Park Rangers, Defenders of Society and Nature
Would you expect to see a National Park Service ranger in New York? Probably not, but then there are other less likely sights that make the extraordinary into the ordinary so seeing a park ranger is totally plausible. It made me laugh to realize that a park ranger is always a park ranger regardless if you’re in the natural wild or the urban wild.
While people watching in Union Square my attention was drawn to a large circle of people clapping. A group of street performers were rallying the crowd before doing their performance. With the crowd’s energy raised and on their side they broke into a couple light break dance routines before taking a break and attempting a more daring stunt.
The lead performer pulled a volunteer from the crowd to stand in the middle of the circle with instructions to stand still, very still. The performer’s goal was to JUMP over the volunteer. Since the volunteer and the performer were almost the same height this would prove to be interesting.
With more ovation from the crowd, and a little lot of distance from the target volunteer, the performer made a dash and flipped over the volunteer who was standing erect. To me, it looked like he jumped over her shoulder but the flip made it hard to see. After taking in the applause he pulled a couple more volunteers from the audience and was about the out do his first feat when trouble broke out.
The trouble looked just like a park ranger, stepping in for the public’s safety. She came in and broke up the gathering.
It grinned as I reminisced about my own experiences with NPS (National Park Service) rangers. During a cross country road trip years ago my friend and I stopped to camp at several national parks. No matter what we did we were always getting warnings. Being an outdoors person and a law abiding citizen I found the various warnings at each national park to be disconcerting. It wasn’t like were were going to deface Mt Rushmore or feed Yogi Bear. Regardless, the incidents of my youth have catalyzed my opinion of NPS rangers as zealous protectors of their domain.
Watching the park ranger unexpectedly appear from the fringes of the crowd and breakup the performance for the sake of public safety was a lot like seeing Superman appear from a phone booth.
Quote: Turned Around Once
For a man needs only to be turned around once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost.
-Henry David Thoreau
Central America and Back
Great travel experiences, no matter how big or small, always leave you with something of special value. Maybe it was a tangible souvenir or artifact, a poorly taken picture with immense sentimental value, a memory, idea, or receipt from dinner at a great restaurant with excellent company. Depending on the trip, simply getting back home safely may be the lasting highlight.
After returning from a spontaneous week long trip to the town of Chilibre in the Republic of Panama I look back at the experience and consider what I returned with. The list below is a short synopsis of some of my experiences and random thoughts about the trip and traveling.
- Tarantula spiders can run, surprisingly fast.
- In a tropical jungle sleeping with ear plugs will cut down on the noise from chirping bugs might not help the quality of sleep considering the screeching bat flying around the room will go unnoticed all night.
- While on vacation I finished the book “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau. His inanely articulate writings about the pond remind me of my own writing style. From now on things will be different.
- Always bring a medium sized towel.
- Your grand adventure may be paltry in comparison to someone else’s adventure but then if everyone had the same adventure would it still be adventure?
- The best thoughts and pictures exist only in my heart and mind.
In case you were wondering about the Fort Lauderdale pictures below, they were taken during my 10 hour layover in Florida.
Quote: Say What You Have To Say
Say what you have to say, not what you ought.
Any truth is better than make-believe.
-Henry David Thoreau
Friends Lost After Cataan Game
The subject is an accurate fact but a bit sensational on my part. Actually, they moved away.
BC, SH, VA, TN, JB, MA had one last late night game of Cataan. MA almost walked away with the victory but beginners luck (and a little underhanded under-the-table trading between BC and SH) sent BC home as the new super power on the dinky island of Cataan.
No, they didn’t move as a result of losing the game :)