Dear Government, Thanks For Ruining My Road Trip Plans…

I realize it is trivial in the grand scheme of things, but this Government shutdown? It is completely messing up my road trip plans, and I am NOT happy about it.

I don’t like writing grumpy posts, but at the moment it is all I can think about. I wanted to return to Mt St Helens next week and take time to explore the visitor’s center – a long time dream of mine – and it looks like it won’t happen right now. Then there are the parks in California that I wanted to stop at before heading to Camp Mighty, and that doesn’t look like it will happen either.

It leaves me wondering too what other places will be closed or impacted — I’m assuming that the highways that pass through National Forests are still open, but maybe they aren’t? Wouldn’t that be a lovely surprise. Oh, and I can’t look on the National Park Service website for information for future planning (after Camp Mighty) because they shut the website down.

The whole thing just makes me angry. It makes me even more angry when I think about all the park staff who aren’t able to work right now – and all the others who are currently not being paid because of it.

I’m still going to go out there and see the beauty that this country has to offer. I finally have a plan forming of where I will go instead. There is a lot to see, and I’m going to make the most of it. I’m just sad that the National Parks can’t be a part of it.

Photograph above taken at Yellowstone National Park. Last weekend, before they closed.