Ken Burns' National Parks Documentary

[khl]

Any of you see this? I missed the first night, but caught the two hours tonight. I like it a lot. The visual aspects are great, of course, but there's really interesting history behind all this.

http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

[Doug_Tipple]

Yes, I have watched the first two programs (4 hours). Weaving together the beautiful photographic images, music, and history of the evolution of the park idea is fascinating, which is what we have come to expect from a Ken Burns production. I have been to most of the places that have been featured thus far, so that adds another dimension for me, thinking about that period in my life when I was a visitor.

[Denny]

somewhat related....
Here is a guy that has spent over 16 years doing over 16,000 miles of trails with a camera.
http://www.walkingdownadream.com

[susnfx]

I watched the second part and, as usual with a Ken Burns project, am very impressed. I'll certainly be watching the rest of it. Fascinating to me to hear about the thinking that was behind some of the parks. Interesting also to note that as a people we haven't changed one bit--our first inclination is to "make use" of any empty space: cut down all trees, plow up all land or mine it, strip it bare and move on. Thank God for Teddy Roosevelt and those who had the vision to stop it in so many places.

Susan

[Doug_Tipple]

It is interesting to me to see and hear what tune that the producers choose to play in the background while Peter Coyote reads the script. "Akoshian Farewell" was one of the poignant tunes that layered the background of the Civil War Series. It is now a very popular Americana tune, popular with fiddlers. In the Natural Park series thus far I hear "This is my Father's World", a Christian hymn that was frequently sung at church when I was growing up in rural Indiana. The lyrics to the tune express John Muir's concept of God being in the natural world.

[dfernandez77]

I don't own a TV. But my brother was watching it. I caught a lot wandering through. It was a nice program with great stories.

[dwest]

Stephen R. Fox wrote a book, "John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement," a number of years ago that the first two presentations have followed fairly closely. I thought it was a good read. Growing up we virtually lived in the National Parks/Monuments during the summers. We would often run into the same people traveling from park to park. It was very easy to develop a sense of community after a few run-ins. We rarely stayed in a campground where someone didn't stop and ask my mother if she was "really traveling all by herself with six kids?" Never struck any of us as unusual. My wife and I did the same thing with our boys years ago, some of the differences in the parks between the years I first visited them and when we took the boys out was very dramatic. Glacier has had some of the most dramatic changes, of course we got to see grizzlies and wolves at the Yellowstone, not something one could see, the wolves at least, when I was a kid.

[Cubitt]

John Muir seems to be one remarkable dude! Why don't we learn about him in school? His importance and contribution is breathtaking, as is the man himself. I plan to do some serious research on him. I have been aware of his life, but this series has brought him to life for me and I am fascinated.

Now that both he and Roosevelt are out of the picture, I wonder what the remaining days will show us. I will be watching!

[Walden]

I've been watching it. It's interesting. I find his using the "Civil War" documentary format for it amusing.

[susnfx]

Walden, what do you mean "Civil War documentary format?" Maybe it's more a Ken Burns format?

I swear when I first saw your avatar, Walden, I thought it was Fred Astaire in a wig!!

Susan

[Dale]

Much of the music, as is usually true of Ken Burns work, is recorded by Bobby Horton. Bobby lives in my neighborhood and records in this home studio. Small world.

Ron Rash's most recent novel, Serena, is about loggers in the Smoky Mountains in the lead-up to the creation of the national park there. I very much enjoyed the book.

That is all.

[The Weekenders]

John Muir seems to be one remarkable dude! Why don't we learn about him in school? His importance and contribution is breathtaking, as is the man himself. I plan to do some serious research on him. I have been aware of his life, but this series has brought him to life for me and I am fascinated.

Now that both he and Roosevelt are out of the picture, I wonder what the remaining days will show us. I will be watching!

Yeah, it's funny. He's a big deal here because he lived in my home town (Martinez) from 1888-1914, though he spent a lot of time away, as the show explains. We have a school named for him, streets, etc. They showed his house on that first episode. It's a National Park site, but was a boarded-up no-trespassing site when I was a kid. I lived right behind it and we used to sneak onto the property to steal fruit from the trees he planted. It's also the site of the Martinez Adobe, which was a home built in the 1840s on a Mexican land grant. My kin lived there. I am on the advisory committee of an upcoming permanent exhibit at the Adobe, so when people come to visit the home, they can experience two phases of Calif. history. If you come up here, I recommend stopping at the site; the house is very cool to see as well as the adobe and orchards.

[dwest]

Muir went to school at my alma mater and just like so many of my friends, a hundred years later, he found it convenient to spend some time in Canada even though cold winds blew there.

[susnfx]

My favorite Muir quote: "Nothing dollarable is safe." Ain't that the truth!

Susan

[Walden]

Walden, what do you mean "Civil War documentary format?" Maybe it's more a Ken Burns format?

He's in a rut. I think it worked for that series, but it seems like a poor fit for a series on the National Parks.