Sometimes you don't know how good you have it...

It's happened quite a few times over the past five years, as we visited some of the more famous national parks: Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Zion, etc.

While we calmly walked by the many deer that were wandering around near the trail, many of our European visitors were stunned. They excitedly took photo after photo of the deer, often calling our attention to them. "Do you see these?" The would ask in amazement.

Yep. We saw them. They look suspiciously like the deer that eat most of our plants at the cabin, and who demolished M's family rose bushes in Berkeley fifty years ago. We take them for granted. We even resent the damage they do in our yards. But it's nice to be reminded that in Europe, these are rare and wild animals. And we get to see them so often that we think nothing of it.

These were in Zion, in the campground, to the delight of our German neighbors.