My Experience
Going back as far as I can remember, my family has always had the tradition of going on a yearly vacation. It is a week out of the summer that my immediate family and I can take some time away from home to relax and explore a new place. The special thing about my family vacations is that never go to the same place twice. We love marking places to visit off our bucket list. Our bucket list consists of mostly national parks. My family went to our first national park in 2010 and that was when we fell in love with them. The national parks have been our favorite vacations. We love getting to see the wonders of this country. The national parks offer my family a time to go off the grid and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the great outdoors.
The History of the Parks
Yellowstone was the first in the National Park service. In 1872, Congress established the park as a territory of Montana and Wyoming. Congress declared Yellowstone "as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and placed it "under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior." This establishment of the park started a national park movement. In the following years, the government Department of Interior, War Department, and the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture administered and authorized monuments and natural and historical areas as national parks. It wasn’t until 1916 that the National Park Service was founded after President Wilson signed an act. The national park services is a national bureau in the Department of the Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments then managed by the department and those yet to be established.”
Today, there is are four hundred and twenty three national parks in the United States. Total, this is over 84 million acres of protected land. The goal of the national park service is to preserve the natural and cultural resources of the National Park Systems for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. These parks have wonders ranging mountains, canyons, rivers, desserts, geysers. In 2020 alone, the national parks had 237,064,332 visitors.
My Bucket List
Some of my family’s favorite national parks have been...
Zion in Utah
Yellowstone in Montana and Wyoming
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona
Glacier in Montana
Some of the other national parks that are on my list of ones I want to visit...
Crater Lake in Oregon
The Badlands in South Dakota
Acadia in Maine
Joshua Tree in California
These parks have provided me with so many great adventures and breathtaking views. These views are things that you could never find in your backyard and definitely worth the trip. Pick any one of the national parks and you can’t go wrong.
If you want to explore the National Parks more, check out the NPS website HERE! Or you can click HERE check out the U.S Department of Interior's website.
See you next time!
~Mary Beth
Comments