The recent Congressional shutdown of the US government has impacted many facets of Americans’ lives. While perhaps not as important as the loss of income to federal employees or the effect on crucial programs such as WIC and Meals on Wheels, the closure of America’s National Parks does have an impact on our communities and our economy. Millions of visitors spend time in our parks every year, bringing their travel dollars with them. Without those tourism dollars, many businesses — and the people who work for those businesses — will suffer, and thousands of people will miss out on enjoying the splendor of these incredible places set aside specifically so they could be enjoyed by everyone.
As you may have read in one of our previous posts, we believe national parks are one of America’s best ideas. We hope the government shutdown ends soon, restoring programs and income desperately needed by so many people across this country, and re-opening our country’s majestic national parks. We’ll leave you with some of our favorite national park photos to enjoy in the meantime.
Enjoy your week or your weekend!
A Week or a Weekend 
Absolutely amazing photos 🙂
Thanks – the parks are great places to take photos! Enjoy your week or your weekend.
We have been thinking about a car trip this summer instead of a trip abroad and I think that visits to national parks in California, Arizona and Utah might be just the thing to help out the locals. It will be hot but we love the area. Maybe the summer of 2014 should be declared “Tour America’s National Parks” summer. Of course I am assuming that the furlough will have ended by then…
Sounds like a genius idea to us!
Beautiful photos! I couldn’t agree more! End this madness!
Thanks! Enjoy your week or your weekend!
I love Meg’s idea of making it the summer to support National Parks! I just finished a book by Gordon Hempton called “One Square Inch of Silence.” It’s about the loss of natural silence around the world and the effects thereof. He’s on a quest to protect a part of the Hoh Rainforest from overflights, so at least one part of the country can exist without manmade intrusions. So people can hear elk bugling, and streams in the distance, and birds, and even the different sounds rain makes depending on what kind of tree it’s falling on. It’s sad that our parks are shut down, but I’m left wondering if the rangers are sneaking in to enjoy the magnificent parks in solitude. What an exquisite opportunity…
Unfortunately, they’re probably out looking for work so they can pay their bills 😦 The book sounds intriguing! Thanks for the comment.