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Couple who visited all 63 US national parks names which one is the ‘best’

They also listed other awards, such as "most underrated," "most epic" and "most awe-inspiring."

Representative Image from Canva

There's a reason they call it "America The Beautiful."

Longing to visit one of America’s many national parks, and not sure where to start? One traveling couple just made deciding a whole heck of a lot easier.

Matt and Karen Smith have been to all of them. That’s right. All 63 of them. They even survived a plane crash to hit the milestone (more on that later).

In a short and sweet 30-second video posted to their Instagram account, Matt and Karen place certain parks into special categories, like “best wildlife sightings,” “most underrated,” and “most awe inspiring,” all before revealing which park, in their opinion, is “the best of everything.”

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Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

Whale watchers got to see a baby whale being born off the coast of Dana Point, California.

Seeing a whale in the wild can be a moving experience for many people. That's why thousands of people pay money to go on whale-watching excursions, hoping to catch a glimpse of the gentle, majestic, intelligent creatures in their natural habitat.

Lucky whale watchers get to catch much more than a glimpse, and some even see a whale breach up close. But very, very few ever get to see anything close to what a recent group of tourists on a whale-watching cruise off Dana Point, California, got to witness.

Boats are required by law to stay at least 100 yards away from whales, but if a whale approaches a boat when it's stopped, there's not a whole lot a captain can do. Starting up the engine would just disturb it, so the best thing to do is just enjoy the encounter.

In this case, when a gray whale swam near a Capt. Dave's Dana Point Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari tour boat, passengers and crew thought they might be witnessing something tragic. The whale was splashing about and was soon surrounded by blood in the water. Some speculated that maybe a shark or other predatory animal had attacked the whale.

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Photo by Ben Mater on Unsplash

California dad saves daughter from coyote.

People have been encroaching on the homes of wild animals for decades and, naturally, this leads to close run-ins with the animals that inhabit the areas. We've heard of bears in cars, opossums in garages and even bats in people's attics. One family recently had a really scary close call with a coyote.

In a video posted to TikTok, a dad in Woodland Hills, California, Ariel Eliyahuo looks to be unpacking the car and his 2-year-old daughter is out of sight on the other side of the dark-colored SUV. You can see what looks to be a medium-sized dog walk behind the car before you hear the little girl scream. When the dad rounds the back of the car to see if his daughter fell, the coyote starts trying to run off with the child.

The whole encounter happened in merely a few seconds. In an instant, the dad has his daughter under his arm like a football, running her to safety. As he's running with the toddler, the coyote keeps coming toward them so he throws a rock at the animal while he and his wife yell, trying to scare it away.

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Race & Ethnicity

California task force report outlines plans for reparations, bringing the conversation forward again

The task force believes reparations can begin to right the wrongs that "continue to physically and mentally harm African Americans today."

California may soon have a plan to offer reparations to Black Americans.

A California state task force released a new report detailing the harm committed against Black people in American history. The nearly 500-page report gives recommendations for ways to right the wrongdoings that "continue to physically and mentally harm African Americans today." It also includes a detailed history of how the government disadvantaged Black people systemically, starting with slavery and continuing with segregation and other exclusionary acts such as discriminatory housing laws and inequity in the justice system.

"Along with a dereliction of its duty to protect its Black citizens, direct federal, state and local government actions continued to enforce the racist lies created to justify slavery," the report states, according to NPR. "These laws and government supported cultural beliefs have since formed the foundation of innumerable modern laws, policies, and practices across the nation."

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