A Year in the Service

It was one year ago today that I started as a park ranger at Wind Cave National Park. It seems like much longer ago than that! What a year this has been! As I approach my 27th birthday and Memorial Day I thought it might be appropriate to recount a few of the things that have changed for me in this last year. 

A year ago I was just beginning the adventure of working for the parks service having quit my job and picked up and moved from California to South Dakota for a three month seasonal position. I ended up working at Wind Cave for more than 5 1/2 months and now find myself working on the National Mall in Washington DC. I definitely did not see that one coming! And since being here in DC I have continued to expand the breadth of what I am doing. I gave another exciting MLK talk at Lincoln on Sunday, gave a talk at Jefferson incorporating things I learned visiting at Monticello yesterday, and also got to go out on bike patrol for part of yesterday for the first time. I rode the entirety of the park and got paid to do it!

I have been blessed with the opportunity to see much of the country in the last year. I have seen 29 of the 50 states (36 if you include all of 2009).

California

Nevada

Oregon

Idaho

Montana

Wyoming

South Dakota

North Dakota

Nebraska

Colorado

New Mexico

Arizona

Utah

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Iowa

Missouri

Kansas

Texas

Louisiana

Mississippi

Alabama

Florida

Georgia

South Carolina

North Carolina

Maryland

Virginia

West Virginia

I have also had the pleasure of visiting a fair number of National Park sites. I can think of 42 off the top of my head. (again you can add 6-8 more if you count all of 2009)

Yellowstone

Wind Cave

Mt. Rushmore

Jewel Cave

Little Bighorn

Theodore Roosevelt

Devil's Tower

Badlands

Minuteman Missile

Scott's Bluff

Ft. Laramie

Rocky Mountain

Mesa Verde

Wupatki

Sunset Crater

Grand Canyon

Brown vs. The Board of Education

Colorado

Arches

Canyonlands

Bryce

Great Basin

Guadalupe Mountains

Carlsbad

Jean Lafitte

Chalmette Battlefield

Ft.Sumter

Fredericksburg

Chancellorsville

The Wilderness

Spotslylvania Court House

Harper's Ferry

Prince William Forest Park

Ford's Theater

George Washington Memorial Parkway

Theodore Roosevelt Island

The National Mall (could count each site separately)

Rock Creek Park

President's Park

Great Falls Virginia

C & O Canal

Shenandoah

So all that is to say that I have had the pleasure of doing much during this last year and I believe that I am exactly where I should be, following God and working for His kingdom in the midst of the National Mall.

Living in dangerous wonder...