In the Land of the Big, Big Trees

A few summer’s ago, T and I made a visit to Seneca Falls, New York, the birthplace of the women’s rights movement in 1848.  While there, we visited the home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  The National Park Service ranger at the site referred to a large tree in the front yard of Stanton’s home as a “witness tree” meaning that the tree had been present when the 1848 convention was being conceived in Stanton’s home; the tree had witnessed history.  I loved the idea of “witness trees” and it came to mind when we visited the Sequoia trees at King’s Canyon National park on Wednesday.

These trees have witnessed years and years and stand tall in a forest of incredible magnitude.

They are beautiful in a way that is awe-inspiring.  Some of my best childhood memories happened in the California national parks.  

These forests are among the most beautiful places in the world, something all the generations of my family can all agree upon.

Real Life Conversations with T: Paterson edition

The backstory: T and I like to visit National Park sites and check out the historical displays.  This past weekend, we rolled on over to one of the newest National Parks, the Paterson Great Falls National Park in Paterson, New Jersey, established in 2011  When Paterson was first founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1792, it was the nation’s first planned industrial city.  Paterson would go on to become a prosperous town and early site of the 19th century American Industrial Revolution.  In Paterson, the Labor movement got its start, including an 1835 textile worker’s strike that reduced children’s workdays from 13 and 1/2 to 11 hours (!).  Industrial prosperity took the town through the 1940s; Paterson has long been a town of immigrant opportunity.  These days, Paterson is struggling with some substantial poverty and that’s clear throughout the site of the fledgling national park.  On our way out of town I saw a restaurant entitled, “Pappi’s Texas Weiner.”

Me:  Pappi’s Texas Weiner?  What is the deal with Texas Weiner places in New Jersey? (note: the phrase “Texas Weiner” is popular in the state for reasons wholly unknown to me).

Me (now ranting):  And “Pappi’s”?  There is no way I am eating in a place called Pappi’s.  It just sounds sketchy.

T:  I would have thought that the phrase Texas Weiner is the bigger problem.  Though Pappi’s does sound like there will be a molestation in the bathroom.

We opted for supper elsewhere and laughed about Pappi’s for the rest of the day.  We’re gonna get struck by lightening some day, and it’s a fate we richly deserve.  But at least we’ll be together when it happens.