Vacations and day trips are fun and at the same time these trips can be educational.  Preparing for and visiting a park offers the family opportunities to learn subjects like geography (visiting new places), history by visiting parks like the Statue of Liberty and math (think preparing a trip budget y measuring the distance to the park).  Not only that, but park visitors could learn new skills like how to paddle a kayak or canoe, how to identify the planets in the sky or how to fish.

Below are a few links that show the connection between parks and education. If you want to learn more about your own state’s standards, look up your state education agency on the web.

The state of Massachusetts

Science in the state of Massachusetts Grades 3-5

The lifecycle and more  http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/scitech/1006.pdf

All of Massachusetts standards http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html

Texas

All of Texas’ standards

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=6148&menu_id=720&menu_id2=785

The lifecycle is on page 23 of this informational website by Texas Parks and Wildlife

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_p4503_0131n.pdf

Photo is courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife

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Entering a Park

Entering a park could occur at a ranger station, or, in the case of a national forest location you will see the welcome sign like the one in the following photo.

After passing the entrance sign you may come across this national forest service sign which is an information board telling you about the campground.

If the above photo is also a pay station, then where do you pay? You pay here at the drop box which in this case is a hollow metal post. Remember, if you did not make a reservation ahead of time, you will need to have the exact amount of cash to pay for your campsite. You will put this cash in an envelope and insert it into the drop box. Also, there is no one available to make change or take credit cards at most national forest campgrounds. Plan ahead!

Which Way to Go?

The following two photos show signs that help you find your way in the park.

Campground Area

When you get to the campsite area the first sign you are likely to see is for the campground host. The campground host is the person or couple that lives in their recreational vehicle or RV right there in the park. Their main jobs are to make sure that campers have paid for their campsite, to call authorities when a camper needs help and to answer basic questions about the park.

The next signs you will see are numbered posts or boards. These are the campsites. If you made a camping reservation, your campsite will be reserved for you as seen in this photo.

If you did not make a reservation, your job will be to drive through the campground and select the site where you want to stay. Remember, not to choose a campsite that is already reserved for that night. At this point, you will drive back to the information board or ranger station and pay for your site by either placing money into a payment box or giving money to a park employee. To assist you in finding a camping spot in some of the big parks, occupancy signs have been erected to help make your search faster.

A Typical Campsite

Most campsites in developed campgrounds have tent pads. This is the place where you set up your tent for the night. The purpose of the tent pad is to contain the people’s camping impact to one area thus preventing the grass from dying and then the soil washing away during the next rain.

Near but not too close to the tent pad is the fire ring. This is where you will build a campfire should that be in your plans.

Also at your campsite will be a picnic table.  Most but not all are bolted to a cement pad or the ground so they don’t get moved all over the campground.  If you are going be eating in a large group, you might consider bringing a folding table and chairs if more than eight people will be eating together.

In places where bears live, the parks typically provide a bear box where you are to store your food. Use this box or you will be setting the bears up to be shot because you contributed to them becoming a problem. When a bear box is available, do not store your food in the car because bears have a great sense of smell and will break into your car for a yummy treat. This photograph is courtesy of the National Park Service.

Bathrooms, Showers and Drinking Water

If you pay a fee to enter a park, it will most likely have some type of bathroom. In a national forest, the bathroom is usually a pit toilet as seen in the first picture. I recommend bringing your own toilet paper because sometimes the person before you took all of the toilet paper with them, and, if you are using it at night you will need to bring your own source of light.

In this photo, you see a bathroom that is more typical of a national or state park. Here you will usually have running water and electricity so you can see what you are doing. At night you will still want to bring a light source so you can navigate your way back to your campsite.

Many state campgrounds and some national parks offer showers at their bathroom facilities which is nice if you are going to be on the road for several days.

Next to many campsites or near most bathrooms is the water station. This is where you come to fill up your water jug for cooking and drinking. Notice in the following photo that you should not clean your dishes or fish in this area because it attracts animals and insects. This is a shared water source. Respect the other campers.

