| Author | Message | ||
     Reindog |
Anyone watching? It really makes me proud to be an American with so many precious gifts. I can't wait to get to Sequoia next week with a new perspective. | ||
| 86129squids |
+1. What amazing photography/cinematography! Incredible stories of the lands we live in- I'm looking forward to the segment on the Smokies, but what I've seen so far is fantastic. One day I hope to travel to these places. They aired a piece on all the great lodges around the USA, in/at these national treasures. I almost started packing. If I ever ended up at one of those lodges, I'd probably ask for a job application, not wanting to leave for a while. | ||
| Etennuly |
+1. That is something that I have been thinking about also. For some reason I keep thinking "but what if it takes a couple of years to properly visit most of them"? Then I think.....so what if it does? | ||
| Strokizator |
Hey Reindog, as long as you're there go through Kings Canyon all the way down to Cedar Grove. Now that's a fun ride. Even better during the spring snow melt. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
We might need to give them to China to repay our debt. (Message edited by Ferris_von_bueller on September 30, 2009) | ||
| Reindog |
The Sequoia ride is actually the Customer Appreciation Event hosted by American SportBike. We are going to stay at Montecito Lodge which is a fantastic place to park your horses after a long day of riding. Our plan is to ride two loops: * Kings Canyon Cedar Grove. * Mineral King. Followed by eating, partying, and drinking at Montecito. Ken Burns "National Parks" is making the upcoming trip seem even more exciting. | ||
| Etennuly |
There are 58 of them.....we gots some works to do!  They were on about the Smoky Mountain Park tonite. Good stuff! | ||
| Jstfrfun |
I have a friend who is master control at our PBS local. I am getting a copy of this series, it's a beautiful work. | ||
| M2me |
The Ken Burns National Parks series is awesome. Now I really want to visit Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Smokey Mountains, well there are too many to list! The National Parks idea itself is awesome. It has nothing to do with the "profit motive". Let's be honest, it's a money pit. But it's about the American people, the public and the beautiful land that they share. Is that idea socialist? You betcha it is! Even though it isn't based on the "profit motive", we can still be proud of, and enjoy, the National Park system. | ||
| Reindog |
Is that idea socialist? You betcha it is! Even though it isn't based on the "profit motive", we can still be proud of, and enjoy, the National Park system. There is absolutely no need to hijack this thread with your misguided political claptrap. It is getting OLD and troll-like. | ||
| Reindog |
We are really blessed to have our National Parks. I've backpacked forty miles by myself without a tent (and sometimes critically short of water) in Yosemite. (Several times). Woken up with a mouse scurrying through my hair high up in the Olympics. Tracked by a bear in Sequoia. Visited by a herd of moose in Lassen in the middle of the night. Looked one hundred feet down in the clear water of Acadia from my boat. Rode my S3T up and then down Mt. Rainier. Slept at 13000 feet in Kings Canyon. Hung my feet off a sheer cliff in Zion. Got lost in the maze that is Bryce Canyon. Rode around the Grand Canyon. Practically knocked a hole in my sneaker in the lava fields of Volcano NP. Started reading "The Lord of the Rings" for the first time high atop a grassy hill in the Smoky Mountains. Ridden my Uly at 110 through the frozen early morning of a blacked out Death Valley due to a storm. These are just a few of the snapshots of great memories and time to start planning on making more. Ken Burns has hit a home run. (Message edited by reindog on October 01, 2009) | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
When I saw the title of this thread I thought to myself "That Ken must be a nasty bugger" then I realised you were talking about a tv series that sadly I will probably never see. One of my retirement plans (not for a while yet I'm afraid) Is to fly over for a month once or twice a year with Madame & tour the National parks with a RV (& a bike of course). I'll have to make a few bob in the meanwhile. | ||
| Crackhead |
and my wife wonders why I want to slap a for sale sight on the house and take off in an RV or 5th wheel on the day I retire. | ||
| Reindog |
Some of Ken Burns' films are available on Region 2 DVDs so "National Parks" might be available for you in the future. Carving the National Parks on a Buell is something you really want to do. We were able to rent cabins at both Yosemite and Sequoia in July with only a few weeks leadtime. Cots, blankets, towels, pillows, and electricity are provided. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Memo to self; go buy a lottery ticket. | ||
