Biden Heading to Grand Canyon, Yellowstone to Talk Up Stimulus

Pretty good duty for the vice president: Joe Biden is headed west early next week, visiting Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon to highlight how government stimulus money is improving conditions at two of America's most beautiful, and visited, public places.

A relatively small share, about $25 million, of Recovery Act money is going to national parks, but the White House said it has helped create jobs and jump-start deferred construction and maintenance work. More than 1,000 workers are taking part in projects at Yellowstone and Grand Canyon national parks. (Back east, President Obama and his family spent last weekend at Acadia National Park in Maine.)

Biden will be at a park ranger station in Wyoming on Monday, and moves on to Arizona the next day for an event at Hopi Point on the South Rim. No word on whether he'll hike down the canyon wall or maybe hitch a ride on a burro. Talk about a photo-op.