Did You Know?

Sarasota, FL       High:   85    Low:  65

It's National Park Week, April 20-28th. Free admission to your national parks from April 22-April 26th. It's been awhile since we've been in a national park. There are 401 parks coast to coast, so most people are not too far from being able to visit one.

After almost three years of traveling this beautiful country, we wanted to share our absolutely favorite national parks of the ones we have visited....We haven't seen a lot of them, like the Drevlow family the park service posted on Facebook this week, who has visited more than 200 national parks and earned 1,696 junior ranger badges!  But here are the ones that stand out in our minds....

Deer Brook Bridge, Acadia National Park

1.) Acadia National Park...Mt. Desert Island, Maine....We spent seven weeks in the Bar Harbor area last summer. It was fabulous. Sparky rode many of Acadia's carriage roads on her bike, got lost on some, and repeated rides on others, they were so beautiful. With all the wonderful stone architecture that's there, it's one of the most interesting parks and "classic" national parks, we think.....It's all about 20th century visions for future generations, and it's hand hewn stone bridges are spectacular!

2.) Yellowstone National Park....the world's largest collection of geysers and America's first national park established in 1987...We loved Yellowstone's rainbow colored pools of hot water and microscopic plant life that give the pools their colors....

3.) Yosemite National Park...waterfalls, waterfalls waterfalls! And hiking, hiking, hiking!

4.) The Everglades....

In addition, we've been to Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park (with the famous Red Bus Tour), the Grand Tetons (moose!), the Badlands, Mammoth Cave National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Olympia National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Sequoia National Park, Gulf Islands Seashore National Park, and the Everglades National Park (gators on the sidewalk bike trail at Shark Valley!) When we look back at our blogs and photos, thinking about all these places, we've amazed at the diversity within our country and amazed that we saw all these! 

Did you know…America’s national parks include more than:

• 84 million acres of spectacular scenery, historic landmarks and cultural treasures
• 17,000 miles of trails
• 43,000 miles of shoreline
• 27,000 historic and prehistoric structures
• 100 million museum items
• 12,000 campsites

This country is a pretty spectacular place to explore some amazing geology, history, and culture. We hope that if you are thinking about RVing and traveling, you'll make it a reality! In case you want to know where all the parks are, here's a handy dandy chart of the parks in the U.S.

State	National Park	Year Established
Alaska (8)	Denali	1917
	Gates of the Arctic	1980
	Glacier Bay	1980
	Katmai	1980
	Kenai Fjords	1980
	Kobuk Valley	1980
	Lake Clark	1980
	Wrangell - St. Elias	1980
American Samoa	American Samoa	1988
Arizona (3)	Grand Canyon	1919
	Petrified Forest	1962
	Saguaro	1994
Arkansas	Hot Springs	1921
California (8)	Channel Islands	1980
	Death Valley	1994
	Joshua Tree	1994
	Kings Canyon	1940
	Lassen Volcanic	1916
	Redwood	1968
	Sequoia	1890
	Yosemite	1890
Colorado (4)	Black Canyon of the Gunnison	1999
	Great Sand Dunes	2004
	Mesa Verde	1906
	Rocky Mountain	1915
Florida (3)	Biscayne	1980
	Dry Tortugas	1992
	Everglades	1947
Hawaii (2)	Haleakala	1916
	Hawaii Volcanoes	1916
Idaho	Yellowstone	1872
Kentucky	Mammoth Cave	1941
Maine	Acadia	1919
Michigan	Isle Royale	1940
Minnesota	Voyageurs	1975
Montana (2)	Glacier	1910
	Yellowstone	1872
Nevada	Great Basin	1986
New Mexico	Carlsbad Caverns	1930
North Carolina	Great Smoky Mountains	1934
North Dakota	Theodore Roosevelt	1978
Ohio	Cuyahoga Valley	2000
Oregon	Crater Lake	1902
South Carolina	Congaree	2003
South Dakota (2)	Badlands	1978
	Wind Cave	1903
Tennessee	Great Smoky Mountains	1934
Texas (2)	Big Bend	1944
	Guadalupe Mountains	1966
U.S. Virgin Islands	Virgin Islands	1956
Utah (5)	Arches	1971
	Bryce Canyon	1928
	Capitol Reef	1971
	Canyonlands	1964
	Zion	1919
Virginia	Shenandoah	1935
Washington (3)	Mount Rainier	1899
	North Cascades	1968
	Olympic	1938
Wyoming (2)	Grand Teton	1929
	Yellowstone	1872

And here's a cute story from the National Park Service FB page, one of their favorite letters from a young, impressionable future conservationist, maybe?

Here's a great story from Yosemite!

The rangers that answer the phone and mail in our public information office receive a lot of letters, but this might be one of the best in recent years.


(Text of the letter:
Dear Park Rangers
I am a Yosemite Junior Ranger. I went to Yosemite recently and accidentally brought home two sticks.
I know I'm not supposed to take things from the park, so I am sending them back. Please put them in nature.

Thank you,
Evie)

Happy National Park Week! and happy, safe travels to you, wherever you are!