Nothing to Tie Me Down

I love National Parks. When the Ken Burns PBS special on ‘The National Parks: America’s Best Idea’ was aired, I DVR’ed all the epidsodes and have watched them repeatedly. I’m a park geek.

I am trying to figure out what it is that I enjoy in life, that is solely my joy, not the joy that Kevin & I had mutually. I have finally found SOMETHING that is me. National Parks and Camping. I love the exploration and the history of National Parks. They’re all unique gems of the best things about the United States.

So far, I have visited Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier, Badlands, Grand Canyon, Theodore Roosevelt, and I think I’ve been through Shenendoah & Sequoia as well. There’s a total of 58 National Parks (technically over 300 National Park UNITS), and frankly, I want to see them all.

Bucket list. This is now on my bucket list. In the next 10-15 years I want to visit every National Park in the U.S. Some I can do in 1 trip. Others will be 1 park for the entire trip (Alaska and Hawaii). I don’t think it’s a completely ridiculous dream. I love road trips, I love to camp and hike, and I’m hoping to take a few weeks off next summer to explore the West again and visit Montana.

But then I get to thinking. I have nothing to tie me down. I have family whom I love dearly, but I will love them, and visit them, and be part of their lives no matter where I am. By December of this year, school will be done, and well, being that none of my regular jobs are a career path, what do I have to tie me down? Pretty much nothing. I’ll be FREE. It is exhilerating.

Back to National Parks. Why don’t I work in one? Moving to Montana, I had gotten accepted into the University of Montana for Recreational Management solely because I wanted to do events for National Parks or Park Systems. Where did that dream go? It didn’t go anywhere. It’s still there, but now I have a second chance at it at this second life. While my degree may not be that, I can use it towards something within the Park System, whether it takes me to California, Arizona, Montana, Alaska, or Maryland. So many wonderful options. Plus, I can freelance ANYWHERE.

I’m really really digging this idea. This dream. This bucket list. Could it be that I finally found a future I could get excited about?

Brenda Sieglitz

Brenda Lee Sieglitz is an author and public speaker whose topics focus on travel, grief, and nature. Widowed in 2008 at 24 years of age, Brenda is an advocate for sarcoma patients, the widowed community, and conservation through her volunteerism with the National Park Service, Lancaster County Conservancy, Pennsylvania Master Naturalist, Hospice of Lancaster County, Soaring Spirits International, Angiosarcoma Awareness and Highmark Caring Place. Brenda won the 2009 Associated Content “Content of the Year” award, and in 2011 was named one of Wyndham Women’s “Women on their Way”. Most recently her love and loss memoir, Ebb from the Shoreline, won 1st Place Editor’s Choice in Nonfiction at the 2014 North American Book Awards. Sieglitz holds a degree in business and became a Pennsylvania Master Naturalist in 2015. In her spare time, she adores playing with her two nieces, going on family adventures with her husband, stepdaughter and son-in-law, hiking, camping and is working to complete her bucket list dream of visiting all National Park units. Sieglitz has been married to her best friend Dave since 2013 and continues to reside in Lancaster County with their two beagles Scotch and Fina.

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Comments 1

  1. missy March 11, 2010

    DO IT!!! Especially Montana……
    missy from the bayou

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