Free Republic

Planning a last-minute trip to Yosemite or Arches national parks just got easier—at least on paper. The Department of the Interior announced this week that it is canceling the seasonal timed-entry reservation systems at Yosemite National Park in California and Arches National Park in Utah, two of the country’s most visited national parks, effective immediately. The agency also confirmed significant changes to the vehicle reservation system at Glacier National Park in Montana for the 2026 season. “Our priority is keeping [the national parks] open and accessible,” Kevin Lilly, the acting assistant secretary for fish, wildlife, and parks at the National...

Call it the Arc de Trump. President Trump posted an architect’s rendering of a huge triumphal arch to mark the nation’s 250th birthday – and his biggest change yet to the capital’s skyline. The stone arch would be constructed just across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial — soaring above that memorial’s 99-foot height — and add a major new element to DC’s public architecture. The online sketch depicts a massive monument that bears a strong resemblance to the Washington Square Park arch in Manhattan and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The stone monument features carved wreaths, two...

These are photos of inscriptions which are over two of the doorways of the house we recently bought. The question - Are these just artistic decorations or do they actually say something in some language? If you don't know, but work at a university, etc. that has someone who knows middle eastern languages, I would REALLY appreciate you forwarding this to them so we can figure this out.

Mining the Natural Arch and Bridge Society site for fun found this: "Mask Rock is located in the Ouadi Archei region of Ennedi [Chad] about 39 kilometers SSE of Fada. The left opening has a span of 36 feet and a height of 57 feet. The right opening has a span of 27 feet and a height of 50 feet. Photo by Gunter Welz." Just for the heck of it, Googling on "Turkey Rock" discovered this, apparently somewhere around Aspen (Independence Pass, wherever that is): Another Web site, mostly written in Czechoslovakian, calls the images below Turkey Rock and Turkey...

"Grottoes" (grottos?) can be both natural, man-made, or man-modified. Searching for grotto images finds many of these categories. This one struck me as pretty impressive, on the island of Malta. I had to shrink the image a bit; click on it for the full-size image. The second shot is of the notable tourist attraction Blue Grotto of Capri, Italy. There are a lot of pictures on the Web of this place; I couldn't find what I felt was a great one. The glow of the underwater illumination is pretty good; it appears that there is a considerable photographic challenge in...

According to the text of the page, this feature can be seen on a hike to Lexington Arch in Great Basin National Park. I actually was looking for pictures of Lexington Arch, and there are a few, but this one seemed more interesting. The site is nice if you like arches (I do).