The National Park Service and the Garden Club of America recently renewed a formal partnership based on conservation and management of native plants.

Despite a very rainy Saturday that could have changed the BIG DIG into the BIG DELUGE, the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail attracted volunteers from across North Carolina and came very close to finishing the Blue Ridge Parkway portion of the trail from the Great Smokies to the Outer Banks.

More than 50 people who signed up for a scenic cruise on Lake Michigan near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore got more than they bargained for when the vessel began to sink in high seas.

It might seem to be an odd confluence, but Joshua Tree National Park is the backdrop for an exhibit of photographs and album cover art featuring such artists as America and the Eagles. But if you're familiar with the album covers, and the park, you understand the connection.