My love for the National Parks started as a boy when my parents began taking us on long camping trips to the parks. I can’t even say which park was the first one they took us to. Most summers we would visit 3 or 4 and sometimes as many as 8 or 10. Over the decade of the 1970’s I estimate we visited between 25-35 of our wonderful National Parks. From the east coast to the west coast. North and south. Not even counting the Canadian parks we visited.
In my late teens I wandered away from the camping and traveling to do my “own thing” but the parks were always in my soul.
After many years away from the parks, and after having three children of my own, I found my way back to the National Parks.
I moved from the Detroit Michigan area in the mid 1980’s to the Denver Colorado area. After a few months living in Denver I got to visit Rocky Mountain Park after a decade away from it. We camped at Rocky Mountain Park three times with my parents as a kid. It is truly on of the most amazing places to visit.
Traveling to RMNP a couple times every year really got my taste back to “feed my soul” once again.
I began a quest to visit those places my parents has taken us as children. To pass this great love of our parks to my children. It started with RMNP and grew to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Mesa Verde, Dinosaur, Arches, the Great Sand Dunes and even the great Glacier National Park.
I wish to visit all of the National Parks in the US in my life time. If I am very lucky and blessed I may do it.
But it is the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone that call me back year after year. I am lucky where I live that I can visit RMNP several times a year, however Yellowstone and the Tetons hold very special memories that connect me to my past and make me hopeful for the future. I have been to those 2 parks some 18 times and hope to return again soon to the Bison, and Moose and Elk and Grizzly and the sights and sounds and smells of the wonderful greater Yellowstone echo-system..
My park story is a love story. A story of places to visit that make you leave all the stresses of everyday life behind while you are there. These are the places where I am most in touch with my joy, my happiness, my very soul.
Sincerely,
Yellowstone National Park
America's first national park is named after the river that runs through it. Within the park's massive boundaries, visitors can find mountains, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and some of the most concentrated geothermal activity in the world. The park has 60% of the world’s geysers, as well as hot springs and mud pots. It is also home to diverse wildlife with the largest concentration of mammals in the Lower 48 states, including grizzly bears, wolves, bison and elk.
State(s): Idaho Montana, Wyoming,
Established: 1872
“I support the National Parks because they preserve and protect the great wonders of our natural world, so that future generations can get in touch with their souls as we have.”
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Greetings from Yellowstone National Park
The joy, beauty, serenity and amazement of the natural world, readily accessible, is wonderful. I wanted to have my son who is part of the next generation explore and appreciate the beauty of what our parks have to offer. We protect what we love and appreciate. It feels so harmonious…
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