America's Best Idea

"Let those who will, buy lands, hoard money. We will have memories, glad memories of golden experiences together." Margaret Gehrke diary.

Margaret and Edward Gehrke fell in love with America's National Parks in the early 20th Century and visited many of them through the years, first by train and later driving a series of Buicks. I learned about them in the current PBS series, National Parks, America's Best Idea. If you haven't watched it yet, find it on your local station. Record it on your Tivo or DVR if you can. The two-hour segments reflect much of the wonder we feel about those parks. And we are learning so much by watching them.

Our work camping has taken us to three national parks and monuments and today I searched through out Passport Book and discovered that we have visited at least 92 national parks, monuments, historical sites and recreation areas over the years. And we have so many more to see.

We have memories, so many glad memories of golden experiences. That is what we are collecting in our travels. And we treasure the memories. In fact, each morning we have a "history lesson." John goes through past years' calendars and reads what we did one, two and three years ago on this date. Last year on Oct. 5 we were in Hawthorne, NV; in 2007 we were at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon; in 2006 we were at our house in Centennial. The history of days in that house are most often the most boring, especially since our children grew up and left home. That is why we are now full-timing.

What are your memories? Are you collecting golden ones?