As another holiday weekend approaches...

By Guest Blogger: Kallie Blakelock

As state park employees, holiday weekends can mean anything but relaxation. Hordes of campers, tourists, visitors, and locals will arrive at our front gates, bringing everything they think they need and the vigor of the holidays (not to mention a lunchtime rush) and leaving candy wrappers, forgotten charcoal, and chaos in their wake. We will get home after a long night of serving visitors, tired from putting our best selves forward for the public while missing out on our hometown’s firework display. It will be a tough and stressful time, as any holiday weekend (or a randomly busy Wednesday!) always is.

Star Gazing in Rocks State Park by Wes Bunton

Rather than letting the holiday rush burn you out, remember what attracted you to your state park in the first place. From New Germany in Western Maryland to Janes Island on the Eastern Shore, every parkland has something beautiful and unique to offer. Don’t take the carpenter bees lazily floating by the rafters of a pavilion for granted, or the red-back salamanders that slide under pond rocks. As campers drop ice cream cones or get lost on the simplest of trails, remember the silhouette of a Great Blue Heron against the skyline, the combined beauty and fear of seeing black bear cubs for the first time.

            

You chose to work in a state park for a reason; maybe it was proximity, or nostalgia. Maybe it was a love of nature, or camping, or conservation. Either way, as stress levels rise as the holiday weekend approaches, remember what it is about your area that captivates not only tourists, but locals too. For me, at Pocomoke River State Park, it is the smell of tannin lifting off the river. It is the quantity of stars I can see on any given night. It’s the blue-tailed skinks that skim past my feet on the walkway to the camp store, and it’s the tunnel of Mountain Laurel that I walk through on my lunch break. When Fourth of July weekend seems too much for me, I will look at the river, and my heart will burst at what my park has to offer.

Photos in order:

Roots & Rock by John M. Bocan 

Mother & Child by Cindy Osbon

Luna Moth Caterpillar by Steve Aprile

Mushroom Towers by Howard G. Smith

Roots & Rock by John M. Bocan

One More Step and I’m Gone by April Price

Kallie Blakelock is an English education major at Goucher College in Maryland.  She is back at Pocomoke River State Park for her fourth season as a concession attendant and hopes to become a middle school English teacher upon graduation.