National Parks - pics and stories

[Wall-E1]

National Park Week starts tomorrow and runs through April 25th. During that time, the U.S. park system is waiving entrance fees at all 392 national parks/areas/preserves. I thought it would be fun to post our pictures and tell stories about the different national parks that we have visited across the country.

To date, I have visited ten national parks/areas/preserves -

Everglades National Park
Big Cypress National Preserve
National Mall & Memorial Parks
Gettysburg National Military Park
Statue of Liberty National Monument
Alcatraz Island
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Presidio of San Francisco
Yosemite National Park
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

Only 382 left to discover.

My bucket list of parks I want to visit -

Yellowstone National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Olympic National Park
Glacier Bay National Park
Grand Teton National Park

Living in South Florida, I have visited Everglades National Park most - over three dozen times. I have hiked, biked, canoed and camped there. Here's a couple of pics taken in Everglades National Park...

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I can't remember all of them, so the favorites are :

Yellowstone
Glacier/Waterton
Grand Canyon
Yosemite
Zion
Grand Teton
Glacier Bay
Everglades
Sleeping Bear Dunes

I don't know that the Bear Tooth Highway is in a National Park, but I love to post this picture from DH's and my only bike trip together in 1997. We drove up and back down the Beartooth the weekend it opened-the one right after Memorial Day. This is not a natural mountain of snow, it is one side of the road where they have plowed it and mounded it up. The sticks poking up are the only markers on the road when it is covered with snow-for the plows to drive between. The road is closed between October and June. You can see why.

 

[Sonya]

Excellent post! We go to at least one a year! Last Summer it was the Tetons and Yellowstone, this summer like most summers) it is Rocky.

Here is DS at the Tetons
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2621/3744084411_6342a45e4f.jpg

And some scenery:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2518/3744083967_5d0a024de2.jpg

Old Faithful
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2435/3744894778_e00e9ee206.jpg

I almost forgot:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3744132901_961cdd66e7.jpg

Even Jedi Mickey went with us hiking:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2601/3744082839_ef2bb388d2.jpg

 

[Wall-E1]

Here's a couple taken at the Washington Monument...

He's almost three bricks tall.

This is the view from the top, looking out of the west window towards the Lincoln Memorial. It was still foggy and misty that morning. We were on the early tour.

 

[of the seas]

We've been to over 70 National parks, battlefields, sites, etc. My kids loved to get junior ranger badges. Here are just a few of the ones we've been to

 

[of the seas]

And just a few more

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Awesome thread idea. I can play.

It's great to be able to see some of these places.

Old Fort Niagara

History of flag

Niagara Falls

 

[Danauk]

The Grand Canyon. We have been 3 times (not bad for someone who lives in England!)

Me and my husband on the glass sky bridge!

 

[of the seas]

Found some more!

JFK birth home

Wupatki pueblo in AZ

 

[Wall-E1]

We've been to over 70 National parks, battlefields, sites, etc. My kids loved to get junior ranger badges.

Wow, 70 parks - that's awesome! I really need to pick up the pace. Love all your pictures. What are your favorites? How was Mammoth Cave? That would probably be one that we would enjoy. My kid only has one junior ranger badge from our "home park" - Everglades National Park. Here he is receiving that prestigious honor...

Awesome thread idea. I can play.

It's great to be able to see some of these places.


Niagara Falls

Great pics of the falls! How was the Maid of the Mist boat ride? We tend to get sea sick on long boat tours. Would that be an issue on this boat?

 

[Wall-E1]

The Grand Canyon. We have been 3 times (not bad for someone who lives in England!)

Me and my husband on the glass sky bridge!

Love the choice of footwear. Is that what everybody is wearing in England these days?

 

[npmommie]

Aren't those the booties they make you wear on that glass structure?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Great pics of the falls! How was the Maid of the Mist boat ride? We tend to get sea sick on long boat tours. Would that be an issue on this boat?

Thank you. I had a lot of fun taking them. We were out there for a sports tournament and had time to sightsee.

After seeing people packed in like sardines, I really didn't want to go on the boat. ("No thanks. You go, and I'll take your picture." ) But my kids begged me to go, so I did, lol. I was kind of nervous, but I was so busy taking pictures and fitfully laughing that I wound up having a lot of fun. They aren't kidding when they say Mist. It's quite intense, which is what made it so fun. I couldn't stop laughing at my DH who had the Elvis hair thing going in the wind. The scariest part was the boat turning around under the falls. But thankfully it was fairly short (maybe 10 or 15 minutes long), and we made it back in one piece. I'd say you should try it.

