Did You Say Free?

Tomorrow starts National Park Week, a week to get out and visit a national park, for free! Sunday is the day to celebrate Easter, and it's also a perfect time to simply get outdoors and take advantage of the more than 17,000 miles of trails in national parks and another 15,600 miles of national recreation trails. God's creation is made for us to enjoy!

Did you know there are more miles of trails in the national trails system than miles of road in the interstate highway system? Search here for events going on this week at national parks.

Next Saturday is also National Junior Ranger Day for young visitors to "explore, learn, protect" and be sworn in as junior rangers. We have visited a few national parks in our time and there are always programs going on for Junior Rangers. There’s even a site for Web Rangers.

Tuesday, April 22, is Earth Day, so if you want to roll up your sleeves and pitch in with a project, look for a park where you can help out. There are more than 400 national parks and even more ways that you can help. The National Park Foundation is the official charity of America's national parks.

You can also support the National Park Foundation by seeing the new movie "Bears" April 18-24. If you do, Disneynature will make a contribution to the National Park Foundation for conservation efforts in our national parks focused on wildlife protection, habitat restoration, and conservation research and education. The movie is the story of a year in the life of two young cubs and their family in Alaska in several national parks.

I don’t know about you but it’s rainy where I am today, but it’s supposed to be beautiful tomorrow. After being cooped up at home for most of the day today, it would be great to get out and see a national park tomorrow.

Happy Easter, Earth Day, National Parks Week, and God Bless!