Safety Signs

In many parks, there are few if any physical barriers such as railings or walls that separate you from an attraction such as a waterfall, geyser field or canyon cliff. Instead, the parks post signs warning you of specific dangers. This helps make your experience safer, look less city like and help preserve the park in its natural state. Please obey these signs. Many people have been hurt or lost their lives because they thought the signs did not apply to them because they thought they had special accident avoiding powers.

Trail Signs

Most trails have signs indicating what direction to go and the distance you have to walk to reach your destination. In areas where erecting a sign would damage the landscape or if there is no good way to erect a sign then a pile of rocks also called a cairn is used to indicate the trail.

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Free entrance days in some United States National Parks http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm

National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/index.htm

National Forest Service Main Page http://www.fs.fed.us/

National Forest Service Map of Park Locations http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5274609.html

National Forest Service Free Days http://www.fs.fed.us/news/2011/releases/05/waiver.shtml

Bureau of Land Management BLM http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/Recreation.html

Army Corps of Engineers (Lakes) http://corpslakes.usace.army.mil/visitors/visitors.cfm

State Parks

Some state parks are free to visit for the day all year around and those states are Pennsylvania, Missouri, Montana (if you have Montana license plates), Ohio and Tennessee.

Alabama http://www.alapark.com/

Alaska http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/

Arizona http://azstateparks.com/index.html

Arkansas http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/

California http://www.parks.ca.gov/

Colorado http://www.parks.state.co.us/Pages/HomePage.aspx

Connecticut http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a=2716&q=325086&depNav_GID=1650

Delaware http://www.destateparks.com/

Florida http://www.floridastateparks.org/

Georgia http://www.gastateparks.org/

Hawaii http://www.hawaiistateparks.org/

Idaho http://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/

Illinois http://www.dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/parks/

Indiana http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/

Iowa http://www.exploreiowaparks.com/

Kansas http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/state_parks

Kentucky http://parks.ky.gov/

Louisiana http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/iparkmap.aspx

Maine http://www.maine.gov/doc/parks/programs/index.html

Maryland http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/

Massachusetts http://www.mass.gov/dcr/forparks.htm

Michigan http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10365—,00.html

Minnesota http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/index.html

Mississippi http://mississippistateparks.reserveamerica.com/

Missouri http://mostateparks.com/

Montana http://fwp.mt.gov/parks/

Nebraska http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/parks.asp

Nevada http://parks.nv.gov/

New Hampshire http://www.nhstateparks.org/

New Jersey http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/

New Mexico http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/prd/

New York http://nysparks.state.ny.us/

North Carolina http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/main.php

North Dakota http://www.parkrec.nd.gov/

Ohio http://www.ohiodnr.com/Default.aspx?alias=www.ohiodnr.com/PARKS

Oklahoma http://www.oklahomaparks.com/

Oregon http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/index.shtml

Pennsylvania http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/

Rhode Island http://www.riparks.com/

South Carolina http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/

South Dakota http://gfp.sd.gov/state-parks/

Tennessee http://www.tn.gov/environment/parks/findapark/

Texas http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/

Utah http://stateparks.utah.gov/

Vermont http://www.vtstateparks.com/

Virginia http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/

Washington http://www.parks.wa.gov/

West Virginia http://www.wvstateparks.com/

Wisconsin http://dnr.wi.gov/Org/land/parks/

Wyoming http://wyoparks.state.wy.us/

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Find a park HERE and read 44 Ideas for Getting Your Kids Outdoors HERE.

Photo is courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife

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1. Take swimming lessons at a local pool or park district lake.

2. Go on an early morning hike.

3. Visit a local cave or cavern where the temperatures are usually cooler

4. Take a trip to a spring fed swimming hole

5. Go up into the mountains for a picnic, day hike or overnight stay where the temperatures will be 10-20 degress cooler

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There are many options for recreation when visiting a park. Choose what you like to do and then find a park that offers those activities. Activities could include hiking, camping, swimming, mountain biking, rock climbing, fishing, birding, picnicking, geocaching, horseback riding, sightseeing and canoeing or kayaking.

