Good stuff

Tomorrow night, two great TV shows premiere! First is my favorite show, The Amazing Race. I've blogged about it here before, so I won't repeat myself, but just know that it starts tomorrow night, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m. on CBS (though it may be delayed due to the Sunday afternoon football schedule). It's a two-hour premiere too, which is doubly exciting!

The other show that debuts tomorrow night is the new PBS mini-series "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." The series runs through Oct. 2 and promises some of the most spectacular scenery ever recorded; it took nearly a decade to film it all! But at heart, "The National Parks" is a story about people - people from all walks of life who cared enough to preserve these amazing lands for future generations.

Here are a couple of videos that I've enjoyed watching. The first is simply a preview, but you'll get a taste of the natural beauty featured in this series:





I couldn't get the second to embed, but it's a video of Yosemite employee Sheldon Johnson, who grew up in inner-city Detroit and now introduces other urban youth to the parks. Johnson speaks about his experiences with such poetic beauty; I could listen to him all day! Click HERE and then watch the video in the upper right corner (titled "Shelton Johnson on a Transcendent Moment in Yellowstone").

I've been to a few of our country's national parks; most are the ones here in the east - Shenandoah, Yorktown, Appomattox, and of course the Great Smoky Mountains. But it's the ones out west - Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Hawaii Volcanoes - that I remember most, probably because the scenery is so very different from what I'm used to. My parents are in the process of hiking as many of the national parks as they can possibly get to (especially the ones with mountains); their current total is 22, with a trip planned to Oregon's Crater Lake in two weeks. (Correction: My dad just emailed me: it's 32 ... and I can provide a spreadsheet of specifics for those of you interested.) I'm looking forward to remembering the parks I've been to and glimpsing the ones that are new to me.

"The National Parks: America's Best Idea" begins tomorrow night at 8 p.m. on PBS and airs each consecutive night at 8 p.m. through Oct. 2. (Actually, it looks like our local PBS affiliate is showing the first episode all afternoon tomorrow, starting at 4 p.m. I think I'll watch an early one so Maggie can see some.) For a full episode guide, click here.

I hope you'll tune in -- I've been looking forward to this series for some time now, and I can't wait for it to start!!