If you want to get outdoors, note that this year, Presidents Day falls on Monday, Feb. 16, when all national parks will be free to enter. But things are a bit different than in past years.

This year, the freebie days are only for American legal residents. Foreigners will pay much higher fees.

These freebies can save you $50, but you should definitely plan in advance and get up to go at the crack of dawn, before it gets crowded with sleepyheads. C’mon, you can do it.

You don’t need to sign up in advance, but make sure you don’t need reservations (which you probably don’t in February). Go to recreation.gov and search for the park you want and “timed entry” to find the reservation information.

Here are the nine national parks in California: Channel Islands (the boat ride won’t be free), Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Lassen, Pinnacles, Redwood, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, and Yosemite. (Note that Yosemite’s still going to be snowy in February, and probably Lassen and Kings Canyon too.)

The next free day will be Memorial Day, on May 25. Gee, that won’t be crowded, right?

Learn more: nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm#free_entrance_days

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My grandkids can’t seem to get enough of s’mores-themed goodies. The chefs at America’s Test Kitchen came up with these S’Mores Brownies in time for our Halloween baking.  A hefty graham-cracker crust at the bottom supports the brownie layer above. And to capture that campfire component, a top layer of miniature marshmallows toast in the oven under the broiler.

Two things. Be sure to use a metal baking pan and not a glass baking dish in this recipe. And two, when the marshmallow topped beauty goes under the broiler, keep a watchful eye on it.

S’Mores Brownies

Yield: 16 brownies

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

6 whole graham crackers, crushed into crumbs (3/4 cup)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar

Brownies:

8 tablespoons ( one stick) unsalted butter

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2/3 cup (3 1/3 ounces) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups miniature marshmallows

DIRECTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make foil sling for 8-inch square metal baking pan by folding 2 long sheets of aluminum foil so each is 8 inches wide. Lay sheets of foil in pan perpendicular to each other with extra foil hanging over edges of pan. Push foil into corners and up the sides of pan, smoothing foil flush to pan. Grease foil.

2. For the crust: Using your fingers, combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar in bowl until evenly moistened. Sprinkle mixture into prepared pan and press firmly into even layer. Bake until firm and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes.

3. For the brownies: While crust is baking, microwave butter and chocolate in bowl at 50% power, stirring often, until melted and smooth, 1 to 3 minutes; let cool slightly.

4. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a second bowl. Whisk sugar, eggs, and vanilla together in large bowl. Whisk chocolate mixture into sugar mixture until combined. Using rubber spatula, stir in flour mixture until just incorporated.

5. Transfer batter to pan with crust and smooth top. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 22 to 27 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Remove pan from oven and heat broiler.

6. Sprinkle brownies evenly with a single layer of marshmallows. Return brownies to oven and broil until marshmallows are lightly browned, 1 to 3 minutes. (Watch oven constantly; marshmallows will melt slightly but should hold their shape.) Immediately remove pan from oven. Let brownies cook completely in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours.

7. Using foil overhang, remove brownies from pan. Slide foil out from under brownies. Spray knife with vegetable oil spray to prevent marshmallows from sticking. Cut into 16 squares. Serve.

Source: “Everything Chocolate” from America’s Test Kitchen

Award-winning food writer Cathy Thomas has written three cookbooks, including “50 Best Plants on the Planet.” Follow her at @CathyThomas Cooks.com.

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By BRADLEY IGER, Edmunds

Valentine’s Day isn’t just about roses and candlelight — it’s about chemistry. The kind you feel instantly, irrationally, and sometimes against your better judgment. People have chemistry with cars too. Some lure you in with their rogue spirit and self-assurance, others charm you with confidence and poise, and a few will leave you wondering why you can’t stop thinking about them days later. The car experts at Edmunds have identified five vehicles with distinct personality traits. With a bit of matchmaking luck, perhaps one of them will be the next automotive love of your life. All of the following prices include destination fees.

