My grandfather was the first concessionaire here in the park. He had the park service contract to bring people here so they could experience Rocky Mountain National Park. In my veins runs the blood which is the result of my mother drinking the water of the streams and the rivers that eventually joined the streams in this wonderful park, not only the Big Thompson but the Colorado River on the other side, so it’s in my bones.
Palinesque, isn’t it? Scary. It pains me to say this time it was Colorado’s own Sen. Mark Udall, trying really, really hard to convince us that he really, really has deep, seriously deep, roots in Rocky Mountain National Park. Roots that surely must go deeper than anyone else’s because, like, he’s got all that water in his blood that his mother drank from streams and rivers that ran into his bones. Or something.
Anyway, the great news is that this was said at the official dedication of the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Area! After decades of failed attempts (starting in 1974), almost all of the park has finally been officially designated “wilderness.” I’m thrilled that my favorite place in the world has been given this extra measure of protection. I just hope it lasts longer and is harder to reverse than the wolves’ endangered species designation.
This is certainly a good news.
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It’s wonderful, and deserves its own post. But I just couldn’t get past Udall’s remark. I voted for him. Argh. 🙁