National
Park Week 2019 runs from Saturday, April 20th, through Sunday, April
28th, with a “fee-free” day on the 20th to kick off the
week of celebration. Other “fee-free”
days during 2019 are August 25th (the birthday of the National Park Service),
September 28th (National Public Lands Day) and November 11th
(Veterans Day), so mark your calendar accordingly. Spring is a perfect time of year to get out
and enjoy our national treasures, and many of our National Parks have special
events scheduled during the week. Plus,
the National Park Service has assigned a theme to many of the days during
National Park Week such as Junior Ranger Day on April 20th and Bark
Ranger Day on April 27th.
(Yes! Some National Parks and
Monuments do allow pets!) National Park
Week focuses on the beauty and benefits of these glorious public lands – OUR
public lands - and the countless opportunities that exist for us to enjoy them.
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| Photo credit: www.nps.gov |
Many of you know that our love affair with our National Parks
began back when Alan and I honeymooned by tent camping across the country on a
journey to visit several of the iconic Parks in the American West. Currently, there are 61 National Parks in
existence, but properties managed by the National Park Service number 419 and
include National Monuments,
Battlefields, Military Parks, Historical Parks, Historic Sites, Lakeshores, Seashores,
Recreation Areas, Scenic Rivers and Trails, and the White House. We’ve made a dent in that list, but we still
have a long way to go to see them all.
(Interesting tidbit of information:
The largest National Park is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in
Alaska at 13.2 million acres, and the smallest is the Thaddeus Kosciuszko
Memorial in Pennsylvania at 0.02 acres.) With all of those Parks to choose from,
(okay, Mike, I admit it should be “from which to choose”), the question that
inevitably comes up is, “Which National Park is your favorite?”