In addition to the above activities, you can bring frisbees, a deck of cards to play at a picnic table, board games, a soccer ball if there is an open mowed area, a book or your e-reader if you have been wanting to read or a baseball or football for playing catch. Have fun and relax, you are on vacation!

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Planning a Camping Trip

Where to Go

In the United States of America there are private and public areas for camping.

Private Areas

The most well known private areas are KOA or Kampgrounds of America. These campgrounds are located outside of parks and offer showers, washers and dryers, electricity, campsites where you can set your tent or trailer and sometimes a small store. http://koa.com/

Public Areas

The areas most used by the public are the government campgrounds. These campgrounds can be divided into “City Parks”, “County Parks”, “State Parks” and “Federal Parks”. The “State Parks” and the “Federal Parks” campgrounds are typically used the most.

State Parks

State parks are administered by the state in which they are located. These parks generally provide numbered campsites for setting up a tent or parking a trailer or RV, bathrooms, showers, trails, fire-rings, picnic tables, drinking water pumps and campsites with or without electricity. Sometimes state parks also have concession stands that sell ice, snacks and firewood.

During the summer, many of these parks offer free presentations led by park rangers. These presentations can cover a wide range of topics including animals, plants, stars, park history and more. Link to state parks here (an internal link to a list of links)

Costs

The cost of admission varies from one state to another and sometimes from one park to another. The cost of admission is for the use of the state park facilities for the day. If you want to camp in the park, you need to pay an additional fee.

Saving money

One possible way to save money is to buy an annual pass. This pass allows unlimited use of the state park for day use. If you are going to be visiting the states parks on a regular basis, this pass will save you money.

Federal Parks and Lands

Federal Parks can be divided into the following four types: National Parks, National Forest, Bureau of Land Management also called the BLM and the Army Corps of Engineers Lakes.

National Parks

The National Parks are the most well known parks in the United States because they include such parks as Yellowstone in Wyoming, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Yosemite in California, Everglades in Florida and Acadia in Maine, but there are many other parks to choose from.

The purpose of these parks is to protect national treasures in the areas of biodiversity, archeology and national history.

The majority of these parks offer numbered campsites for setting up a tent or parking a trailer, public bathrooms, picnic tables, fire-rings, drinking water pumps, free educational programs, hiking trails, a map of the trails and a gift shop. As a side note, showers are not always available, especially in the western United States due to a lack of water.

Costs

If you want to use the National Park for day, you need to pay at the park entrance for this type of use. The fee you pay for the day will grant you and the people in your personal vehichle admission to the park for seven days. Like the state parks, if you want to camp in the park there is an additional fee for each night you want to camp.

If the entrance fee for using a park stretches your budget a little too far check out these dates for free admission to certain parks in 2012.  http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm

If you are going on a long trip and visiting several National Parks it may be worth buying an annual pass for $80. Here is the federal governments description of the pass.

NATIONAL PASSES: America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass Program

Beginning in January 2007, the National Park Service will join the USDA Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Reclamation in the new Interagency Pass Program. This program provides pass holders access into any federal recreation site—including Acadia—that charges an entrance or standard amenity fee; some passes also offer discounts on other fees, such as camping. Each pass admits the pass holder and passengers in a non-commercial vehicle at per vehicle fee areas and pass holder plus three adults, not to exceed four adults, at per person fee areas. (Children under 16 are admitted free.)

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Parks like the Statue of Liberty in New York City help preserve and share our history, rural parks like Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon National Park connect us to the awe inspiring beauty of the natural landscape in addition to reminding us that clean air still exists and that clean water is collected in rural spaces before arriving in cities.
So where are your parks? They are in all 50 states, several U.S. territories and all around the world. Many parks are located close enough to cities so they can be visited in a day, and other parks are far enough away to give birth to an adventuresome road trip. Please, click here and connect yourself to the wide variety of parks available for your pleasure, and remember that these treasures are yours.

Statue of Liberty photo courtesy of the National Park Service

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