Greetings from Saguaro National Park

My husband and I spent two months in an undersized RV, with two children, a dog, and a hamster traveling from coast to coast. This overzealous itinery could have been the premise for a bad Chevy Chase movie, but instead, we were rescued by the National Parks Junior Ranger Program as it became our guide across the country. The story I propose to write for your magazine includes gritty details of our illustrious coast to coast adventure through the activities provided in the Junior Ranger work books.

My favorite activity was 5 minutes of silence at Dead Horse Canyon: My daughter Emilia and I sat on the rim of the canyon and let the silence rush through us. The weight of dead air in the void loomed like a heatwave rising to the surface of the gorge, full to bursting with the afterlife. The silent history of the enigmatic site spoke to us. The timer went off, jolting us out of our reverie. Emilia, my 4 year old, and I, left that place feeling like we had just stepped into the view, and experienced the park through an almost spiritual synthesis.

The Junior Ranger program gave our children the opportunity to learn about the landscape and history of our country through experience and applied learning. We learned together, as a family, about each park we visited. It gave us an itinerary of active experiences in the parks that we never could have conjured up ourselves with limited time and resources.

Sincerely,
Olivia de Soria