Happy Wednesday!

We crossed two more National Parks off our bucket list. 21 down 42 to go! Last week we visited Biscayne National Park and Everglades National Park. The original plan was to hit all three Florida parks, but the ferry to Dry Tortugas was all booked. Oh, shoot! We’ll just have to go back another time! :o)

We canoed through mangroves, skidded across a river of grass on an airboat, saw crocodiles, alligators, and many many birds, played pickleball near the beach in Key West, ate dinner at a beachfront grill while watching the sunset, hand-fed little fishies to tarpons, got a jolt of panic when our tour bus’ tire blew out, took a boat tour into the backcountry from Flamingo into Coot Bay, heard the mating call of a crocodile, did not get too many mosquito bites and barely scratched the surface of what we could have done!

Again, we’ll just have to go back!

On the plane ride home, I listened to a podcast that mentioned the poem “The Peace of Wild Things”. I previously was unaware of this poem and learning about it right after this trip seemed serendipitous!

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Here’s a few pics I took of those ‘wild things’:

Here’s my official NP bucket list:

LIST OF US NATIONAL PARKS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (63 total)

• Acadia National Park {done}
• Arches National Park {done}
• Badlands National Park
• Big Bend National Park
• Biscayne National Park {done}
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park {done}
• Bryce Canyon National Park {done}
• Canyonlands National Park {done}
• Capitol Reef National Park {done}
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• Channel Islands National Park
• Congaree National Park
• Crater Lake National Park
• Cuyahoga Valley National Park
• Death Valley National Park
• Denali National Park and Preserve
• Dry Tortugas National Park
• Everglades National Park {done}
• Gates of the Arctic National Park
• Gateway Arch National Park 
• Glacier National Park
• Glacier Bay National Park
• Grand Canyon National Park {done}
• Grand Teton National Park {done}
• Great Basin National Park
• Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park {done}
• Guadalupe Mountains National Park
• Haleakala National Park
• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park {done}
• Hot Springs National Park
• Indiana Dunes National Park
• Isle Royale National Park
• Joshua Tree National Park
• Katmai National Park and Preserve
• Kenai Fjords National Park
• Kings Canyon National Park {done}
• Kobuk Valley National Park
• Lake Clark National Park
• Lassen Volcanic National Park {done}
• Mammoth Cave National Park
• Mesa Verde National Park {done}
• Mount Rainier National Park
• National Park of American Samoa
• New River Gorge National Park 
• North Cascades National Park
• Olympic National Park
• Petrified Forest National Park
• Pinnacles National Park
• Redwood National Park {done}
• Rocky Mountain National Park {done}
• Saguaro National Park
• Sequoia National Park {done}
• Shenandoah National Park
• Theodore Roosevelt National Park
• Virgin Islands National Park
• Voyageurs National Park
• White Sands National Park 
• Wind Cave National Park
• Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
• Yellowstone National Park {done}
• Yosemite National Park {done}
• Zion National Park {done}

I hope you have a terrific day and do or learn something NEW today!