Social Parks by Regenerative Road Trip

02/24/2024

Our first since The Before Times (ie Covid) is here this month! Magan Ruthke hosted a great hands-on demonstration with oil pastels (smudgy oily crayons meets finger paint, to be all "digital photography art is best art" guy about it).

While admiring the rich colors out of the dark blues and purples in those pastels, I decided to have my first try at this medium be my admittedly now-overused Milky Way photo from here at .

I've been grumpy about the increased light pollution since when I captured this shot, so I went heavy on the Scottsbluff/Gering light dome. Gave it a Death Valley - Vegas level effect. But hey... artistic license and gotta make our advocacy pitch.

If I was 7, this would be fridge-worthy. Since I'm 47, it's "hey at least you had fun and learned stuff."

Check out 's recent IG posts from her 2 weeks here. Very impressive work and always interesting to get deep reactions from urban residents about the Nebraska Panhandle life.

02/23/2024

"What would you name a room in a cave?" asks Jewel Cave.

Post has been up for over a day, and no one has commented "Cavey McCaveroom" yet. Come on, internet...

01/23/2024

✅ American Sign Language
✅ Dark skies
✅ Park that isn't -30 F.

Relevant to our interests.

Sign language interpreting and assistive listening devices are available for all park programs including during the upcoming Dark Sky Festival March 1-3.

Due to the remoteness of some locations within the park, please submit a request at least 14 days in advance asking for an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. You can email us at: [email protected] or give us a call at (760) 786-3200

📍 Furnace Creek Auditorium

Alt Text: American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreter signs in front of a stage during an auditorium talk at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. NPS/ J. Hallett

01/23/2024

The "If You're Cold, They're Cold" winter ranger campaign made it onto National Park Service LEGO Vignettes. It's hard to keep track of all the parks who got in on this, but they're almost all gold.

The best campaigns are when it takes on a life of it's own organically, rather than the more contrived stuff like NPS Fashion Week.

Not.... that there's anything.... uh, wrong with Fashion Week.... (hides behind door as NPS social rangers come at me with pitch forks.... (flees into woods)

Honestly, we didn’t have cold Park Ranger social media thirst traps on our 2024 bingo card, but we appreciate them nonetheless.

09/19/2023

Outstanding in northwest Nebraska tonight!

Including two "STEVE" pillars to the west of the main show. Always wanted to see those ever since I first read about them a few years back.

01/12/2023

Today's vibe: moar coffee.

11/14/2022

Who is "Topographical Man"? And why is there a brochure about him?

I mean obviously a superhero map making / GIS ranger deserves a brochure. But this image creates more questions than it answers.

Looking to learn more during your next visit to Scotts Bluff National Monument? The monument offers 16 different brochures with more information on topics like geology, Robidoux Pass, William Henry Jackson, and much more. Ask the ranger at the front desk to learn more!

Image- Three of the sixteen Scotts Bluff National Monument brochures are seen in this photo. NPS/Eric Grunwwald

11/04/2022

Happy New Year!

03/02/2022

A "Ranger Jason" in his native environment. We're awfully busy making vids for the Park Service nowadays, thats why our channel has been a bit sparse lately. So, enjoy this in the meantime!

10/28/2021

While Jason and the kids are exploring South Carolina this week, Tera Lynn is busily remote volunteering for Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site on a really worthwhile project.

If you're at all interested in public lands and accessibility, you should check out the UniDiscription app. It's a fascinating way for National Parks to audio describe their park brochures for visitors and potential visitors who are blind or have low vision.

And it's a fascinating way to gamify learning how to do AD, so ALL the content coming out of the NPS and other public land management agencies can be more accessible for all!

10/12/2021

That awkward moment when you drive 6 hrs away from your park housing for the season... and realize you left a laptop in the roll top desk.

Now I'm envisioning a Toy Story-esque scenario where the laptop is sitting in the dark... noticing it's awfully quiet out there.

"Helllooooo? Does anyone... anyone want to play a game on me? Check email? I can... I can look up some curriculum stuff? I'm sorry I had to update last time....

Hello?"