| M2me |
There is absolutely no need to hijack this thread with your misguided political claptrap. No hijack. The title of this thread is "Ken Burns National Parks". The actual title of the Ken Burns series is "The National Parks: America's Best Idea". Ken Burn isn't just showing pretty pictures of Old Faithful or the Grand Canyon. That's been done a million times. Ken Burns is also getting at the very idea of the National Parks. Why do we have National Parks in the first place? What is their value to the America people and America as a nation? Why did people advocate and fight for the creation of a National Park system? Was it "America's best idea"? Why or why not? If you watch the series and don't think about these questions you are missing something very important about the Ken Burns series. Don't miss it! That's all I'm saying. Is that misguided political claptrap? I don't think it is. | ||
| Dfishman |
Living in a national park it is bittersweet.All the natural beauty is preserved.......................but promises made by the feds when they "took" land are broken daily.Everything has a dark side.Hatteras Island where birds are at the top of the food chain & humans are not. | ||
| 86129squids |
In defense of M2me: I do remember seeing a piece of one of these shows that mentioned one or several of the proponents at the time having to convince the powers that be (and the public) that the proposed parks had "no monetary value, they were worthless". This idea was instrumental to the establishment of our park system- they had absolutely no monetary value, just a great, priceless aesthetic value, the treasure of "place". My $.02, youn's... | ||
| Blake |
National Parks are a "socialist idea"? Only if you are an idiot socialist weasel trying to turn an otherwise cool thread into yet another miserable colleciton of far-left whackjob pablum. A social system in which the means of producing and distributing goods are owned collectively and political power is exercised by the whole community. b. The theory or practice of those who support such a social system. What We Do National Park Service by the Numbers* $48,000,000,000 incentivized in private historic preservation investment So according to the idiot, $48Billion in private investment is socialism. Somewhere, Stalin and Marx are rolling in their graves hearing that line come from one of their own most useful commie sympathizers. | ||
| Jstfrfun |
That"s OK Blake the guy probably didn"t even watch the program to begin with. Preservation of these lands HAD to be done, because of the stupidity of the people at the time. They'll even tell you that in Wyoming today after all of the fighting that went on over the Tetons. | ||
| M2me |
National Parks are a "socialist idea"? From the Oxford English Dictionary:
I meant it in the sense of "2. A state of society in which things are held or used in common". The National Parks are held and used in common. They are not privately owned or operated on a for-profit basis. They are government run. Oh, and that $48 billion are tax incentives for preserving historical buildings. That is administered through the NPS. The NPS is part of the Department of the Interior and they do other things, but preservation of historical buildings is not what we commonly think of as "the National Parks" such as Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon or Yosemite, etc.
Why do you like calling people names so much? You seem to enjoy proclaiming what a low opinion you have of me. Does that make you feel superior? Well, it doesn't impress me all that much. It strikes me as kind of childish. | ||
| Jstfrfun |
At the time these parks were being formed the lumber industry was unchecked and was cruelly raping the lands which needed protection, endangered waterfoul brought to the edge of extinction, there had to be controls put in place to save what was left of nature. I for one applaud the efforts of those "socialists" who found a way to save us from ourselves. | ||
| Crackhead |
is anyone else collecting the "passport stamps" at the parks? i just found mine from the family trip to Yellowstone in 97. is is amazing how the forest came back between 97 and 09. we were able to see across the fields in the middle of the 8 before, now the pines have comeback soo much, i don't think a elk or dear could run through them. I think i will get a book for my wife and i to do together and a separate one for the baby (in 7 months)so that he/she can have a record of the park visited. |
