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Monica and Buddy McSwain: The Parks are a Symbol of Our Nation

We’ve created so many wonderful memories in our national parks. When she was about ten years old, we took our daughter, Megan, to Yellowstone. We had such a wonderful time that we planned a park trip every summer after that until Megan graduated from college.

Deborah Milkowski: Embracing Our Country’s Complexity

My love for the national parks was sparked in college when I moved from upstate New York to California. Being a young college student with a tight budget, hiking and camping with friends quickly became a favorite hobby.

Monica Kramer: The Healing Power of Parks

For as long as I live, I will always associate Crater Lake National Park with rebirth. You see, in 2017, I suffered a brain aneurism that required surgery. As you can imagine, that took me out of commission for a little while—but I was determined to recover in time for a trip to Crater Lake with my friends.

Mari Tustin: Always Finding a Trail

There’s nothing quite like opening up your tent flap at 2 a.m., 11,000 feet up in the Sierras to see the Milky Way in the summer night sky. Or standing near a remote waterfall and feeling its spray on your face.

Susan Fraker: “The Beauty Makes Us Better”

In the early 1960s, my family took two cross-country car trips with three kids, no air conditioning, and no seatbelts. On one trip, we visited the southern national parks, and on the other, the northern parks. I was a blasé teenager, but the parks made a big impression on me.

Russell James and Brenda Tanner

When I was a kid in Jacksonville, Florida, I was very active in Boy Scouts. We went on camping trips nearly every month, all across the state. My father also took me fishing and boating. We spent a lot of our time outside and I learned to love and respect nature.

Arnold Berke and Jake Pearce at the Grand Canyon

Arnold Berke and Jake Pearce: The Landmarks in the Landscape

For Arnold Berke and Jake Pearce, Grand Canyon National Park and Glacier National Park top their extensive list of favorite parks. “We spent considerable time at the Grand Canyon when Arnold was researching his book on Southwest architect Mary Coulter,” Jake says, “and it gave us the time to get to know the park very well.”

Jay Lindsey: Protecting the National Parks for Future Generations

I’ll never forget the first big road trip I took with a friend in college. We went camping at the Grand Canyon, which was incredible. But the moment I’ll always remember is when we were driving home through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. As we drove out of the dark and into the bright sunshine of Zion National Park, we could see the whole canyon down below us and the cliffs towering above . . . it left me awestruck.

Petta & Ron Khouw: A Love Affair with the Parks

Ron moved from Indonesia to the U.S. to go to school. When Ron was in college and his younger brother turned 16, they celebrated his brother’s new driver’s license by taking an 8,000-mile road trip. Over the course of three weeks, they visited a dozen national parks including Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, Grand Teton, Mount Rainier, and Rocky Mountain National Park. That memorable trip cemented Ron’s love for the parks of his adopted nation.

Kathi & Kim Miller: A Park Love Story

“We didn’t want a traditional wedding,” Kathi shared. “We wanted a very private ceremony. And that’s just what we got, in one of the parks we love.” They said their marriage vows under the trees on a beautiful spring day. It was just the two of them, their officiant, and the birds.

Louise Wiedermann: Great Smoky Mountain National Park

My partner, Wayne, and I visited the Grand Canyon National Park. On a beautiful fall evening with not a cloud in the sky, we visited the amphitheater on the South Rim. There are very few places where you can get a panoramic view of a true wonder of the world…it was so beautiful.

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