The other two things that are fun and you can see in the pics, are the stairway along the falls (blue jackets - again, hysterical, and you get soaked) and the Cave of the Winds (yellow jackets along bottom of falls). The former is free w/ boat ticket and the latter is fairly cheap. I'd read a lot of threads here about Niagara Falls and most people felt you had to go over to Canada to have fun. We had a blast on the American side over two days and surprisingly, we spent very little money.

 

[Wall-E1]

Aren't those the booties they make you wear on that glass structure?

Yeah, probably to protect the glass from scratches. If you glance real quick at them, they almost look like they're bedazzled.

 

[brasswillow]

I've been to 28 National Parks.
National Parks:
Grand Canyon
Hubbell Trading Post
Montezuma Castle
Saguaro National Park
Sunset Crater Volcano
Tuzigoot
Walnut Canyon
Wupatki
Alcatraz
Golden Gate
Rocky Mountain National Park
Korean War Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
National Mall
WWII Memorial
Pennsylvania Ave.
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Vietnam Memorial
Washington Monument
For McHenry
Cape Cod
Ellis Island
Niagara Falls
Statue of Liberty
Allegheny Portage Railroad
Gettysburg
Johnstown Flood Museum
Valley Forge

Looking through the list of sites there are so many more that I would love to visit, although many of them are on the other side of the country, making it a little harder to visit them.

 

[npmommie]

Yeah, probably to protect the glass from scratches. If you glance real quick at them, they almost look like they're bedazzled.

 

[Wall-E1]

Thank you. I had a lot of fun taking them. We were out there for a sports tournament and had time to sightsee.

After seeing people packed in like sardines, I really didn't want to go on the boat. ("No thanks. You go, and I'll take your picture." ) But my kids begged me to go, so I did, lol. I was kind of nervous, but I was so busy taking pictures and fitfully laughing that I wound up having a lot of fun. They aren't kidding when they say Mist. It's quite intense, which is what made it so fun. I couldn't stop laughing at my DH who had the Elvis hair thing going in the wind. The scariest part was the boat turning around under the falls. But thankfully it was fairly short (maybe 10 or 15 minutes long), and we made it back in one piece. I'd say you should try it.

The other two things that are fun and you can see in the pics, are the stairway along the falls (blue jackets - again, hysterical, and you get soaked) and the Cave of the Winds (yellow jackets along bottom of falls). The former is free and the latter is fairly cheap. I'd read a lot of threads here about Niagara Falls and most people felt you had to go over to Canada to have fun. We had a blast on the American side over two days and surprisingly, we spent very little money.

Sounds great! I think we could handle 15 minutes without getting seasick. Of course, getting soaked by the icy cold falls water will be a shock for us. We are accustomed to water in the mid 80 degree range here in Florida.

 

[yellowlabforever]

I live about 90 minutes from Yellowstone right at the base town before the Beartooth highway, so I have been there a few times. Twice with family for a day trip, and once with family for a volleyball tournament for my sister in Mammoth.

Then I went with school where we spent one day in Earth Science and toured Yellowstone, and there was another time with a school club group that was heading to national convention.

One of my favorite pics. I don't know why it is, it just is.

Also, when going to Yellowstone expect random stops because people stop their cars in the middle of the road to go out of their cars and take pictures of the animals (usually buffalo) Occasionally there'll be a bear, and a trail of cars will be just stopped. If you go to Mammoth there will be elk just hanging out on a random large patch of grass in the town, just as deer would be. It's pretty funny/cool.

I've also been to statue of liberty and Ellis Island

My favorite picture of Statue of liberty that I took.

at Ellis Island

 

[juligrl]

I've been to quite a few national parks/historic sites/battlefields/memorials. My kids and I have the National Parks Passports books - we got theirs on our Grand Canyon trip last summer. They love getting their books stamped so now it's a criteria for vacation planning - "where can we go to get our books stamped?". I love it!

We hit 4 parks last summer - Grand Canyon (both rims), Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Entrance to North Rim of Grand Canyon

Family South Rim Grand Canyon picture!

Family Bryce Canyon picture!

Me at Cedar Breaks in UT

Pictures from Zion National Park

 

[of the seas]

Wow, 70 parks - that's awesome! I really need to pick up the pace. Love all your pictures. What are your favorites? How was Mammoth Cave? That would probably be one that we would enjoy. My kid only has one junior ranger badge from our "home park" - Everglades National Park. Here he is receiving that prestigious honor...

We loved Mammoth Cave. It was a little scarey at times, but lots of fun. We loved all of them that we've been to in Arizona. So beautiful. The kids loved to go to the battlefields, but some of those junior ranger badges were hard to earn, so we helped a little. Here are some pictures of my dd junior ranger hat. She has so many pins, she decided to pin them on the hat and hang the hat on her wall. Some parks don't have a junior ranger program, and some gave patches instead of the badge.