Some of our most inspiring travel experiences have been the family road trips to many of the US National Parks. We started taking our kids to these American treasures when they were 5 and 7 years old. As you can imagine, we’ve had our fair share of unplanned mishaps along the way. A dead car battery in Yosemite Valley is one story that comes to mind; planning to hike then completely missing Uncle Tom’s Trail in Yellowstone is another. However, we’ve always managed to return home safely and with a bunch of new Junior Ranger Badges for the kids’ growing collection.
Junior Ranger Program
Speaking of badges and kids going to US National Parks, we highly recommend the Junior Ranger Program. All you have to do is stop by any visitor center and request a Junior Ranger Booklet for the park. Have the kids complete the requirements for their age and answer the questions. (…And, yes! You can definitely help.) When you are ready, return to any visitor center, and show the completed booklet to a park ranger. Then watch the kids take the Junior Ranger Pledge and receive their cool new badge. It is this badge that has always kept our daughters motivated to walk the trails and interested to learn more about the parks. Thanks to this badge, our kids have also become obsessive garbage collectors. They pick up every piece of trash they find in the park, then hand it over to us to carry!
It is fair to say that getting to know our US National Parks has changed all of us for the better. Here are some of our most favorite adventures, and there are many more to come!
- Arches National Park: A Day and a Half is Not Enough
- Big Bend National Park: Santa Elena is a Canyon…in Texas
- Canyonlands National Park: A Desert Island in the Sky
- Pinnacles National Park: Talus Caves – Flashlights Required
- Yosemite National Park: The Glacier Point Experience
- Yellowstone National Park: Oh, That Upper Geyser Basin!