Top 10 Reasons to Visit a National Park on your Family Vacation!

1. To leave the bounds of normalcy and have an epic adventure.

Wander through misty Redwood National Park and imagine you are on another planet when you see otherworldly creatures like the Banana Slug. Hike the dunes of Great Sand Dunes National Park and feel Sahara Desert movie scenes come to life. These things cannot be replicated at amusement parks. They are pure and true adventures that will be unique to you, because they are found in the wild.

Redwood National Park

2. To learn about your American Heritage.

There is an abundance of history poured into each national park. They tell the legacy of things we have valued as a nation; and how we determined to preserve these treasures collectively. Your children should know the names of John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt. They should understand the struggles and the work that countless individuals undertook to preserve these places for us.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

3. To get outside!

We need more outside time! Children are especially in need of time in an unfettered natural environment. It soothes the soul and calms the mind. Get away from mechanization and human creation, and explore nature. It stimulates creativity and spurs the desire to use your mind and body to go beyond.

4. To pass on the importance of preservation.

National parks must have our support! If we do not value them as a nation, then the financial incentive to preserve these places will dwindle. We must pass on a love of wild spaces to our children, only then can we secure national park preservation for future generations.

Badlands National Park

5. To experience the sheer beauty – together.

Don’t wait for retirement before you go and enjoy these spectacular places. In sharing our national park experience with others, all too often we hear them express a plan to visit when they retire. Why wait? The magnificence is too intense not to share with your children. Stand in awe TOGETHER!!

Bryce National Park

6. To make exceptional memories.

Sure, you can make memories on a cruise, on a tropical island resort, or an amusement park but they are managed and manicured. National park memories include things like fly fishing with an elk in Yellowstone! During one trip, my husband was fly fishing and a cow elk walked up behind him and was drinking and eating for a long time before he realized she was there! People were driving by snapping pictures of the delicate scene.

7. To establish shared experiences.

Do you want to have something to talk about with your children? Shared national park experiences are unique in every way. We relive our backpacking adventure in Canyonlands National Park frequently. We laugh and cringe at the slick rock path we skirted around. We share in wonderment the memory of the juvenile wolf we witnessed walking through our campground in Yellowstone National Park.

8. To live STEAM.

With so much talk about Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math education in the school setting, why not go live it! National park visitor centers are replete with science. With exceptional Junior Ranger programs, children can do STEAM in the field. Many parks offer “backpacks” with unique supplies that make the park a true learning experience. Most importantly, children are surrounded by YOU and NATURE and the unique experience enhances their memory and inquisitiveness.

Mesa Verde National Park

9. To be docent for people from other nations.

People from all over the world come to the United States to witness the splendor of our national parks. Interactions are inevitable. One favorite experience is when are our children shared smore supplies with a family visiting from Germany. The father wasn’t particularly impressed with the unique campfire cuisine, but his kids were thrilled!! The second was helping a European family with their rental RV slide-out. My husband directed them to the fuse box and helped them with a quick fix, so they could be on their way to the next stop in their tight schedule. They were so grateful. Extending hospitality one to one is how we grow global cooperation.

10. To have fun!!

One family with whom we shared our national park love thought their children wouldn’t know what to do on such a trip. They preferred roller coasters. My kids love a good roller coaster too, but they will be the first to tell you national parks are anything but boring. They have snorkeled; sand surfed; splashed in hot spring fed streams; stood in completely black caverns hundreds of feet underground; and climbed hundred-foot ladders against sand stone cliffs within the park boundaries! Outside park boundaries, entrepreneurs offer even more adventures like rope courses, snow mobile riding, and sailing. Great, and unique fun will find you at any national park!

 

Biscayne National Park

Arches National Park

Utah – Visited March 2016

Spring Break Here

Forgive my lighthearted musings on this trip, but it really is a soul lifting kind of majestic place. There are rainbows here for heaven’s sake, everywhere you look giant red, precariously perched rainbows. You feel majesty, sure, but you also feel joy and happiness. It’s a place to bring your family or college friends. With short drives, and relatively short and easy hikes, its simply a place of outdoor amusement, of the natural kind.

During Spring Break, well frankly, there are also lots of college boys here, from all over the country as tell-tale by their insignia laden apparel. They hike with knowing-ness and camaraderie, and that brave new world look on their faces. I just couldn’t help but smile that they were here with buddies, learning new things, on a sparkling clear, blue sky day. They were probably camping somewhere in new tents purchased just for this trip, or in one of the overpriced hotel rooms in Moab, six to a room. They just looked the part of happy and adventuresome boys. And, yes, that is in fact a mullet hairstyle that my adorable nephew is wearing. If some of those college boys make good on their word and bring back the mullet that “the really cool little kid” was sporting, don’t blame me. You can blame my nephew, he is his own man. I assure you.

Sadly, there were far fewer girls. I couldn’t help to think of the lonely girls, eager to meet the man of their dreams or fall into the trap of what “Spring Break” means on some tropical beach, bikini clad, intoxicated with friends. The few groups of young women that we did see were gorgeous, absolutely beautiful and engaged in the real (not artificial) joyfulness around them. I looked at my daughter, laughing and enjoying the company of her younger cousin who had joined us, and told her I would allow her to go backpacking in Utah on her Spring Breaks in college but she definitely cannot go to Jamaica. She looked at me and said, “Only if you go hiking with me”. I thought ‘absolutely, sweet pea – I would love to join you.’

Extra Tip – Arrive Early, Make Overnight Accommodations even Earlier

Check the park website the evening before you arrive and plan to arrive 10 to 30 minutes before the park opens. During peak season, it is not unexpected to see park traffic extending outside of the park onto US Hwy 191 for more than a mile.

Junior Ranger Badge:

  • Arches (of course)
  • Native Wildlife

When to Stay:

Spring Break (March – April). Tie it with a visit to Canyonlands if you can. Check out www.discovermoab.com to view various activities that will be happening in the area and plan accordingly.