A blog is born... — Rings in a Pond

During the 2016-2017 school year, our twins, Madison and Ella, were in the fourth grade. We quickly jumped at the opportunity to snag Every Kid in a Park passes. These passes entitle fourth graders free entry to National Parks throughout their fourth grade year and the summer following. Just like that, a travel plan was born. By March 2017 we had purchased a teardrop trailer, put a roof top tent on top and mapped out two trips:

Spring Break: Death Valley NP

Summer Vacation: Dinosaur NM, Grand Teton NP, Yellowstone NP

Death Valley was dry, beautiful, and provided perfect weather for a spring time escape (read about our trip here). Our two-week road trip through six states and three parks was fraught with a few bumps (colds, lack of bear boxes, July 4th crowds) but lots of great memories as well. So many memories in fact that I was left wondering how we could keep the National Parks party train going. As I wondered at fossils in Dinosaur, snow-capped peaks in Grand Teton, and geysers galore in Yellowstone, a plan started brewing. How many National Parks were there in total? What if we tried to hit them all? In a Yellowstone gift shop I stumbled upon a package of postcards--fifty nine postcards in total, each sporting a classic print image (my favorite), by Joel Anderson, of one of our nation's National Parks. Just like that, the idea solidified.

Our son, Henry, is one week from turning four years old. That gives us roughly fourteen years (which will likely feel like the blink of an eye) before he graduates from high school. The goal is to hit all fifty nine National Parks before this date. Here are the rules:

1. The journey starts in 2017--no fair tracking backwards to parks we have been to in the past. Which means Yosemite and the Grand Canyon are back on the list even though we were there a little over a year ago. Darn.

2. We go together. Meyer family, party of five (although some plus ones may come into play later).

3. Once we go, we fill out the back of the postcard for that park, providing details on our trip.

That's it! In deciding on a way to chronicle a decade-plus journey, a blog seemed like a good idea. So, here we are. We have three parks checked off so far and plan to visit two more next month. You can join us in our trials and tribulations as we go! I promise pictures (not all of which will be selfies of me), what I hope is helpful information, and a few laughs about the antics we will undoubtedly encounter. I will likely write about other trips that we take in addition to our National Park excursions and maybe a few everyday posts as well. We will see where the road takes us, both literally and figuratively.