Padre Island National Seashore – Texas
On one of our seminars in Texas, we took the time to drive down to Padre Island National Seashore.
The landscape changed as we approached the coast. Texas roads gave way to stretches to water and salt air. Padre Island National Seashore protects the longest undeveloped barrier island in the world, nearly seventy miles of shoreline along the Gulf of Mexico.
Established in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy, the seashore was set aside to preserve a rare coastal ecosystem that feels expansive. The pavement disappears and the road becomes sand. The dunes are on both sides, and the wind shapes the shoreline and grasses.
Padre Island protects tidal flats and the hypersaline waters of Laguna Madre, one of the few lagoons of its kind in the world. It is also an essential habitat for migratory birds and marine life. The island is especially known for conservation efforts supporting the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. During nesting season, hatchlings are carefully protected and released into the Gulf.
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Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument – Nevada
On our family vacation to Las Vegas, we stepped away from the lights of the Strip and drove north into a very different kind of landscape. The desert opened up and we found ourselves walking through the layered badlands of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. We spent a couple of hours there, slowly wandering the […]
African Burial Ground National Monument – New York
In the very center of New York City, surrounded by federal buildings and urban motion, sites the powerful historic space: African Burial Ground National Monument. This sacred ground came into view in the early 1990s during excavation for a new federal office building. What construction crews uncovered stopped the project in its tracks: hundreds of burial remains dating from the 17th […]
Korean War Veteran’s Memorial – Washington DC
In Washington, D.C., the nation’s story unfolds across sweeping lawn and reflecting pools, carved into marble, bronze and stone. Each memorial is scattered through the city’s landscape translated into physical form by artists tasked with shaping our memory. Among the most moving memorials is the Korean War Veterans Memorial. This memorial does not soar skyward but meets […]
