The coyote was coming down the road towards the Lamar Canyon bridge, straight at me. I wheeled into the pullout, angled the car just right, rolled down the window, grabbed the bean bag, plopped it over the door frame, grabbed the Nikon D600 with the borrowed 500mm lens and placed it atop the bean bag. Flipped on the camera, aimed and - nothing.

Climbing and coffee with a ranger? That's on the schedule beginning next month at Obed Wild and Scenic River in Tennessee.

The twenty-seven national parks of the Bahamas—more than a million acres—are waiting to make any visit to this 900-island nation a premier opportunity to see another country’s national parks. That applies whether you step off an airplane, a cruise ship—or even a private yacht. The Bahamas is a major magnet for sailors.

From our snowy perch on Mather Point on the South Rim, the majestic formations of the Grand Canyon rise from the shadowy abyss below us. The morning sun washing through the canyon breaks the winter chill and saturates the reds, yellows, and oranges of the crests, buttes, and sinuous ridges. Gleaming in the morning’s warm light, the formations morph from distant cardboard cutouts into cosmic monuments and temples.