A Walk in the Park : Danny Markus, 36, Parker, Ariz.

In 1983, after receiving an MBA from Indiana University, I moved to New York to work for Bloomingdale’s. I was there for two years as an assistant buyer and a department manager. From there, I went to the Sharper Image as an assistant store manager and then store manager.

Running a Sharper Image store is no day at the beach, and that’s what I really longed for--more days at the beach. In 1987, I more or less dropped out of society and spent a couple of years working odd jobs and traveling, trying to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

While wandering, I spent as much time as I could in the out-of-doors, camping, canoeing and picnicking. Then it dawned on me: Why not get a job in a park?

Officials with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources advised me to go back to school for a master’s degree in parks and recreation. I had no idea that such an academic program existed. I enrolled at my alma mater, IU, and earned the degree. While in school, I had my first job in my new field, as a boat operator on nearby Lake Monroe. I was being paid to drive a boat! I knew I was going to love this field.

I went on for further graduate work at the University of Idaho. Finally, after graduating in 1993 with my third master’s degree, I took a position as the director of a nature center in upstate New York, but the winter weather proved too brutal.

I moved to Arizona, where I am now the assistant manager at Buckskin Mountain State Park. I live smack dab on the Colorado River, with phenomenal views of the desert and mountains.

Every day I wake up and know I will be doing exactly what I most love doing: spending time outdoors helping to provide programs for others to enjoy.