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 Creativity

National parks have inspired artistic expression and creativity for many, many years. Today’s theme asks what can the national parks inspire you to create?

The national parks have definitely inspired me! Our national parks inspired me to write children’s book set in a national park.

I created a magical national park, Erutuf National Park, as the setting for my children’s book, Turtle Tube: An Erutuf National Park Novel. It’s not a real national park, but an idealistic and magical one.

What creative spark do the national parks ignite in you?

sPark Discovery

National Park Week kicks off the week with a free day at the parks. No fees today!

Today’s theme encourages people to find something new by visiting a national park. If you have been there before, look for something new this time.

I love to learn and discover something new while visiting national parks. The Junior Ranger programs provide great opportunities for both children and adults to learn in greater detail about the park and its’ unique details.

The visitor centers also provide a great resource for discovering something new. Stop in and enjoy some fun facts there! Talk to the Park Rangers and ask them some questions.

If you can’t get to a national park today in person, visit one virtually online. Explore it virtually!

Whether you go in person or online, what might you discover?

“Learning never exhausts the mind,” ~Leonardo da Vinci