Leanne Hope Chabalko: A Not-So-Junior Ranger

Leane Hope Chabalko shares a fond memory of exploring historic sites around the Bay Area with her family.

During the pandemic, my husband and I needed to get our two young children out of the house, safely. We learned of a Junior Ranger program and ended up inside Fort Point, the four-story brick building standing guard under the Golden Gate Bridge. 

In November 2020, there were gallon-sized jugs of sanitizer in the fort’s cavernous hallways, and signs reminding us to stay six feet apart. The wind whipped our masked faces as waves beat against the granite seawall below. 

Back on the parade level, we spotted a young boy at a table, answering questions from two park rangers. 

Then he raised his hand, said an oath, and received a small wooden badge. “Excuse me,” I asked the ranger. “Can we get one of those?” It turns out, anyone can earn a badge. 

During those claustrophobic pandemic months, these programs were much-needed diversions for our family. We sang sea shanties on historic ships at Fisherman’s Wharf, met Rosie the Riveter in Port Richmond, and visited playwright Eugene O’Neill’s house high on a hill in Danville. 

My kids are now 10 and 13 years old and they groan about working on the activities, so I do all the work. And I love the required family bonding time. I now have more than 50 of the small, wooden badges. Each one unlocks a vivid memory — like that day six years ago, on the top of Fort Point. Staring up at the hulking, beautiful Golden Gate Bridge, cars swooshing by so close overhead, I could feel it tremble. 

With a Perspective, I’m Leanne Hope Chabalko.

Leanne Hope Chabalko is a writer and creative director. She can’t wait to earn her next Junior Ranger badge.