Find Your Park!

To celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, the National Park Service launched a new advertising and marketing campaign called "Find Your Park" last year. Although it has only been in the last several years that I have begun to fully appreciate the NPS and its diversity, I now count myself as a huge fan. Just check out this video, and tell me this isn't an impressive park system?

Over time I have been fortunate to visit quite a few parks across the country: from Alcatraz Island in California to Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan, from Craters of the Moon in Idaho to Boston National Historic Park in Massachusetts. A few visits I've blogged about include: Shenandoah National Park in Virginia,Yellowstone which I visited a few years ago, Cape Hatteras National Seashore which I saw and loved in 2014, Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland on a hot summer's day, Harper's Ferry National Historical Park in nearby West Virginia, plus recalling an earlier visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes. Naturally, given that the National Mall & Memorial Parks in Washington is also a national park, that's another spot about which I have blogged.

A park that I visited on the same trip as Yellowstone was neighboring Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Although I was there for only part of a day, it was a beautiful and memorable visit, as the place is stunning!

Doing some hiking for the best views!

There are many more I would love to visit some day, including Acadia in Maine, Yosemite in California, Glacier in Montana, Arches in Utah, and - well, the list goes on!

However, if you asked me to name "my" park, I would quickly answer: the C&O National Historical Park. While spots like the Grand Canyon (which I've had the fortune of visiting twice!) are far more impressive, the beauty of the C&O is that it's close enough for me to visit frequently. Also, the impressive 180+ mile length, which stretches from the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington through all the way to Cumberland in western Maryland, means that there is lots to explore! I have hiked only about 25 miles of that. I have written about several (but certainly not all!) of my visits over the last several years, both in areas that are close to Washington, such as the ever-popular Great Falls overlook, and areas further away, such as the Monocacy Aqueduct and the town of Williamsport.

It's no surprise that my first outing to a national park this year was to the C&O. I took a five year old friend for a walk in the Great Falls area. The weather had been quite variable that day, and as we drove to the park, a quick downpour almost changed our plans. However, perhaps sensing our dire need to experiences the great outdoors, the rain stopped. After parking the car, we began walking, and I noticed other hikers looking above us, so we turned around to spot a lovely rainbow. I did not have a camera along; this photo was snapped with my very old cell phone. I'm hoping for many more visits to national parks this year (as well as better quality photos)!

Happy 100th birthday, National Park Service!!!

Updating...

The last several weeks have been busy, and blogging has fallen by the wayside. Over at Confuzzledom Bev had a great post using -ing words to update readers, and I realized that would be a good strategy on letting you know what I have been up to instead of silence while I try to find the time to finish a post or two about an actual events.

Celebrating...

Latvia's Independence Day is November 18. I hope to write at least a short post about the wonderful celebration in Washington's Latvian community.

Stressing...

Life is so complicated sometimes!

Watching...

For stress-relief, I've watched a couple of series via Amazon Prime and Netflix. "Mozart in the Jungle," about classical musicians in New York City, and "Master of None," with comedian Aziz Ansari, have been amusing and perfect for those cold evenings when I was too tired to do much else.

Preparing...

I'm one of those people who is always planning and preparing. With Christmas coming up, there is plenty to prepare - I already have my cards in hand, and have started working on addressing those. Gift shopping is coming along very slowly this year, so I need to pick up the pace on that. Also, now that I am teaching Latvian school again on Sundays, a part of my week is always dedicated to lesson planning. The European Union Film Showcase at AFI begins December 1, and it seems I'll only have time for two movies, but I have purchased my tickets for those.

Changing...

After 8 1/2 years in the same workplace, my last day at this job is Friday, November 27. After a much needed two-week long break (looking forward to that!!!), I will begin a new job in mid-December.

First Sentences

Inspired by a Latvian blogger, Inga, who in turn was inspired by a Huffington Post blog post, I am joining in the "first sentences challenge." The idea is simple -- select and share the first sentence from five books. Inga suggested that the lines should be from books you have read recently. I mostly chose books that I have read in the last few years, however to increase the diversity, also selected one from a Latvian language book enjoyed long ago. To keep with my literary theme for this year, which involves picking more books by woman authors, four of the chosen selections are by women.

"I still don't know why Sallie and I bothered to go to that party in the forest slope above Aspen." Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me

"Saules un vēja izbalināts zirga galvas kauss stāv Madaras Gobas grāmatu skapī - gandrīz vai goda vietā." Ingrīda Vīksniņa, Saules sala

"The day after Lula's lawyer called to tell her she was legal, three Albanian guys showed up in a brand-new black Lexus SUV." Francine Prose, My New American Life

"It was too late to pretend he hadn't seen her." Adelle Waldman, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.

"No one is left from the Glenn Valley, Pennsylvania, Bridge Club who can tell us precisely when or why the group broke up, even though its forty-odd members were still playing regularly as recently as 1990, just as they had done for more than a half a century." Robert B. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

You are welcome to join in by sharing a first sentence in the comments, or several on your blog! Paldies, Inga, par jauko ideju!

Funny Search Terms and Other Statistics

As other bloggers already know, one of the fascinating things about having a blog is seeing where your readers come from. Blogger.com provides the writer with all sorts of statistics about one's audience, including how many hits the blog has received, how they've gotten there, and from which country.

The majority of my readers are in the United States, followed by Germany and Latvia. But I've also gotten hits from places such as India, Estonia, Colombia, France, Brazil, and Poland. Most people are either folks I know or come across the blog through other blogs I follow and comment on. However, a few people have found my blog through a keyword search -- some of which make sense, others not so much. Below are searches which have led people to my blog, and my comments:

• 2014 Latvian Olympic bobsled team (makes sense, seeing as I've written about it)
• digging experience in Latvia (huh?)
• do Latvian have volcanoes (naturally, anyone who's visited Latvia and seen how flat the country is will find this amusing, nevermind the horrid grammar)
• Laimdota Straujuma cool quotes (I've mentioned Prime Minister Straujuma, but I don't think I've written anything about her or anyone else's cool quotes; quite a few people would argue that she doesn't have any cool quotes - Toomas Ilves she's not)
• Latvian opinion of Americans (given the title of my blog, this makes some sense, although it's not a general topic I've covered)

In case it is too hot wherever you are, I leave you with a photo of a snow person that someone built not far from my apartment building after one of our big snowstorms this winter. If you're American, I also wish you a happy Independence Day! Enjoy the long weekend!