Olympic National Park has three very distinct options for winter visitors. For those who enjoy indoor comforts, options include ocean storm-watching from the Kalaloch Lodge along the park’s Pacific Coast to lakeside dining at Lake Crescent Lodge to weekend day trips to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center on snow-covered Hurricane Ridge.

To better protect fragile seagrass shoals and improve boater safety, Biscayne National Park recently completed the installation of 14 fixed shoal markers around the Featherbed Banks in southern Biscayne Bay.

At this time of year, winter waxes as fall wanes, so I thought it pertinent to now emphasize the concerns and rewards of winter photography, be it in the sub-zero temperatures of Yellowstone or along the balmy beaches of the Virgin Islands or the moss-carpeted downed tree trunks of Olympic National Park.

If you find yourself in upstate New York for the long Thanksgiving Day weekend, treat yourself to a candlelight tour of Fort Stanwix National Monument.