Phil and I have enjoyed watching the Ken Burns series on National Parks. It brought back a lot of memories of my folks and especially my dad. He loved and respected the natural beauty found in the United States. He could have been one of the ones who worked to help keep the parks free and open to the public. He was always upset at the people who littered and abused the natural beauty, although we did drive the car through the Sequoia tree that had been cut to form a tunnel. I remember Uncle Christ helping him work the car through so that the tree and the car did not come into contact.

The only upset from the trip that we took with Christ and Lis Koerner was over Mirror Lake. Dad talked for miles about going to see it and Uncle Christ was driving as we flew past. Dad yelled at him to turn into the drive, but evidently Christ's ears popped so severely in the mountains that he just could not hear what people were saying.

Over the years we visited the Petrified Forest, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Sequoias, the Badlands, Yellowstone, and several trips to the Tetons. Mom loved to travel also, but always loved coming home to the green of Illinois. What a great heritage of love of natuare we got from both of them. The series made me wish we could take off and visit some of the places we have never seen. I will have to see what pictures I can find to post. Dad took some beautiful pictures.