Drawn the Road Again

Tag: nps

  • Butte-iful

    Butte-iful

    Like Saguaro, Theodore Roosevelt National Park is divided into two separate units. Unlike Saguaro, the North Dakota badlands are an old, familiar haunt of mine. Greener and less weathered than their craggy South Dakota siblings, these buttes have a similar mystery to them, all the same. It’s not hard to see why they were dear…

  • Alien forest

    Alien forest

    I visited Saguaro National Park for the first time last year, and between being a veteran national parks tourist and seeing a zillion photos of the place over the years, I thought I knew what to expect. Aaaand of course, I was way wrong. (No surprise there.) For one thing, Mary-Alice and I arrived in…

  • Harvey hospitality

    Harvey hospitality

    This post is part of an ongoing series called 66 Fridays, which explores the wonders of old Route 66. Click on the preceding “66 Fridays” link to view all posts in the series, or visit the initial overview post here. If you travel Route 66, you’re sure to come across the name of Fred Harvey.…

  • Sister sites

    Sister sites

    On our way up to the Grand Canyon for our second day at the park, the Tailor and I decided to swing through a trio of national monuments located a short detour away, just outside of Flagstaff, AZ. Since what is arguably the most famous national park lies just down the road, these sites tend…

  • Painted desert

    Painted desert

    Of course, with all this talk of national parks, leaving out the crown jewel of the Park Service would be downright criminal. But until last summer, I’d never been to the Grand Canyon. When I finally go there, I did my best to remedy the heck out of the situation. And the weather did its…

  • Park rangers of the Mother Road

    Park rangers of the Mother Road

    This post is part of an ongoing series called 66 Fridays, which explores the wonders of old Route 66. Click on the preceding “66 Fridays” link to view all posts in the series, or visit the initial overview post here. The last post was a big fat tribute to the National Park Service, which celebrated…

  • Our best idea

    Our best idea

    Mt. Rainier National Park, WA Tomorrow is the 100th birthday of the National Park Service. All of America seems to be celebrating right now, and rightly so. In my opinion, our wildest pockets are our true national treasures, and our national parks, as Wallace Stegner said, our best idea. Olympic National Park, WA So since…

  • Festooned with flags

    Festooned with flags

    I didn’t happen to be in St. Louis on the Fourth of July, but I might as well have been, judging by how the Old Courthouse was decked out inside. Wishing a safe and happy Independence Day to all my American readers!

  • Cave paintings

    Cave paintings

    Well, I might not have had the chance to tour Meramec Caverns, but I got to tour the everloving snot out of Carlsbad Caverns—and I have the bursting sketchbook to prove it. We were there in the “wrong” season—that is, not the time of year for bat-watching. But it didn’t matter: I figured the cave…

  • Arch-etype

    Arch-etype

    Well, there are natural arches, and there are the man-made variety. Somehow, they both seem to attract my attention equally. In any case, you can bet that any arch that dominates the skyline as completely as the Gateway Arch does is going to be a star player in my sketchbook, any day.