raves.
I threw in another one the other day... Bandaid... I can't believe they named the group Bandaid, because it is like putting a Bandaid on something will fix it. Wrong, Bandaids just cover it up.
Then AB pointed out that it was Band Aid and the goal was to get Bands together to provide Aid.
Ok, he may be right there. But that doesn't make me like the song anymore!
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