Hi, it’s Vanessa, your ENLIGHTENMENT host -- let’s start another book club!
California is one of the best places in the world to live — that’s why I started the Golden State Book Club. But I also love to travel, and read books about other amazing places I love and would love to visit. I’m hoping there are other travelers, both active and armchair, who feel the same. So for us, here is the Wanderlust Book Club, which will alternate every month with the Golden State Book Club.
Because I’d like to visit more National Parks, I’m kicking things off with Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton.
Below is the book description. Join me at Ruhstaller BSMT for a book discussion over drinks, and to pick the next read.
* Ruhstaller BSMT has a variety of beers on tap, as well as wine, kombucha and nonalcoholic drinks — feel free to BYO food.
For more information about ENLIGHTENMENT and about California Groundbreakers, go to californiagroundbreakers.org
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When Conor Knighton set off to explore America's "best idea," he worried the whole thing could end up being his worst idea. A broken engagement and a broken heart had left him longing for a change of scenery, but the plan he'd cooked up in response had gone a bit overboard in that department: Over the course of a single year, Knighton would visit every national park in the country, from Acadia to Zion.
In Leave Only Footprints, Knighton shares informative and entertaining dispatches from what turned out to be the road trip of a lifetime. Whether he's waking up early for a naked scrub in a historic bathhouse in Arkansas or staying up late to stargaze along our loneliest highway in Nevada, Knighton weaves together the type of stories you're not likely to find in any guidebook. Through his unique lens, America the Beautiful becomes America the Captivating, the Hilarious, and the Inspiring. Along the way, he identifies the threads that tie these wildly different places together—and that tie us to nature—and reveals how his trip ended up changing his views on everything from God and love to politics and technology.
Filled with fascinating tidbits about our parks' past and reflections on their fragile future, this book is both a celebration of and a passionate case for the natural wonders that all Americans share.
