Hi there!

Welcome to the blog, where I ramble about anything and everything. From why I think fiction in parks is good to the geology of various national parks. Of course, you know that! You’ve diligently read every single article I’ve written. Even the ones which start with a phrase along the lines of “don’t bother reading this one.”

Why the starter paragraph?

Why not.

Anyway, this week, for no particular reason, I decided write about my first national park memories.

For a more identifiable reason, I’ve been thinking about my earlier memories in national parks. That identifiable reason: I’m working on the manuscript for the third Junior Rangers book!!!! Yay!!!! And the second one isn’t even out yet. . .

Anyway.

Wupatki National Monument.

Probs not my original inspiration, (but in the same place.)

My earliest memory from any national park come from this collection of ancient ruins enmeshed with modern world buildings strewn about in a desert north of Flagstaff, Az. I’ve even written about some of these early memories in the past. The first fiction I remember imagining took place in the parking lot outside Wupatki’s visitor center. It was a thing. I was enamored with vending machines, and pretended I could pull snacks from thin air. I was 2, or maybe 3.

My imagined vending location. Don’t see the snack machine? imagine harder!

That’s not the point! (although I find it amusing.)

My point: I was literally born into the world of National Parks. I was not alone. My two older brothers also lived in Wupatki, and in several other national parks before that. I’ve met other people with park histories as long as their own lives, children of park rangers, families of park vendors, or park volunteers. People who visit national parks regularly, and even some who lived on lands before they became protected wilderness/historical locations. They all have their own stories. But this is

My Blog!

And so, I was born into the world of national parks, and learned early on what they could be. Wupatki was a confluence of ancient and modern history, and the present. It’s a federal park bounded by state land the Navajo Nation, and which is also important to other local peoples. It’s a place mostly populated by day visitors, and also home to a few rangers. Including me, for a while.

Which is why I am writing this.

I simply wanted to give a quick shout out to the first park I can remember remembering in. A place with a history and culture so rich that I won’t even attempt to go into it today. (Expect more articles strewn sporadically along the way.)

It’s a beautiful place, with fascinating sites and artifacts linked to a pre-European history in the Southwest. It has a fascinating history as a park as well. (And I’m not talking about myself in this case.) There’s even a book about it. Letters from Wupatki written by a woman who lived in Wupatki Ruin before most of the modern facilities were built. I’ve included a link to the University Press which prints it if you are interested. Letters from Wupatki | UAPress (arizona.edu)

Link to picture of the Stone House. (I don’t have one, so you will have to go to the NPS website to see several.)

https://www.nps.gov/wupa/learn/historyculture/images/Res-1-today_1.jpg?maxwidth=650&autorotate=false&quality=78&format=webp

The Stone House, or Residence #1,was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps for the Jones (author of the letters from Wupatki,) so they could move out of the restored ruin. I lived there for a while. I remember watering the cottonwood tree in the walled in yard. I remember falling out of bed one night and hitting the hardwood floor. I remember being inoculated as to how cool those exposed wooden vigas are. (I’d see them in Puebloan ruins in other parks, and it took years for me to learn to appreciate that they were both a distinctive and awesome architectural feature. “

I remember so many other things about Wupatki. But, I have to admit some of my memories are probably from when I was much older and traveling back to the park with my dad on summer vacation, (after he had moved to other parks.)

The Ancestral Puebloan Runes are fascinating. The desert is beautiful. (And last time I visited, really cold and windy, but that’s a seasonal thing.) The history is obvious, and archeologists are still learning and speculating about the peoples who lived here and left their mark behind.

It’s also a living place. I guess I’m kind of testament to that. (along with many others who have a deeper connection to the park.) Rangers still live and work there. The Peshlakai family still has grazing rights in the park. Even if those end, many of the peoples in the southwest can draw connections to this odd rectangle desert in Northern Arizona. Thousands of people still visit it. It’s well worth it, despite being near a much more famous vacation destination, Grand Canyon National Park. And, today. I simply wanted to shout it out. (Despite mention of Book 3, Wupatki will not be where it is set.)

I’ll talk about it more in the future, but this is all for now!

More Pictures!!!!