National Park Week starts tomorrow, April 18th, and goes through the 26th this year! Each day this blog will highlight different aspects of the parks to celebrate this fun week! Let’s all enjoy our amazing national parks (even if online for right now)!
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Did you know that you check out and take a virtual tour of some of the most popular national parks online? I know that I need an escape from everything going on right now and wanted to share it with others. The National Park Service (NPS) has a great website with a ton of tours, videos, webcams, photos, articles, and other excellent resources. First, I have to share my favorite national park, Yellowstone National Park. Click here to virtually tour parts of Yellowstone like the Mud Volcano area, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Mammoth Springs, and some other areas. You can also check out another one of my favorites, the Grand Teton National Park, by clicking here. Who has seen the 1977 movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind? The film used this unique tower in Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. You can visit it virtually and check out this distinct tower by clicking here. I have always wanted to visit Denali National Park in Alaska. Click here to take a virtual tour of this national park. Take a virtual tour of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in New York by clicking here. The national park service has a ton of other online opportunities to virtually explore our national park treasures. Click here for NPS’s main page and search your interests. Take a minute and enjoy our country’s beauty and treasures online. It will do wonders for the soul during these tough times right now.
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Happy 148th birthday to America’s first national park, Yellowstone National Park! “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – Saint Augustine Check out some of my previous posts about Yellowstone by clicking here and here. There are more blog posts about Yellowstone on here that you can find by just searching my blog by Yellowstone if you’re itching to read more! To celebrate, take a minute and mark a visit to this amazing national park on your calendars. Check it off your bucket lists as it is a must vacation in your life! Cheers to 148 years!
Happy 101 years to the Grand Canyon National Park! President Teddy Roosevelt urged Americans to protect this great canyon, “What you can do is keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American should see.” For more information on this park, check out a previous blog by clicking here. If you visit Las Vegas or Arizona, take the time and check out this grand national park! Definitely worth the time and journey! Cheers to 101 years!
Happy 112th anniversary to Muir Woods National Monument! On January 9, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt created the Muir Woods National Monument named after conservationist John Muir. Muir Woods became the 7th National Monument and was the first one created from land donated by a private individual. Muir Woods lies in the middle of the redwood’s latitudinal range that spans from the California/Oregon border to Big Sur, just south of Monterey. And it is quite easy to get to from San Francisco! Muir Woods is a great place to see some amazing redwood trees, check out the history here, and take in a few hikes! If you’re in the Bay Area, I highly recommend that you check out Muir Woods National Monument!
“To travel is to live.” ~ Hans Christian Anderson May the holidays this season bring you all the gifts of life, love, and adventure! Thank you all for following along my adventures here! I really appreciate it! Happy Holidays!
During our vacation in Yellowstone National Park this summer, we discovered the Museum of the National Park Ranger. Built in 1908, the museum once served as the Norris Solider Station. It’s currently on the National Register of Historic Places. This spacious, multi-room log structure housed a detachment of U.S. Cavalry. The soldier station changed into a ranger station and underwent several room alterations before it finally became the Ranger Museum in the 1990s. This cool museum takes you through the history and timeline of national park rangers in America. You can learn about their iconic uniforms, duties, hardships, lifestyle, and other cool facts here. They have some really great exhibits here! And you can even watch some short videos in a small auditorium in the museum (great opportunity to rest your tired legs and learn a few fun facts). In addition, retired national park service rangers staff this museum giving visitors a great opportunity to ask questions about their past work and the national park. Ask away as they love to chat! If you’re in Yellowstone, take time to stop into this cool museum and check out the history here! Enjoy some photos from inside the museum:
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Happy 227th anniversary to the White House! Construction started on this iconic building back 227 years ago in Washington DC. Every President since John Adams has lived in it since 1800. The White House stands about 55,000 square feet, six floors, and has 132 rooms. A few fun facts about the White House: • John Quincy Adams established the first flower garden. • There are 35 bathrooms, 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, 8 staircases and 3 elevators in the White House. • It would take 570 gallons of paint to cover the entire outside surface of the White House. • A swimming pool was added to the White House in 1933 to help polio-stricken Franklin Roosevelt exercise his upper body. In 1969, Richard Nixon had the pool filled in to create an area for press to gather. Gerald Ford had an outdoor pool built in 1975. • President Carter had the first computer and laser printer installed in the White House in 1978. • The White House has a bowling alley, flower shop, dentist office, and carpenter’s office located on site. Happy anniversary to the White House!
Happy 104th anniversary to Dinosaur National Monument! A few years ago, we planned a vacation to Colorado and we planned on driving from California to Colorado. At the time, our son loved dinosaurs! I mean really loved them and even talked about growing up to become a paleontologist! After some discussions and checking out the routes, we decided to stop by this national monument and check it out. We really enjoyed this national monument! Our son loved seeing real dinosaur fossils! From the Quarry Visitor Center, we took a shuttle up to the Quarry Exhibit Hall. In this hall, you can see approximately 1,500 dinosaur bones! There are even some places where you can touch them! Our future paleontologist loved this national monument! Beyond the dinosaurs, there is much more to do in the monument. For example, you can check out carvings in the rocks, called petroglyphs, left by the Fremont people nearly 1,000 years ago. You can also take a hike, go camping, go fishing, or watch wildlife like elk or bighorn sheep there. Definitely check out this national monument if you’re in the Utah or Colorado area. To celebrate this anniversary or if you can’t wait to visit there, click here and check out their Junior Ranger activity book.
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Happy 129th anniversary to Yosemite National Park! In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed the legislation creating the nation’s third national park. The establishment of Yosemite National Park preserved over 1,500 square miles of land. Yosemite National Park is located in central California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Yosemite ignites many images when you say its name. It’s hard not to picture the iconic Half Dome or Yosemite Falls. You can also find deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness area, and much more. This park has some cool history facts here too. For one, America’s first female park ranger in the National Park Service came from Yosemite National Park. I highlighted Clare Marie Hodges in this blog post here. Yosemite has a long history with junior rangers. It had a Junior Nature School that was organized in June 1930 and went until 1954. Could you pass a 1933 junior ranger test? The national park service has one on their website. Try it here. Definitely put Yosemite National Park on your bucket list of places to visit and check out the cool landscapes and history at this national park!
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