National Parks

I have a thought it would be cool to visit every national park in the U.S. I know I'm not going to do it, but it would be a cool goal. I go to them, pick out a trail and run on it. Walking on a trail just seems too boring and time consuming. And if you walk you don't get as far. I know you could camp, but I'm not spending the night outdoors with all those creepy animals around. During the day, they don't seem to be out. At least I've never seen anything big and dangerous like a bear or an elk. If you encounter a bear you're supposed to either stay completely motionless or make a lot of noise and try to scare it off. I forget which, but I need to learn which one to do. One saves your life and one gets you eaten. It's kind of a big deal.

So this summer I was in Redwood National Park. It was fine, if you are into big trees. Yosemite is especially impressive. I was there on a Saturday during the summer, so it was really crowded. I knew it would be. But I got there kind of early, so it wasn't too bad. It's crowded because it is impressive and by several big cities.

Pinnacles National Park is a new one and not at all impressive. I don't want to be rude, but whoever got that on the list is a marketing genius. It is tiny. I've seen pinnacles in other places in the U.S. As pinnacles go, these are worse. There was hardly anyone there, hardly any facilities, I didn't see any park rangers. Plus its really tiny. Maybe the guy that got Death Valley in also got The Pinnacles in. I don't know how either one made the list, or exactly what you do there. So I went on a trail and it was enjoyable, but not national park-worthy as far as I'm concerned.

There are a few more I'll probably do. There are a bunch in the interior of Alaska or on islands that I'm sure I won't, but I'll end up having been in about half of the parks. That'll do.