National Parks
“There is nothing so American as our national parks…. The fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
At Five Happy Campers we are on a mission to inspire other families to travel and explore like us. Most people find it hard to travel because they assume it’s expensive or think they don’t have the time. First, vacations are important. They give you a chance to recharge and return to work and home life more focused and relaxed which helps increase your productivity. Second, vacations do not have to be expensive. Yes, some are…um Disney World. We would never be able to go there every year. Nor would we want to. The National Parks are a great way to take a family vacation without breaking the bank. There are 417 areas covering more than 84 million acres in every state, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. These areas include national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House.
If you are starting to do a lot of traveling within the National Park system, I highly recommend getting an annual pass, America the Beautiful – The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass. For us the cost is $80/year. Within a few months alone we had already saved more than the pass was worth given the entrance fees we would have paid to that point.
A list of all 417 park sites can be found here.
