This Enchanted Land was Made For You [And Me]
When I was in the first grade I learned about the Petrified Forest. In my overly active 6-year old’s imagination this was a magical and enchanted place where gemstones sparkled in the breeze as they hung from the branches of weeping willow trees. A visit to the Petrified Forest was added to my bucket list before I even knew that I had a bucket list!
I was reminded of this recently when I saw something on television (probably a Hallmark Christmas movie!) that featured a children’s school program of patriotic songs. As they sang America the Beautiful followed by This Land is Your Land, the topic for this article became perfectly clear – America’s National Parks!
The National Park system in the United States encompasses over 423 sites including parks, forests, historic sites, seashores and more. These protected sites offer scenery, wildlife, history, education, and a variety of other activities to enrich the lives of everyone who visits. While much of the world is slowly starting to open back up, this is the perfect time to explore these great spaces in our own backyard!
Many of our National Parks are well known – you can recognize them in a photo even if you have never been there in person. The Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Zion, Glacier, and Rocky Mountain offer amazing scenery, hiking, climbing, paddling and wildlife viewing. They are all so stunning and diverse that it is difficult to choose a favorite. Usually, the last park I visited is my favorite!
There are other National Park sites which are less well known but are equally as remarkable, each in its own way. Redwood National Park, Sequoia National Park and Muir Woods in California both offer ample opportunities for hiking among the world’s tallest trees. In Hawaii you can visit active volcanoes at Volcanoes National Park or view the rare Silversword plant at Haleakala National Park. You can sled in sand dunes, hike among Hoodoos, explore the world’s largest cave system or wade in a volcanic lake. In Alaska, you might even catch the northern lights. Every one of the 200 plus sites in the National Park system offer something memorable and unique!
The team at Avondale Travel are all National Park enthusiasts and get "6-year-old" giddy every time we are asked to create a tailored itinerary for a family who may want to swim around the fort at Dry Tortugas or fill their ears with the excitement of the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, I visited The Petrified Forest in 2008. While I was disappointed to learn that there are no gemstone laden weeping willows scattered throughout the park (my vision of the park never grew up!) it was still an amazing experience to cross that original item from my bucket list!
