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Category: _National Parks General
To continue the National Park Week series, I’m featuring a park that’s totally different from Valley Forge NHP that I featured yesterday.
A few months ago, we visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the southeast corner of New Mexico during our cross country trip. This park exceeded all expectations! There were so many unique formations in such a huge cavern.
Come visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park with us!
To celebrate National Park Week, as mentioned in my post yesterday, I am starting a series featuring a different national park each day this week.
To kick things off, we took a trip to Valley Forge National Historical Park!
Let’s visit Valley Forge National Historical Park together!
To celebrate National Park Week, I will be doing a series featuring a different national park each day this week. Follow along on my Park Visits page.
This year, National Park Week is celebrated from April 22 – 30th. To kick it off, there’s free admission on Saturday, April 22, 2023 for the ones that charge an entrance fee, though I don’t mind contributing to support the parks anyway. The National Park Service parks and related entities will host activities all week.
This year’s National Park Week theme is “Your Park Story”. Which park is special to you? Share “your park story” about your special connections with places in national parks or communities. Share and follow stories on social media using #MyParkStory and #YourParkStory. You can follow the NPS social media here.
We love the national parks! We just did an epic cross country trip last December where we went to 5 of them. We’ve been to almost half of them so far, and honestly, cannot name one that we didn’t like. It’s hard to pick a favorite. Each one is so different and so cool in its own way. Hopefully, you can learn more about each park and explore them yourself too.
Visit this NPS page for detailed information on all of the events to celebrate National Park Week. #NationalParkWeek
Saturday, April 22nd, is also Earth Day, so check out the Earth Day page for activities to commemorate this as well. #EarthDay
Visit the NPS site to learn more about the national parks and to plan your visit. Note that some parks require timed entry tickets, so plan ahead.
Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about a national park trip. Hopefully, we’ll see you out there!
Pics ©National Park Service
It looks like the famous Washington DC cherry blossoms are about to start blooming! These beautiful trees around the Tidal Basin area are an iconic symbol of spring.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival is running from March 18 – April 16, 2023. There will be performances, foods, and activities for all ages, culminating with the Cherry Blossom Parade on April 15th. Another key event is Petalpalooza on April 8th, a family friendly day of performances and activities capped off with fireworks over the Capital Riverfront.
The entire festival season season has been known to draw millions of people to the city in past years, and peak bloom week and the parade weekend are especially busy, so plan your trip accordingly if you plan to go.
Here are some resources to help plan your trip:
If you can’t travel to Washington DC, there are several virtual ways for you to join in the fun.
If you would like to chat about planning a trip to Washington DC for the festival or any other time, feel free to contact me. We’ve been to DC area and the Smithsonian museums many times. We love it there.
For several days in 2023, the U.S. National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee will offer free admission to everyone. Here are the entrance fee-free dates in 2023:
January 16: Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
April 22: First day of National Park Week
August 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
September 23: National Public Lands Day
November 11: Veterans Day
The first one is tomorrow in honor of MLK Day!
However, if you can’t make it to one tomorrow, try to go some other time. Don’t forget to check if one of the parks passes is right for you.
The national parks are such amazing places. We’ve been to over half of them so far and hope to visit the rest soon. Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about planning a national park trip.
Today is Veterans Day in the United States. We honor and thank all military personnel and their families.
Many places are offering ways to honor the military. One of them is the US National Park Service. Many national parks have direct connections to the American military—there are dozens of battlefields, military parks, and historic sites that commemorate and honor the service of American veterans.
The National Park Service invites all visitors to remember our veterans by visiting any National Park Service site for free on Veterans Day (November 11).
In addition, they offer a free Military Pass as a way to thank current US military members and their dependents, Gold Star Families, and US military veterans for their support of our country and to encourage them to explore recreational opportunities on their public lands and waters.
For more information, visit the National Park Service Veterans Day page.
Feel free to contact me if you’d like to chat more about a national parks trip.
© National Park Service
Hey fourth graders! See America’s natural wonders and historic sites for free. You and your family get free access to hundreds of parks, lands, and waters for an entire year. Every Kid Outdoors creates crucial connections to public lands and inspires a future generation of stewards of America’s spectacular national parks and other public lands.
Get passes, download activities, or plan a life-changing field trip for your fourth-grade students at:
Learn about other available park passes at:
Above is verbiage from the National Park Service post regarding 4th grader national park passes.
Now, a few words from me… Even if you don’t have a 4th grader in your family, the regular National Park pass or any other affiliated passes are also a great deal! Depending on which parks you go to, they may pay for themselves in as few as 2-3 visits. Best of all, you’re supporting a great institution and the best national treasures of this country. We love exploring the national parks and hope that you will include them in your future trips too. Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about any of them.
©National Park Service
It looks like the famous Washington DC cherry blossoms are about to start blooming this weekend! Peak bloom is forecasted to be from March 22 – 25, 2022. These beautiful trees around the Tidal Basin area are an iconic symbol of spring. This is the 110th anniversary of the gifting of these trees from Japan.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival is back in person this year, running from March 20 – April 17, 2022. There will be performances, foods, and activities for all ages. Key events include the Cherry Blossom Parade on April 9th and Petalpalooza on April 16th, a family friendly day of performances and activities culminating in fireworks over the Capital Riverfront.
The entire festival season season has been known to draw millions of people to the city in past years, and peak bloom week and the parade weekend are especially busy, so plan your trip accordingly if you plan to go.
Here are some resources to help plan your trip:
If you can’t travel to Washington DC, there are several virtual ways for you to join in the fun.
If you would like to chat about planning a trip to Washington DC for the festival or any other time, feel free to contact me. We’ve been to DC area and the Smithsonian museums many times.
This year, National Park Week is celebrated from April 17 – 25th. Parks around the country are hosting events, both virtual and in person, to mark the occasion. If you go in person, there’s also free admission on Saturday, April 17, 2021 for the ones that charge an entrance fee, though I don’t mind contributing to support the parks anyway.
We love the national parks! We hope to start travelling to more later this year once we’re all vaccinated. We’ve been to almost half of them so far, and honestly, cannot name one that we didn’t like. It’s hard to pick a favorite even. Each one is so different and so cool in its own way. Hopefully, you can learn more about each park and explore them yourself too.
Check out this NPS page for detailed information on all of the events to celebrate National Park Week.
Right now, many National Parks are still closed or have certain access restrictions in place. So, the best way to visit them is to travel virtually. Here’s a great article that summarizes all the different ways you can visit a National Park without actually visiting it! Stay safe!
Adventures By Anne 