Do I Get to Wear That Neat Hat? A National Park Ranger's Story (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781605712642)

Helen Siskavich Hossley grew up in a small mining town in Northern New York dreaming of a life of travel and adventure.  In 1988, she throws caution to the wind, quits her food service job, packs the car and takes off with a friend on a seven month journey that involves downhill skis and a zigzag line through the Rocky Mountains.  The dream journey is full of personal challenges, wild turns and unending fun.  

As the trip comes to a close, Helen receives a call from Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah about a long forgotten application she filled in for the National Park Service.  She becomes an interpretive ranger and is proud to wear the iconic Park Service hat, but discovers that wearing it doesn't magically endow her with ranger instincts or abilities.  As an easterner she is forced to learn the rules of the desert the hard way.  Several times she finds herself dehydrated, on the verge of collapse and lost.  But the land she comes to love teaches her and brings her breathtaking surprises as well. 

When her seasonal assignment ends, she finds herself asking, "Now What?"  The question is answered by a powerful pull to be in Washington, D.C. where she becomes a ranger on The National Mall.  This leads to more interesting adventures behind the scenes in the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and the Washington Monument.  And it finally leads to the romance of a lifetime.  This is the engaging story of one woman's journey beyond single-minded independence and through fear to personal triumph.