When I went on a recent online shopping spree for Parks Canada merchandise — a retro cap, tote bags, headbands, playing cards, baby onesies — I did so feeling good that my purchases would help beluga whales in Quebec.

Boating lazily down the Rideau Canal National Historic Site first on a hot summer journey and then on a cool and rainy fall one, I wonder how I lived this long in Ontario oblivious to the magic of this waterway. We glide into one lock after another, watching as Parks Canada staff use hand-powered winches to operate the gates and sluice valves, raising or lowering us from one water level to another as the watertight chambers either fill or empty.

With an unusual heat wave bringing temperatures as much as 30 degrees above normal to the Pacific Northwest, officials at Olympic National Park in Washington are urging visitors to be prepared for both the heat and crowds.

A dark chapter in the nation's slave history -- a site where slaves were trafficked before the Civil War -- has been acquired by the Natchez Trace National Historical Park in Mississippi.