Today celebrates National Public Lands Day! Started in 1994, “It celebrates the connection between people and green space in their community, inspires environmental stewardship, and encourages use of open space for education, recreation, and health benefits.” Get outside and celebrate this day! Visit a national park for free today, volunteer outside at a local park, and enjoy time outside!
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Happy 129th anniversary to Sequoia National Park! On this day, President Harrison signed legislation creating America’s second national park. It was the first national park created to protect the giant sequoia trees from logging. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt added the Kings Canyon National Park to Sequoia to have these national parks operate jointly. We visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park about eight years ago. Enjoy a few photos from our visit there. The Ash Mountain Entrance: Tunnel Rock (original granite tunnel was built in the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps and this narrow passageway was the only route through until the highway was widened in 1997. You can still walk underneath or on top of the rock if you can hike up it): Giant Forest (large sequoia grove): General Sherman (largest living sequoia tree standing about 275 feet tall): John Muir reflected that giant sequoia groves are “not like places, they are like haunts.” Happy 129th, Sequoia National Park!
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Parents and teachers of 4th graders in the United States, get your free national park pass for this school year! Yes, a free pass! Every Kid Outdoors created this program to encourage 4th graders and their families to get outside and discover our national parks system for free. The pass works now through August 31, 2020. The pass includes all children under 16 and up to three adults or one vehicle if driving. You must bring the paper pass as electronic ones don’t work. Passes cannot be transferred to anyone else. Parents can get their 4th grader’s pass by having your 4th grader complete an online activity and then print out your park pass. Click here to start the online process. Educators can get a paper pass for each student in their 4th grade class. You need to download an activity and then print out the paper passes for your students. Educators, click here to begin the process to get your students their free park passes! If you have or teach a 4th grader, make sure to get your free park pass and enjoy our national parks!
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At the end of July, our family journeyed to the Grand Teton National Park to celebrate our 15th anniversary where we got married! We loved seeing this special national park again and also sharing it with our two kids. Steve and I got married in the Chapel of Transfiguration in the national park. This rustic chapel was constructed in 1925. We love this little, lodgepole pine chapel with that amazing window framing the Teton Range! Enjoy some photos of our visit to the chapel. ❤️ Definitely stop by this beautiful and historic chapel if you’re in the Grand Teton National Park! P.S. More vacation posts coming!
On this day 55 years ago, Congress established the Wilderness Act. Congress wanted to protect undeveloped and wild areas as an enduring resource for the American people. Today, this act protects 111 million acres of wilderness. This act created the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) and immediately designated 54 areas into this system. Some of the first wilderness areas created included Bridger Wilderness in Wyoming, Ansel Adams Wilderness in California, and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota. Today, the National Park Service makes up about 56% of the land under NWPS with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management areas making up the rest. Many benefits exist today from this land conservation including providing habitats for wildlife; clean air; clean drinking water; boosting local economies with tourism and recreation; and providing some really amazing places to escape and appreciate this great land here! Go enjoy this anniversary and get out in the wilderness today!
Check out who’s turning 103 years old! The National Park Service! President Woodrow Wilson created the national park service (NPS) back on August 25, 1916. The act stated that the NPS “is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” Pick a park to visit and celebrate this important birthday of these amazing treasures!
Guess where we just celebrated our anniversary and took the kids on vacation? More coming soon!
Happy 229th anniversary to our National Mall. The National Mall is centrally located in Washington, DC. The National Mall is America’s most visited national park and nicknamed “America’s front yard”. The Mall area preserves the Washington Monument, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, D.C. War Memorial, World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, George Mason Memorial, Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House, the National Mall, East and West Potomac Parks, Constitution Gardens, 60 statues, and numerous other historic sites, memorials, and parklands. I remember seeing the National Mall for the first time. I had traveled to DC for an internship after graduating college. In my free time, I walked over to check out a few sights and knew this area would be an ideal place to see some iconic memorials. I grew up seeing the skyscrapers in Chicago. I’ve seen tall or big buildings. I’ve seen open areas and parks. Yet, this place wowed me. I paused in my steps there. The beauty, the history, the size, the importance of it all truly awed me. I love going back to this part of our national park system. It brings together our country in unique ways. It still awes and wows me! According to the National Park Service, “The open spaces and parklands envisioned by Pierre L’Enfant’s plan, which was commissioned by President George Washington, created an ideal stage for national expressions of remembrance, observance, celebration, and expression of First Amendment rights.” If you’re traveling to the DC area, definitely make some time and check out the National Mall area. Happy 229th!
Recently, we visited Chicago and Indiana to see family and show the kids some fun there. During this trip, we visited a national park! And we got see a newly designated one! Indiana Dunes National Park sits along the southern shore of Lake Michigan in northwestern Indiana. This national lakeshore became a national park as of February this year. We checked out the visitor center first and our kids become junior rangers there! As I’ve mentioned, you definitely need to check out the junior ranger activities at our national parks! Great way to get the kids involved and learn something! At the center, we read up on the park, watched the short history film, and even bought our youngest a junior ranger vest and hat. 😍 I love learning cool facts about the park like the fact that Lake Michigan took form 11,000 years ago when the Wisconsin glacier began to melt. We headed to the shoreline and parked by the Kemil Road Access Point. We enjoyed seeing the lake and let the two kids skip some rocks. We had to drive over and check out the park’s most dynamic dune, Mount Baldy. Mount Baldy stands 126 feet tall. To see this powerful dune, you need to take a short, fun trail to reach the beach from the parking area. It’s a fun little hike! If you’re in the Chicago or Indiana area, check out our 61st national park and the first national Park in Indiana.
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