On a 3 day weekend we drove down from Nan to stay at Mae Yom National Park. The park entrance fee is 100B per adult. Covered most of the park on motorbike and hiked a few of the trails which lead to beautiful views overlooking Song and towards Nan. An hour north is Dinosaur Kangluang Forest Park – a dinosaur museum (very small) but worth checking out! Pack accordingly. Tents also available for rent. The mountains go on and on, sunset from the top of the ‘lookout’ was breathtaking. We drove to the next city (Song – 20KM) daily to get food/water and supplies. A few waterfalls nearby driving distance, and the river has many places to swim and hang by the water. We visited in December and the river was very low, however rafting trips and tubing was still available to book. The bungalows are 500B-1000/night (2 beds). We planned to camp in tents, however were happy to find many of the bungalows still available. 1-2 days would be plenty to cover a few trails, however the relaxing and secluded feel of the parks bungalows was well worth the 3 days.

• Sgt. Maj. Thawee Folk Museum
• Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park
• Doi Inthanon National Park
• Baan Mae Kampong

Naomi Watkins If you happened to be near Union Station in Ogden, Utah on Saturday, June 20th, this year, you might have been surprised to see Wall Street filled with all kinds of cars, from suburbans to Camaros to Volkswagen Beetles, bumping down the street. It was a last-minute addition, part of a scramble to take Juneteenth virtual after the Covid-19 pandemic threatened to derail months of planning and work, and organizers had to get creative. But the caravan was not one of the events originally planned as part of this year’s month-long festival. Betty Sawyer We couldn’t do an outdoor celebration. It was a full-on, socially distanced party, with music pulsing and people honking and cheering as part of Utah’s annual celebration of Juneteenth, a holiday that celebrates the freeing of American slaves after the Civil War. 200 people come out to be a part of the caravan and we rode through town by our public safety building, by the farmer’s market, and did a lot of honking and people had all of their signs around, not just Juneteenth, but Black Lives Matter and, you know, supporting those movements that are going on at this particular time.

And our police, of course, led us on that parade route, on that caravan route, so that was important as well to show that solidarity and support with what we’re doing. And so, even with our virtual celebration we had to be really creative to keep some of the traditions of our celebration intact. Once they did, it took decades of work to get that history recognized both nationally and in Utah, and their efforts have left a lasting impact on the state. For her and her team, cancelling the Juneteenth event was never an option because it’s so much more than a party. Naomi Watkins Betty Sawyer is the director of the Utah Juneteenth Freedom and Heritage Festival and Holiday. Betty Sawyer, Community Engagement Coordinator in Access and Diversity at Weber State University and an activist on issues of racial justice in Utah for over 40 years. Do critical community work. It’s a way to share the history of her people. Both women had to first learn their histories for themselves.

National Park At Yasothon

Tom Williams So today we’re talking about stories — not just individual stories, but stories of people and cultures, especially those that haven’t been widely known or told. In addition to planning Utah’s Juneteenth celebration, Betty Sawyer was an important part of the effort to get Martin Luther King Day recognized as an official holiday in Utah. For Mae Timbimboo Parry, it was about getting the “Battle of Bear River” renamed the “Bear River Massacre” in recognition of the hundreds of her ancestors who were slaughtered by the U.S. Naomi Watkins And we’re focusing on two women who have done the work of bringing those stories to light. Tom Williams You know, there’s a recurring line in the musical Hamilton where George Washington says to Alexander Hamilton, “You have no control over who lives, who dies, who tells your story.” But these women were determined to take that control and tell the story of their people that wasn’t being told.

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