by Kelly Sanderbeck, Donor Engagement Manager
We’ve decided to extend our Trailblazers series (normally run in our print newsletter) to the website as well, because so many of you have great stories about your time in the parks. We hope you enjoy these! First off is an interview I had with Val from Indiana; She and Jim have been donors since 2004!
Are you originally from the Pacific Northwest? If not, how did you discover our parks?
We are from Indianapolis (please call us Hoosiers, not Indianians!), and our love affair with the Pacific Northwest started in 1996. I went to Portland for a Public Library Association meeting and was smitten. I came home and asked Jim to go to Oregon to see Crater Lake and the coast. The next year we took the Amtrak Empire Builder from Chicago across the country to Seattle, traveling through Glacier National Park and spending time in the San Juan Islands. We rented car and went to Mount Rainier and I was blown away. I knew I had to come back.
Then in 1998 I came to Seattle for a Music Library Association meeting. It was raining, of course. It rained and rained and rained. I fell in love with Seattle in the rain! I felt like I was in the right place, like it was home. On the last night of the conference, we went out to dinner in a restaurant at the Pike Place Market, overlooking the Sound. The skies cleared and we could see the Olympic Mountains and alpenglow. And I just lost it.
I considered moving, but my husband was chicken. We didn’t want to leave family behind, and I’ve since become a part-time caregiver for my parents. My theory is this: it rains all the time, but you would forget to appreciate it if not for the rain! In Indiana there is no year-round recreation; just man-made ski slopes and nothing to do outside. Winter is just dreary here and flat as a pancake (the northern half of the state). We DO have some really sweet state parks, though, like Turkey Run and Clifty Falls.
Did you have experiences in the outdoors growing up?
We’d go for country drives on gravel roads. My Dad traveled for a living, so in the summer I’d go with him. My parents made me a nature child because they were the first to build house in a subdivision. During most of my childhood, though, no one else built out there. There was a big empty field behind the house with grasses and wildflowers where we’d play baseball and go on adventures. It was dark enough that I could watch bats going around the streetlight. Jim thought I was weird when we got married as I was barefoot all the time!
What are some of your most memorable experiences in our parks? Do you have a favorite park or memory?
Olympic is my favorite — 100% — no ifs, ands or buts. You can go there to a beach and you don’t hear traffic. You go to Mount Rainier and you hear motorcycles. I stay in the same place in Forks every time, and even after many years it’s exactly the same (except for a few Twilight souvenirs!). That way, I’m able to run to Rialto Beach for the sunset every night. That is my favorite place in the park. Even though it can be crowded, the roar of the surfs blocks out people. To me, that’s peaceful and soothing. I like the mist especially, as it smells good and makes my skin soft.
One day, it was only us and two other people on the beach in the mist and fog. We had on our rain gear, and at low tide we saw racoons, deer and an eagle with fish in its claws. It was just like being in a National Geographic movie! Just lovely. We don’t mind the rain because we know how to dress for it.
What do you do, or have done, in your ‘real’ life? What else do you like to do for enjoyment?
I became a librarian after graduate school, with a Masters in Library Science. I don’t love the direction they’re going now, with less books. It just breaks my heart. I’ve since volunteered with hospice, with IndyFeral and worked one-on-one with kids in the ReadUp program in Indianapolis public schools. One year I worked with the same student every day and boy was it hard to leave at the end of the school year.
How did you discover Washington’s National Park Fund and why did you choose to get involved? How are you involved at this point?
We got a flyer at a ranger station and started donating in 2004. Usually when I go to a park I pick one up and donate, as I know that park fees aren’t enough. I feel strongly about giving back and helping other people, and I prefer to support smaller organizations. Areas we contribute to are mental health, foodbanks, homeless shelters, Alzheimer’s and arts organizations in our community. And I consider Washington’s National Parks as part of my community!
How else do you spend your time, now that you’re not working?
I’m a Certified Master Gardener, especially focusing on Indiana native plants. I’m particularly interested in plants visited by pollinators, and I’m hoping to get our yard certified by the Indiana Native Plant Society. I’m also very interested in genealogy. You find a lot of misinformation when you get on some of the websites! Right now I’m stuck at my great-great-great grandfather. I’ve found him on a reliable site in the 1830 census, born in North Carolina. He lived in Indiana and is buried 1.5 hours away from us. We also belong to the Scottish Society of Indianapolis as Elliott is a Scottish clan.
What’s your hope for the parks in 100 years?
We hope we get a Congress who understands how important the parks are so they are budgeted for properly, well-staffed and maintained, and taken care of in perpetuity. Indiana Dunes is our closest National Park.
Can you tell us something about yourself that people might not know about you?
I get altitude sickness, but not in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe because of all the moisture? In Denver, I have a headache the entire time I’m there!
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I’m a prolific letter writer and write to Congress often. I sincerely care about Washington’s parks because they are my happy place. I’m entrusting WNPF to make sure they’re taken care of. They are America’s Greatest Idea. When I show people pictures, they don’t believe these places are real. The experiences I have at Olympic are otherworldly to me. You can take away my money, but not my experiences and memories. That’s why we travel — we don’t have kids, so we collect memories. When I sit in my living room and look around, everything is a souvenir from a place we’ve been. We always travel with our flower and bird books, and my favorites are the jays. I like all jays, but in Indiana we only have blue jays. My favorite jay is the Stellar’s Jay.
Right now I’m looking across the room and see my favorite quote: The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page –Saint Augustine.