The America's National Parks Podcast is sponsored by L.L. Bean.

April 20th through the 28th is National Park Week. L.L. Bean has partnered with the National Park Foundation

to help you find your park.

With more than 400 National Parks,

there's a good chance you'll find one close to home.

Discover the perfect place to celebrate National Park Week at find your park.com. When we think about the people that help keep the gears turning in national parks,

it's easy for us to think about the wonderful Rangers that keep us safe and help us interpret and protect these incredible places.

But we often overlook the thousands and

on other workers that make our visits possible. The cleaning and maintenance staff, the campground hosts, the construction contractors,

the trail crews, the lodge employees. I'm Jason Epperson and on this episode of

America's National Parks a personal story from author Becky Mandelbaum who served

several stints in National Park gift stores, and the price

she paid for temporary refuge, immense beauty, and some unforgettable experiences.

Here's Abigail Trebute. So, You're going to do. Four years ago I quit my good paying respectable job as an acquisitions editor in Kansas

and started working at a gift store in Grand Teton National Park.

The job was only temporary, a summer gig before I started graduate school in California,

but it would ultimately change the direction of my life.

I wanted to go somewhere beautiful because I was sad.

That spring I'd gone through a breakup and was suddenly overwhelmed by sadness for all I was about to leave behind when I moved.

My friends, my home, my memories.

I decided I needed to go somewhere else. my memories.

I decided I needed to go somewhere else, somewhere new and completely unfamiliar, lest I spend my

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