Sometimes...

...on a slow day I read.


I may read online newspapers, online books, paper books, magazines, online magazines, blogs, websites, etc. You get the idea...


Today I have ventured onto the National Parks Traveler website: http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/


There are some interesting stories here, and some lovely photos--I know it is possible to take a bad picture in the National Parks, but usually that involves human error of some sort.


I ventured into the site a little deeper than I usually do, and came across a list of blogs written about the National Parks. One, in particular, caught my eye--It was entitled, My Handicap Parking

http://www.myhandicapparking.com/



The author of the blog, Preston Filbert, has polio and so, experiences the parks in a different way than most visitors. The first sentence of the blog caught my attention: "National Parks make me think, which makes we write."



What a great statement. The parks have long inspired photographers and painters, but it was not often we saw an individual who was inspired by the parks to write (historical explorers and modern bloggers aside.)



The parks tell a story to anyone who will listen. The men who had the foresight to set aside these lands did so with the intention that everyone could enjoy them, not just the wealthy and elite as was the case in other countries. Mr. Filbert is just one of thousands of visitors who are able to experience the National Parks each day in spite (yes that is what I meant) of a physical challenge that just a century ago would have seen them abandoned or hospitalized.



In case you didn't know, the Federal Agencies offer what is known as an "Access Pass." The Access Pass is "A free, lifetime pass - available to U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States that have been medically determined to have a permanent disability - that provides access to recreation areas managed by five Federal agencies [National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service]." For more information about the Access Pass or any of the National Park Passes, visit:

http://store.usgs.gov/pass/index.html

And may you be inspired to think...