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A Gift Guide For National Park Travelers
With Friday kicking off the holiday shopping season, quite a few folks more than likely will have national parks on their minds. And so do we at the Traveler, and so we've decided to offer for your consideration our first Traveler Gift Guide.
* The America the Beautiful -- The National Parks and Public Lands Pass. This is a gift that keeps on giving, 12 months of the year. With it you can get into every single unit of the National Park System without paying an entrance fee. It also grants the holder fee-free access to other public lands that charge entrance fees. Actually, give an IOU to purchase this on January 1 and it gives 13 months, as these cards expire on the last day of the month punched, so those bought January 1, 2010, won't expire until January 31, 2011. Since most federal offices are closed on January 1, unless you're in a park that day you'll probably have to purchase this pass on-line.
* If you can't possibly figure out how to visit more than one or two parks in one year, consider giving an annual pass to just one or two parks. Most parks offer them, and some of these annual passes, such as the $50 pass for Yellowstone, gets you into Grand Teton as well for as many visits as you can squeeze into an entire year. Since you usually have to visit the park of your choice to purchase these annual passes, you can toss in a trip to that park as part of your gift!
* Join the National Park Foundation. This is the charitable arm of the National Park Service. It raises dollars to invest back into the parks in the form of interpretive programs, improvement projects, education and more. This is a feel-good gift, as your contribution will help further the National Park System.
* Give a book. There are plenty to choose from that have a national park angle, whether it's a coffee-table photo book or a book about the history of the National Park System. Some possibilities include:
more at :
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com...-travelers4996
* The America the Beautiful -- The National Parks and Public Lands Pass. This is a gift that keeps on giving, 12 months of the year. With it you can get into every single unit of the National Park System without paying an entrance fee. It also grants the holder fee-free access to other public lands that charge entrance fees. Actually, give an IOU to purchase this on January 1 and it gives 13 months, as these cards expire on the last day of the month punched, so those bought January 1, 2010, won't expire until January 31, 2011. Since most federal offices are closed on January 1, unless you're in a park that day you'll probably have to purchase this pass on-line.
* If you can't possibly figure out how to visit more than one or two parks in one year, consider giving an annual pass to just one or two parks. Most parks offer them, and some of these annual passes, such as the $50 pass for Yellowstone, gets you into Grand Teton as well for as many visits as you can squeeze into an entire year. Since you usually have to visit the park of your choice to purchase these annual passes, you can toss in a trip to that park as part of your gift!
* Join the National Park Foundation. This is the charitable arm of the National Park Service. It raises dollars to invest back into the parks in the form of interpretive programs, improvement projects, education and more. This is a feel-good gift, as your contribution will help further the National Park System.
* Give a book. There are plenty to choose from that have a national park angle, whether it's a coffee-table photo book or a book about the history of the National Park System. Some possibilities include:
more at :
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com...-travelers4996
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