Progress is being made towards reopening the Bluffs Coffee Shop, a popular way station on the Blue Ridge Parkway that has been closed for years.

There really never is a dull moment when it comes to the National Park System. Not when there's a candidate for Congress saying Olympic National Park should be turned over to the state of Washington, when Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke praises the stabilization of a backcountry lodge in Glacier National Park but is mum on Grand Canyon National Park's leaky water system, and when the National Park Service looks the other way regarding its role not to interfere with natural processes.

It’s really dark where I’m standing--so dark that I’m fumbling with pen and notebook to jot down the amazed comments of the folks next to me: “Cool!” “Oh wow!” “Fantastic!” No, we’re not inside Lehman Cave, where rangers like to turn off the lights for a minute or so during their cavern tours to emphasize the pitch darkness underground. We’re at a picnic area close by the visitor center at the cave, where the ninth annual Great Basin Astronomy Festival is underway.

More than 100 artworks from the collection of David and Peggy Rockefeller have been donated to Mesa Verde National Park.