You might think there is no better place than a remote mountain valley to spend some time in the age of COVID-19, and Stehekin, Washington, certainly fits the bill. It must be difficult now for the locals, though -- on the one hand wanting to keep away anyone who could bring infection, but on the other needing visitors to keep the economy going.

Winter brings a transformation to Canaveral National Seashore in Florida. In the cooler months the beach is not the main draw. Beaches that are typically crowded in the summer have fewer people in the cooler winter months. But the seashore is far from desolate.

Visitors to Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway in Wyoming will soon be able to reserve campsites in advance at all concession-operated campgrounds. Reservations will go live on Recreation.gov beginning January 26 for the 2021 operating season. All park campgrounds that were first come, first served are moving to this advance reservation system.

By drips and weeps over thousands if not millions of years, beauty is created underground. Here in the subterranean world the moist air and mineral-rich water create castles, not in the sky, but in the caves of the National Park System.