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Good morning everyone ~

Good morning from Berkley. Jimmie the not so fat cat is busy eating while I get ready for the torture chamber. Have a hard time sleeping lately.

"GOOD MORNING", Getting ready to go and play truck
driver.

www.freep.com has a story today about, Senator targets 2 Mich. parks as among the most 'wasteful' U.S. expense.

both parks are in the U.P.

I saw that on TV6 this morning, mickill mouse. Why is a senator from Oklahoma worrying about Michigan? Give me a break!! I think he's just jealous.

http://www.freep.com/article/20131030/NEWS06/310300024/Senator-targets-2-Michigan-parks-among-most-wasteful-U-S-expenses

Good morning!

Such great pictures on the slideshow this morning. Love that mirrored lake picture. We took some like that on Torch Lake on our way home a couple of weeks ago, minus the fog. Beautiful! And I always love seeing pictures of storms on Lake Superior. And who doesn't love Charlie Brown, especially at Halloween and Christmas.

Have a great day, everybody!!

The two Michigan parks in question are National Parks so I can understand a national interest.

A common criticism of Isle Royale is that it is indeed one of the most expensive parks to maintain given that most of the park employees use boats on a daily basis as well as its remote location. This also contributes to the unusual statistic that it is the least visited national park outside of Alaska.

What is less known is that it is also at the opposite end of the visitation spectrum, so to speak, regarding both average length of stay and repeat visits.

I heard it put very well by one of the park's long time rangers, "Parks like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Zion shout at you and are quite impressive, but Isle Royale whispers softly and can be just as impressive. I can personally attest to that after 8 visits over the past 40 years.

I am generally a fan of budget watchdogs like the Senator from Oklahoma but in this case he could use some education. I think I'll help him out with an email shortly.

...if they can bail-out Wall Street.

Me thinks that's a big part of the problem, Alex.

D. A. (Midwested) I think I'll help the senator out with a boot in the a_ _ !

does anyone know the operating budgets for
these two national parks, and if they are
the most 'wasteful' -- why were they not
closed during the 'government shutdown'?

GEORGE PIKER (Asturgeon)

google, oerating budget for isle royale national park, mi. and you will see quite a bit of information. Pretty interesting.

George:

Here is a link to the 2013 national park's budgets.
http://tinyurl.co
m/mhtgtb8

The 2 parks mentioned were closed during the
shutdown. Normally Isle Royale closes for the season
on November 1 but it never reopened after the
shutdown.