Nate Landon's Blog

When I was a kid I always enjoyed participating in the Junior Ranger program at Kings Canyon National Park. It was always fun learning about nature and earning my Blue Jay patch from the park rangers. The JR program had more to do with me deciding to be a park ranger than anything else.
Today was Junior Ranger Day at Dinosaur National Monument. Twenty-two years after I first wanted to be one of those cool rangers with the neat hat, I stood before a crowd of children and taught them about the importance of the National Park Service. It may seem silly to my readers, and to my co-workers for that matter, that I feel it is an honor to wear the NPS uniform, but it holds a special meaning for me. It was only four years ago that I thought my dream would never come true, and that my life-long goal could not be accomplished. So today was my life coming full-circle. I am proud to be a park of the National Park Service, but I am honored to have been able to teach the kids about why I love the National Park Service. Maybe I lit a spark in one of them as a ranger did for me so many years ago.

There isn’t a whole lot to report right now here in Dinosaurland. I am working slowly on my book and have the first draft on about three chapters now. Work and school are taking up most of my time, so writing has been the last thing on my mind. I have to develop three programs for children in the next few weeks, so I will be quite the busy ranger for a while.
Kaia is heading out to see me on Tuesday, so I will be back in Salt Lake for a couple of days. It seems all of our good friends are abandoning the USA for other countries lately, so now we are saying goodbye to a few more (I better get presents mailed to me when you get there!).
As always, I will push forward and keep you posted on what’s shakin’ here. Oh, and enjoy this video.