In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson created the National Park Service to protect the national parks and monuments. Today there are over 58 national parks throughout the United States. I’ve only visited 29 so far, but they are all on my bucket list! For a detailed list of which parks I’ve seen, view my pinterest board for National Parks Visited.

In honor of the National Park Service celebrating their 100th anniversary, a new IMAX film National Park Adventures was released this past week at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and other locations across the US. This 45-minute film showcases breathtaking beauty and adventure of the great outdoors. The trailer follows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iqF2Tk_1WA

REI is also offering a national park adventure sweepstakes to celebrate the centennial. The grand prize is a national park getaway for two including airfare and a guided trip to one of seven national parks:

http://nationalparksadventure.com/rei-sweepstakes-entry/

Your best value to see the National Parks is to purchase their America the Beautiful – The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass – Annual Pass for $80. At the age of 62, you can get a lifetime pass for $10!

In June of 2005, I purchased my first National Park pass and loaded my family of five into a minivan to travel for three weeks over 5000 miles across eight states to see six national parks. We called it The Great Adventure. That trip birthed an appreciation for the great outdoors for all of my family.

Our first park to visit was the Petrified Forest. We drove into the north entrance coming from Albuquerque on I-40. The Painted Desert, which borders the park, was an amazing display of colors of sediments exposed by shifting landscapes and erosion. Inside the Petrified Forest, we drove by the Blue Mesa Trail before stopping at the Rainbow Forest to walk some of the trails. Old Faithful was the largest petrified tree standing nine feet tall on its side. We spent two hours touring this park before driving on to the Glen Canyon Dam, which impounds the Colorado River into Lake Powell.

Heading towards Utah, we drove along the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on our way to Zion National Park. We chose to stay outside of the park and off the grid at a solar powered home in the Kolob Mountains. Since we arrived after dark, we didn’t get to witness the beauty of our surroundings until the next morning. We woke up to fields and fields of yellow flowers. We used the day to recharge and explore nearby.

The next morning we started out early for our three-hour drive to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Because the north side received only 10% of the total visitors of the canyon, we were looking forward to a road less traveled experience. The north rim also provided a nice contrast to the desert with meadows, conifer forests and cooler temperatures.

It was hard to put into words the majesty and grandeur of this place. This great chasm stretched over 277 miles through the Colorado Plateau, one mile deep and as much as 18 miles wide. Theodore Roosevelt appropriately said these words at the Grand Canyon dedication: “Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American if he can travel at all should see.” (NPS) We began our exploration at the North Rim Visitor Center and enjoyed the views from the Grand Lodge. With only one day to spend at this park, we had to traverse most of it by car with stops at the numerous lookouts. We left that day feeling like we had seen infinite grandeur and timelessness. (Next blog-Part 2 of the Great Adventure)