National Park Week Thanks

As National Park Week wrapped up yesterday, I thought a lot about our national parks this past week. I thought about all the memories of our visits there.

Yellowstone National Park, 2019

I also thought about the sPark discovery, creativity, collaborations, innovations, opportunities, preservations, actions, curiosity, and memories. I love the sPark!

I smiled a lot during all these thoughts and memories. National parks bring us great joy in addition to many other benefits. National Park Week provided us with a daily reminder of all the goodness within this great and unique system.

Thank you for coming along with me on this year’s National Park Week.

sPark Memories

Happy National Park Week!

To end this fun week, today’s theme focuses on memories. National parks provide families and friends with so many wonderful and lasting memories.

Enjoy two photos from my own amazing memories from the same area in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming 15 years apart.

2004
2019

What’s your favorite memory from one of the national parks?

Time to start planning the next national park trip to create more memories!

“Twenty & Odd” Video

Every February celebrates Black History Month. It is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in our American history.

I wanted to share this great video entitled “Twenty & Odd” and created by the National Park Service (NPS) staff and interns. The video explores 400 years of African American experience. According to the NPS, this video serves as a visual tool to inform and highlight and to educate the nation as a whole about the trauma, resilience, and beauty of the African American experience in our country.

Take less than five minutes of your time and enjoy this educational, empowering, and very inspiring video, “Twenty & Odd”.

a black bird inside a cage with the door open
Photo from NPS

National Park Week Thanks

As National Park Week wrapped up yesterday, I thought a lot about our national parks this past week. I thought about all the memories of our visits there.

I also thought about the junior ranger programs, the park rangers and volunteers, the history, the military service, the transportation options, the wildlife, the earth, the past, the nonprofit organizations, the mental health benefits, and the furry visitors to the park.

I smiled a lot during these thoughts. The national parks bring us great joy in addition to many other benefits. National Park Week provided us with a daily reminder of all the goodness within this great and unique system.

Thank you for coming along with me on this year’s National Park Week.

Friendship Friday

Everybody needs a friend! Even the national parks need friends. As part of the National Park Week, today marks Friendship Friday.

The national parks need our time by volunteering and our donations to help continue these great treasures. You can help by supporting one of more than 200 philanthropic organizations that partner with national parks nationwide.  In addition, many national parks have nonprofit associations linked to them. In addition, the National Park Foundation is the official charity of our national parks and nonprofit partner to the National Park Service.

Take a moment to check out one of these friend organizations of the national parks today! Click here for a directory of these organizations.

Happy National Park Week!

Earth Day

Earth Day is a global celebration encouraging education and stewardship of the planet’s natural resources.  This year celebrates the 51st anniversary of Earth Day!

Take a moment and go online to learn about how we can protect our only planet. Click here to learn more about earth sciences. Click here to learn about the leave no trace principles at our parks. For kids, become a junior explorer today by clicking here!

Cheers to our planet! Happy National Park Week!

Transformation Tuesday

Happy National Park Week! It’s Transformation Tuesday!

The National Park Service has been protecting our national parks for over 100 years! The parks have changed over this years. They have changed with the environment, lessons, and also with management styles as we learn and grow.

On this day, take a few minutes to listen to the National Laboratory Podcasts hosted by Point Reyes National Seashore and partners to examine the wildfires and the environment. Click here for the links and for more information.

National parks will continue to change over time and transform into even better places.

Happy National Park Week!

VIP Day

As part of the National Park Week, today is Volunteer in the Parks (VIP) Day. Today, we say thank you to the more than 300,000 volunteers within our national parks. Without their hard work and dedication, these parks would not be the same.

For anyone looking to volunteer in the national park system, click here to see more information.

Thank you to our parks VIPs!