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“O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain.
For purple mountains majesties,
Above the fruited plain.
America, America, God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.”
This poem was written by Katherine Lee Bates, a thirty-three year old English professor. In 1893, Bates took a train trip to Colorado Springs to teach a summer course at Colorado College. What she saw on her trip, especially the view of the Great Plains from the top of Pikes Peak, inspired her to write the poem which was published two years later to commemorate the 4th of July. The poem was set to music in 1892 by Samuel Ward who wrote the melody while on a ferryboat ride from Coney Island to New York City. He had no paper to write on and was afraid he would forget it, so he asked a fellow passenger for his shirt cuff.
Earth Day 2011 is quickly approaching (April 22) and what better way to spend it than to explore one of our National Parks.
Do you live close to one of them?
We do…Rocky Mountain National Park…is only a 2½ hour drive from us. We’ve been there many times…to hike, to fly-fish and to look at the abundant flora and fauna with wonder and awe. It is a wonderful place for children!
One of the fantastic bloggers I have recently connected with did a great post on the National Parks and she lists the days that you can get in FOR FREE! Check it out at http://nrhatch.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/national-parks-week-free-admission/
Tomorrow is the start of the Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Giveaway Blog Event…please stop by….and wish me luck…I hope I post it correctly. 🙂
VIVIAN KIRKFIELD - Writer for Children 
Thanks for spreading the word . . . and for your kind words.
We love Rocky Mountain National Park and have been several times with my brother and his family ~ even had a snowball fight in July one year. 😀
We also enjoyed whitewater rafting on the Poudre River. Gorgeous scenery in the Rockies.
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We feel really fortunate to live so close. We used to go up for an anniversary weekend every year in August and also for a weekend in February or March to snowshoe.
Maybe one day I’ll do a post on my rafting experience. 🙂
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Hi Vivian~ It was so nice meeting you at Sunday’s SCBWI meeting! As a huge fan of national parks (my Masters degree is in Outdoor Recreation and Natural Resource Management), I LOVE this post. Wonderful thoughts and information!
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Hi Jess,
Thank you so much for stopping by…and for subscribing to my blog…I am on my way over to yours in a minute to do the same. 🙂
Tomorrow there will be a giveaway of a copy of my book…it’s the first time I’ve ever done a giveaway myself…I’m part of a big blog hop that is supposed to be book-oriented. Check it out…there are over 200 blogs participating.
Yes, it was wonderful to meet you…I really appreciated the thoughtful feedback on my little picture book story. And it was helpful to see what others are doing and look at their work with a “constructive” eye.
I hope to see you again…I will definitely try to make the next meeting.
Thanks for the kind words about the post. 🙂
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The National Parks will be teeming with tons of people this coming weekend and it is still a bargain for people who love the outdoors. Great job! 🙂
Eliz
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We are so fortunate that there were people with vision years ago who worked hard to insure that there would be large areas of awesome natural beauty kept safe from commercial growth…now we have the same type of people who fight to preserve the environment and the planet.
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