Emotional availability: Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR86

This photo provided by Toyota shows the 2026 GR86, a rear-wheel-drive coupe that’s low on practicality but high on driving excitement. (Courtesy of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. via AP)

Developed in a joint venture between Subaru and Toyota, the BRZ and GR86 are corporate siblings that deliver genuine driving excitement at a price that remains accessible. Simplicity, balance, and the ability to create a genuine connection with the driver are hallmarks of a great driver’s car, and these two rear-wheel-drive coupes nail the assignment. The two cars are very similar, so we wouldn’t blame you for choosing one over the other based on looks or brand preference. They might be light on cargo capacity and backseat space, but you’ll have a hard time finding a better fun-per-dollar proposition elsewhere.

2026 Subaru BRZ starting price: $37,055

2026 Toyota GR86 starting price: $32,395

Confidence but not arrogance: Ford Maverick

This photo provided by Ford shows the 2026 Maverick pickup. With its compact size, easy-to-use bed and standard hybrid powertrain, the Maverick provides enough functionality that most people will ever need. (Courtesy of Edmunds via AP)

Today’s pickups are more rugged and capable than ever before, but not everyone needs a 15-ton towing capacity or a cabin seemingly bigger than a New York City apartment. That’s where the Ford Maverick comes in. With compact dimensions, a low starting price, and a standard hybrid powertrain, the Ford Maverick is a truck that’s easy to drive and inexpensive to own. Its design is straightforward and purposeful, avoiding extravagances and bravado in favor of efficiency and real-world utility. And if you do need to do truck stuff, the Maverick can oblige with its small-but-useful cargo bed and maximum 4,000-pound towing capacity. ​

2026 Maverick starting price: $29,990

Rebelliousness: Ford Mustang Dark Horse

This photo provided by Ford shows the 2026 Mustang Dark Horse. With a 500-horsepower V8 and a tech-filled interior, the Dark Horse is an impressive performance coupe. (Courtesy of Ford Motor Co. via AP)

The Ford Mustang Dark Horse is a performance car that rails against modern conventions. While Chevrolet and Ford have given up making muscle cars, Ford is still going strong with this top-shelf Mustang that has a 500-horsepower V8, standout styling, a track-tuned suspension, and a boisterous exhaust note. What’s more, the V8 can still be paired with a six-speed manual transmission — a reminder that classic combinations tend to endure. Its unruly nature might land you in hot water from time to time, and you’ll probably spend more time at the gas pump than you’d prefer, but the grin it will put on your face makes this one worth the trouble.

2026 Mustang Dark Horse starting price: $66,075

Sense of adventure: Jeep Wrangler

This photo provided by Jeep shows the 2026 Wrangler, which holds timeless appeal with its legendary off-road capability and free-spirited vibe. (Courtesy of Stellantis via AP)

If you’re seeking a cohort that’s ready to head off the beaten path at a moment’s notice, it’s tough to beat the free-spirited vibe and go-anywhere attitude of the Jeep Wrangler. Available in a number of trims ranging from the Sport’s no-nonsense simplicity to the more civilized and luxurious Sahara or the over-the-top exuberance of the Rubicon 392, the Wrangler’s timeless appeal is owed to its legendary off-road capability as well as its surprisingly adaptable personality. With a bit of effort, you can remove the Jeep’s top and even its doors. It’s far from the most pragmatic choice out there, but there’s something to be said for a companion that’s down for a good time whenever the urge strikes.

2026 Wrangler starting price: $36,890

Reliability: Honda CR-V

This photo provided by Honda shows the 2026 CR-V. The CR-V offers a comfortable ride and a roomy interior but may endear you the most with its dependability. (Courtesy of American Honda Motor Co. via AP)

Honda’s CR-V doesn’t have the adventure-seeking appeal of the Wrangler or the bad-boy spontaneity of the Mustang, but it has other qualities that you’ll love over the long term. When it comes down to it, reliability is a bedrock of a stable, trusting relationship. And with its 4.5 out of 5 star RepairPal reliability rating, the Honda CR-V is clearly in it for the long haul. On top of that, the CR-V offers a comfortable ride, a roomy interior, and an available hybrid powertrain for great mpg. The CR-V’s dependability could be more valuable than an attractive facade that keeps you guessing.

