An old-time mountain Holiday Homecoming will be held December 18 at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center and the Mountain Farm Museum in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, complete with hot cider and cornshuck dolls.

We are on our way to Key West, where the weather is more accommodating to those of us past middle age. In truth, Key West is a fun place for people of any age. Warm weather, a fun atmosphere, strange people, wild chickens roaming the streets, and the ghost of Ernest Hemingway looking over your shoulder all make for an enjoyable vacation.

A number of conservation groups, including the National Parks Conservation Association, has asked the Utah Supreme Court to order a halt to work at a surface coal mine located roughly 10 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park as the raven flies.

As the days of December get checked off, it looks less and less likely that the lame-duck Congress will address an omnibus land bill that would have some impact on the National Park System.