August 25 Free Entrance Day to National Parks

To celebrate the 103rd birthday of the National Park Service, you get in free on August 25, 2019.

There are more than 400 parks across the country ready for your visit.

You can visit beautiful places at Grand Canyon National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Yosemite National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Redwood National Park, Glacier Bay National Park, Biscayne National Park, and Virgin Islands National Park.

You can go hiking, boating, sailing, fishing, swimming, and camping at these lovely places. You can even go hunting at over 50 of the 390 parks administered by the National Park Service. After all, good old Teddy Roosevelt who dreamed up the idea of national parks was an avid hunter. He loved nature and wanted to preserve the unspoiled beauty of the wilderness so that generations to come could recreated in those beautiful places.

I loved visiting Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in Oyster Bay, New York, the home of Teddy Roosevelt, our 26^th President. I think this visit early in my childhood started a deep love of history that continues to this day.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon and Estates and the Lincoln Memorial are run by the NPS, or National Park Service.

You can visit a geyser named “Old Faithful” that erupts every 91 minutes at Yellowstone National Park.

Do you want to visit four different geographical regions in one park? You can visit the Pacific coastline, western temperate rainforest, alpine regions, and drier eastern forests in Olympic National Park.

How about visiting a park on an island? Acadia National Park is located on a picturesque island that was originally inhabited by the Wabanaki Native Americans.

Visit an active volcano and the world’s largest shield volcano at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Of course, every little child dreams of seeing the largest trees in the world at Sequoia National Park.

Another childhood dream of children is to explore caves. You can find the longest known cave system in the world in Mammoth Cave National Park.

Petrified Forest National Park straddles Navajo and Apache lands and contains both the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert.

To find a National Park near you, visit here and click on your state.

Our state of Florida has 12 national parks.

We have only visited 4 National Parks so far: Everglades National Park, Canaveral National Seashore, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, and Gulf Islands National Seashore. So, I am planning a visit to Big Cypress National Preserve.

How about you?

What nearby parks have you visited?

What national park would you like to visit?

Here are some tips to make your visit more fun:

• Stop by the visitor center for information and maps of the park
• Ask park rangers questions—they know a lot about the park and the animals that live there
• Keep your distance from wild animals
• Wear comfortable shoes and clothing
• Bring sunscreen or mosquito repellent as needed
• Take lots of photos for the family scrapbook!
• Be sure to clean up as you go

Natural Parks are a great way to learn history and geography the fun way.

Here are some blog posts to add more fun to your geography studies:

Geography Feast: Europe

Road Trip: Pike’s Peak

Plane Ride at Geography Co-op

Geography Co-op Kick-Off: Travel Around the World

Have a lovely day at the park!

Warmly,

Meredith Curtis

Meredith Curtis, homeschooling mom, writer, speaker, and publisher, loves to encourage families in their homeschooling adventure. She is the author of HIS Story of the 20^th Century,  Travel God’s World Geography curriculum, American History Cookbook, Let’s Have Our Own Medieval Banquet, and Ancient History Timeline. You can check out her books, curricula, unit studies, and Bible studies at PowerlineProd.com. Free Reading Lists for all ages are available at JSHomeschooling.com. Read her blogs at MeredithCurtis.com and PowerlineProd.com Listen to her podcast at Finish Well Radio.