Retiree News

The morning light stretches across the Alaskan horizon, painting the dark-blue sky with shades of orange and pink. Sipping her coffee, Denise Grant watches the nearby creek roll lazily past before starting her workday at the Blue Fly Bed and Breakfast. Her routine has taken on a new rhythm – far removed from the busy classrooms where she once spent over two decades teaching.

“The beauty of retirement is that I’m not bound to travel during school breaks anymore,” she says.

Before retiring, Grant was an environmental science teacher in Fairfax County. She helped develop a curriculum for her seventh-grade students, including lab work that encouraged stepping into nature. “That course was designed for me to teach,” she says.

Growing up, she spent much of her free time outdoors, hiking and camping with friends and family. It was on a horseback riding trip in Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park where her lifelong dream got its spark.

“It dawned on me that this is something I want to do,” she says. “I want to see all of these national parks.”

That dream became her goal as she approached retirement. Today, Grant has visited 62 of the 63 U.S. national parks, with only American Samoa left to check off the list. “I plan to get there in 2025,” she says, anticipating her next trip.

Along the way, she’s encountered some of the most breathtaking landscapes and diverse wildlife the country has to offer. At Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, she recently watched as 12 to 15 brown bears fished for salmon. Later that same night, she stepped outside and saw the Northern Lights.

Moments like these remind Grant of the beauty that remains in the world and the responsibility to protect it. “We have to be stewards of this resource of a planet that we have,” she says.

During the summer months, Grant works at the bed and breakfast near Katmai, assisting guests and teaching visitors how to safely observe the bears in their natural habitat. She calls it “bear school,” a reminder that her passion for educating others about the environment hasn’t faded.

In fact, she credits her professional background for helping her connect with the Blue Fly owner, a fellow retired educator, through mailed letters. “When I wrote to her and told her my background is retired teacher, she replied to say this sounds like a good match,” Grant says.

Each place Grant has visited left her with something new to remember. In Alaska, it’s the bears.

“They’re so powerful, and yet, they’re just living their lives like we are,” she says.

She recalls viewing the peaks of Yosemite in California and Wyoming’s Teton Range, snorkeling through the submerged treasures of Florida’s Dry Tortugas and trekking the isolated plains of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Every trip added a new layer to her love for the natural world.

Grant says the lifestyle she built as an active VRS member gives her a perfect balance between adventure and peace as a retiree. When she’s not traveling, she spends time with family at her home near Orlando, Florida.

“This is what I wanted,” she says.

As the sun climbs higher into the sky, Grant’s day is about to begin. She thinks back to her first year of retirement, working the gift shop on Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park in Maine. There, she was among the first in North America to see the sunrise. Her morning ritual starts later now, but she still looks forward to sharing her passion with visitors.

For those who want to follow a similar path in retirement, Grant offers simple advice.

“Do some planning, be flexible and just go,” she smiles. “Oh, and bring some snacks.”