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Today, we’re going to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart - National Parks. If you’ve listened to ANY of the podcast episodes, you’ve heard me talk about National Parks and today I’m going to give you 10 reasons why I love National Parks, and why you should love them too.

Do you know what the very first National Park was? That’s right, Yellowstone. On March 1, 1872, President Grant signed a bill creating the National Park.

While I was poking around the internet for this podcast, I came across a quote from an artist named George Catlin. He is well known for his paintings of the Old West and Native Americans. After a trip to the Dakotas in 1832, he realized how much was in danger if it was not protected from western expansion. He said, “Indian civilization, wildlife, and wilderness are all in danger unless they could be preserved by some great protecting policy of government…in a magnificent park…a nation’s Park, containing man and beast, in all the wild[ness] and freshness of their nature’s beauty.” (Origin)

A Nation’s Park. I love that phrase that later became ‘National Park.’

Ok, enough history. Here are 10 reasons why I love National Parks and why you should love them too!

1) You know it will be amazing. Just think about it. Someone saw this place and thought it was cool enough to tell other people about it, who eventually told a member of Congress about it, who told the rest of Congress about it, who then voted on it and told the President about it, who signed a bill creating it. That’s a lot of effort by a lot of people, so you know it will be AT LEAST interesting and often amazing!

2) National Parks can often make history real. I don’t know about you but I never was a fan of history in school. I really disliked memorizing facts and figures. But it wasn’t until I could see the places that the history talked about - like Pearl Harbor in Hawaii - that history came alive to me. Washington DC is like this for me as well. Thank you National Parks!

3) You know the area is going to be protected from development. I love old things. I love old buildings and places that you can say were here before our country was, but we don’t often see age like that in the West. National Parks keep those old things from being developed. The original idea for National Parks was to preserve natural wonders, but it has expanded beyond that now.

4) There will always be bathrooms. Moms, you know what I mean. Clean bathrooms are a MUST with littles and their little hands who don’t quite understand what to touch and not touch yet. Enough said.

5) You know you will see something that you probably wouldn’t see anywhere else. Like giant redwoods or geysers or lava or bison or presidents faces in a mountain. 

6) Rangers can make the day even better! They love National Parks too and it’s their job to both protect them and teach us! So talk to them. We have never been disappointed when we’ve taken the time to chat with the Rangers we have met. 

In fact, let me tell you a story. In the San Juan Islands is a National Historic Park called American Camp. (Look up the story about how we almost went to war with England over a pig!) While visiting American Camp, we got to chatting with the Ranger and he said, “Just a minute” and went in the back and came out with a real rifle from the 1800’s. (ok, now that I read this, I think it might of been a replica, but it did really shoot musket balls.) He explained how they loaded it and shot it. He even let us hold it to see how heavy it was. (It was really heavy) He said that he didn’t normally do this but he could tell that we would love it. And we did! Rangers can really make your visit!