Full Steam Ahead

AS I WRITE MY LETTER for the June/July issue, it’s actually April (we’re always working ahead in magazine world). I’m typing away at home, where I’m sheltering in place with my family while our country tries to stop the spread of COVID-19 or, as my 6-year-old daughter refers to it, “the virus.”

It’s peaceful here. I can hear chickadees singing outside my window. Last spring, a family of birds moved into a birdhouse on our deck. Their return is a reminder that in nature it’s business as usual, and someday it will be business as usual for us, too. Soon we’ll be able to venture out and explore America’s scenic wonders. In the meantime, we’ll travel together in the pages of Country.

This issue will take you on a hike to the top of Mount Timpanogos in Utah (page 11), on a hunt for dinosaurs in Montana (page 16) and to an idyllic farm in Minnesota (page 22).

And it will introduce you to National Heritage Areas, which President Ronald Reagan called “a new kind of national park.” These are places where people come together to preserve their cultural heritage and the landscape that helped shape it. Starting on page 26, we journey to a few in New Mexico, Iowa, South Carolina and West Virginia.

Thanks to this issue, I’ve added a few more items to my bucket list, including a ride up West Virginia’s mountains in a vintage train and a visit to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. One day, America will be open for exploration again, and I hope we’ve inspired you to wander.