It’s National Park Week here in the United States!
Admission to all parks (including historic sites, recreation areas, monuments, memorials, and more) is free this week (April 22-26, 2013) making this a great opportunity to check out a park near you. According to the National Parks website, every state has at least one national park, and no american is further than 100 miles from a national park! What are you waiting for? Time to get out and explore.
The United States’ newest park to bear the official National Park title is Pinnacles National Park. In January of this year, it was upgraded from a National Monument to a National Park. Pinnacles is located in central California between Highway 101 and Interstate 5, about 60 miles East of the Monterey Bay Peninsula. Pinnacles is special to us. We visited the park during our Central California coast road trip in 2011, which was dubbed one of our two babymoons.
Here we took in the views of distant mountains that seemed to go on forever, marveled at the wild rock formations (called pinnacles), and went on what seemed like the longest wildflower guided-hike in history. The hike went on so long, in fact that we were the only two souls left at the end, accompanied by our most knowledgeable ranger of course! I also have great memories of Slaed and I calling out and playing around with possible baby names for our future little adventurer.
What was the last National Park you visited? (Us: San Juan Island National Historic Park)
Which National Park will you visit next? (Us: Most likely Yellowstone!)
Info to Know:
- All National Park Free Entrance Days for 2013:
- 1/21 (MLK)
- 4/22-4/26 (National Park Week)
- 8/25 (National Park Service Birthday),
- 9/28 (Public Lands Day)
- 11/9-11/11 (Veteran’s Day Weekend)
- Visit the Find a Park site to find a park near your home or travel destination.
- If you think you and your family will visit a few National Parks this year, consider purchasing an Annual Pass for $80.
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We love Pinnacles and are glad to see it upgraded! I just wished that the darn place was easier to get from the East to West side without having make the 2 hour drive out and around.
I will say that one of our worst ideas ever was to try to visit Pinnacles in July…oh my gosh…11o degrees. Needless to say we didn’t stay long and just went back to the beaches in Pacifica & Monterey Bay. 😀
We love our National Parks and have visited over 30 Units in over 7 states. Our goal is to visit them all. We Passport Stamp (park stamper hobbyists) and collect Junior Ranger Badges as well. So much fun! One our absolute favorite ways to see the United States!
Our last National Park: The Santa Monica NRA (for the Grand Opening of the King Gillette Ranch Visitor’s Center)
Our next National Park: None in 2013 – instead heading out to UNESCO’s Gunung Mulu National Park and other SE Asia World Heritage Sites
Thanks so much for your comment!! Yes, it sure was an experience getting there, but worth it. We were there in April, so the weather was perfect—I don’t think we’d have had the same great experience in 110 degree temperatures! Ugg!
We should look into starting a passport stamp book. I think especially as Bergen gets older, it would be a lot of fun to keep track & preserve memories.
I can’t wait to see & learn through your SE Asia adventure–so excited for you!