Despite my earlier qualms, it looks like I will be online this week. I’m sitting here in the middle of King’s Canyon National Park in California, in the common room of the rustic John Muir Lodge, rough-hewn beams overhead, with six other people and their laptops, all taking advantage of the free WiFi. Gotta love the National Park Service. (Another part of me, though, would rather be off in the woods with nothing but a pocketknife, a bandanna, and a bottle of water.)
On a parenting note: If you’re going to be visiting a national park and have children over five, check out the Junior Ranger program. Kids complete a self-guided set of activities based on age range (pick up a booklet at the visitor centers) to earn their Junior Ranger badges. They learn about the wildlife, the parks themselves, and protecting our natural resources. Our son is totally excited about doing this—and I recall from seeing other kids get their badges that the rangers try to make a big deal out of the presentation.
On a political note: Sunday, Helen and I went to the After Ellen meet-up in San Francisco’s Castro district, and hung out in a gay bar with a bunch of cool lesbians. Monday, on the road out here to the park from Fresno, we passed a church with a “God Made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” sign out front. It’s going to be one long, hard slog until November, folks, even if the competition lacks originality.