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2026 CR-V starting price: $32,370

Edmunds says

Cars and relationships have more in common than you might think: Both can excite, empower and occasionally frustrate. The perfect match — be it behind the wheel or across the table — is the one whose personality keeps you smiling on every mile of the journey.

This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds. Bradley Iger is a contributor at Edmunds.

Amy Lindgren

Second Sunday Series — This is the sixth of 12 columns on career planning post-60, which will appear the second Sunday of each month from September through August.

So far in this series on career planning for the post-60 years, we’ve mostly focused on big-picture issues such as marketplace changes, Social Security, demographics and so on. But the perspective shifted in the last installment to more personal topics, such as how many years you might expect to live.

That’s personal, alright. Life expectancy is a topic many folks shy away from, even in their own families. But it’s a core part of the career planning process for workers in their elder years. After all, your choices will differ for time spans of five years as opposed to 25 years. Whichever it is for you (and of course, no one knows for sure), now it’s time to think about the work you’d like to fill those years with.

We’ll break this into three chunks. First, some strategies, then steps for career discernment, then some extra considerations.

Strategies for post-60 work

• Stay with your current employer. Sometimes the best path is also the easiest. If your current work feels sustainable and you like your employer enough to stay, then you’re all set. Familiarity and continuity are definitely advantages to this plan, as is the flexibility you might expect if you want to change duties or reduce your hours. One down side: Putting all your career eggs into an employer’s basket means you might have to scramble if anything happens to the company.

• Stay in your current field but in a different form. In this scenario, you would continue in the same general career path but you’d do the work differently. Think about accountants becoming business consultants or welders teaching at tech colleges. Advantages to this plan include the opportunity to use your expertise while cherry-picking the parts of your work you like best. Depending on the depth of the transition you make, you might need new training, as well as new contacts to help you get started.

• Switch to something entirely new. Going from the office to outdoors, or from corporate management to being an individual contributor in a small company are well-trod paths for people at this life stage. And then there are the “fun” options, although that’s a personal definition that could range from being a tour guide to managing a craft store to coaching sales teams. One clear advantage of making a full career transition is the opportunity to begin an entirely new path. One down side is the risk of making a radical switch without enough information, leading to lost investments in training or time.

Steps for choosing a career

This is a grand simplification, but any of these steps could be part or all of the process for choosing or confirming the career you might want in your later years. Initially you only need a few ideas and they don’t have to be perfect. Research and informational interviewing will help you shape them into viable options.

• Take a vocational assessment, online or with the help of a career counselor.

• Review your skills and aptitudes to determine your best or favorites; then identify careers that use them.

• Ask friends and colleagues which jobs they think would fit you.

• Review online resources and books that present career information.

• Review your favorite past jobs (all the way back to high school) for those you might enjoy now.

• Take a course or attend sessions guided by a career counselor.

Other considerations for post-60 careers

• Choose work you can age into. As people transition through their 60s, 70s and 80s, they are likely to experience changes in health, stamina, cognition or mobility. They may also be caretakers for parents, partners or grandchildren. In addition, both finances and personal interests might evolve. Any of these circumstances could impact your work, so career choices that can flex with changing conditions will be especially appropriate.

As an example, nurses can switch from physically demanding hospital roles to outpatient clinics or home-based insurance review. Teachers might go from classrooms to online tutoring, while trades people could transition from hands-on work to conducting inspections or bidding jobs.

• Factor in self-employment. If you’re independent now, taking a job with consistent pay could help you catch up financially while relieving the daily stress of running a business. On the other hand, this might be the perfect time to switch from employment to entrepreneurship, to provide the flexibility and creativity you’ve been craving.

• Don’t fear retraining. This may seem risky, but if you gain new qualifications in your 60s and use them for a decade, that’s a decent return on time invested. Is it also a good use of your money? That’s harder to calculate but you do have this advantage over your younger self: At this stage, you know how most of the story turns out. Now, instead of saving for your later years, you can go ahead and live them.

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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.