Vacation Where?

This is the time of year when a lot of people start to plan for vacation. I don’t plan for vacation because I am on vacation all the time - at least that’s what my "friends" tell me. There is a lot of planning to make a vacation an enjoyable and memorable time.

Where would you like to go? How about a beautiful scenic area that was closed for a few years, but now offers tours to view beautiful natural plants and terrain. You travel in small groups of about twenty or less. You don’t have to fight crowds. Sounds nice. There is one catch.

You are allowed to visit only under the protection of armed guards. Now it doesn’t sound so nice. The guards are from the government, so you should be safe. Should be? According to news reports, the area that will open in March is now being offered because it is safer than it used to be. Still want to go?

I have and suppose that you have seen on TV, vacation spots where the streets are patrolled with heavily armed police. Folks, I don’t know about you, but that is not a vacation when you wonder if you are going to be killed.

Which foreign country am I talking about? The United States. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona is the spot.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a 330,000 acre green stretch of Sonoran desert populated by barrel, saguaro and organ pipe cacti, spanning 30 miles of the U.S. - Mexico border. The park became a corridor for drug runners in the 1990s.

I’d not heard about this location until today. I can see why. Just imagine the brochures. "See mother nature and dodge bullets." The park rangers and border patrol have to drive groups to prevent them from being attacked by drug cartels from Mexico.

What would Yogi bear say? "Duck, Boo Boo! You’re a little bit late on that one Boo."

PMO
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