My family is seriously considering doing a National Park for our summer vacation - Lilly even recently started collecting the National Parks quarters set.
Yes, we'll have to brave the crowds, we just need to choose one that will fit everyone's tastes. Me (hiking & fishing), Lilly (activities for those of short attention span), and K.C. (accommodations within driving distance with air conditioning and no bedbugs). We've been chatting about Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Acadia, & Sequoia, but who knows...
A few weeks ago we took in the IMAX movie "National Parks Adventure" and if you look past the extended Subaru commercial within, it was a great watch. If it's in your area, I'd suggest checking it out. You'll probably get the National Parks bug too.
When you turn 62, you're eligible for a lifetime National Parks pass, which costs a whopping one-time fee of $10. Everybody in your car gets in free, too. Pretty good deal for someone who lives close enough to day fish at Rocky Mountain!
ReplyDeleteFantastic. Give me another 20+ years and I'm in...perhaps in the meantime I could get a ride in your car through the gates... Breakfast is on me :)
Deletebolder_in_boulder is correct Mike, I got mine last summer. I stayed at Swiftcurrent lodge, just a short walk outside the park and the Big Thompson 10 feet from your back door. If Miss Lilly would like to see deer and elk walking all over the place, great food to eat and great fishing and a unique little touristy town, you'd never forget the experience.
ReplyDeleteI'd think she'd like it. We're going to try and get things sorted out this weekend I believe. Excited.
DeleteMike, I'm totally in line with your thinking. We didn't have time to make it into the national parks on our trip out west last summer. This year, they are the focal point. We're hauling the Mobile Hotel® out to Montana in early August. We plan at least one day in Glacier National Park and then 3 days in Yellowstone. Even better, I've got permission to fish! I can't recommend Yellowstone enough for kids. Old Faithful is a true spectacle, and if you don't mind a hiking a couple of miles on a fairly easy trail, my kids loved the Mud Pots when they were younger. Appearently, little chunks of mud being thrown in the air is hilarious!
ReplyDeleteAnd bison sitting in the middle of the highway, and the chance for hearing wolves in the night... They say an amazingly small percentage of the many Yellowstone tourists get farther than a quarter mile from the parking lots, so there's lots of backcountry that's totally unsullied by the unwashed hordes...
Delete"...the unwashed hordes..." *snicker* Oh, that reminds me, I have a couple of flights tomorrow morning... ;)
DeleteMichael
DeleteI got my pass a couple of years ago and put it to good use last summer on our trip out west. Why would anyone want to leave the U.S. and skip our beautiful parks here---especially with all the nut cases aboard. Thanks for sharing
P.S. I have been trying to comment on your post and was having trouble getting you comment box to show for me to comment--today it shows up and I was able to make a comment----blogger can be crazy at times!!