A crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci), National Park of American Samoa (NPS photo)

While we associate the Canaveral with the land across the bay with slipping the surly bonds of earth for interspace travel, the Canaveral National Seashore is quite different from its famous neighbor. It exists because people saw the shrinking of a diverse ecosystem of reeds and tidewater in favor of development which would have stripped away the home of 1,000 species of plants, the nesting ground for five types of sea turtles, and home address 15 species of endangered creatures from manatees and birds to the right whale. A quiet place to preserve what we know already exists, next a place that is the launch pad to explore what we are yet to discover about what life might be like beyond the third rock from the sun. A proof, if you will, that we can hold contrasting concepts next to each other with a value for both.

The crater lake atop Mount Katmai, Katmai National Park & Preserve (AVOUAF Geophysical Institute photograph by Pavel Izbekov)

Great Fountain Geyser erupts at sundown, Yellowstone National Park (NPS/Neal Herbert)

Looking east at start of Bryce Canyon National Park's Whiteman Connecting Trail (NPS/Peter Densmore)

Arches National Park's iconic Delicate Arch and the surrounding cliffs and bluffs (NPS/Mackenzie Reed)