Saturday, July 25, 2015

National Park Passport

I heard about the National Park Passport book from Kimbopolo, one of the bloggers I follow. She described how the National Park Service developed the guide and keepsake to help travelers discover and collect memories of the wonderful treasures that exist throughout our beautiful country. I knew I wanted to get a book and begin collecting stamps from the parks, monuments, memorials, forests and recreation areas that I visit in my RV. So I ordered one online.


On my recent cruise to Alaska, I realized I had forgotten to pack my NP passport book. We visited Mendenhall Glacier, a federal recreation area which sits in the Tongass National Forest. As I listened to a ranger talk at the visitor's center, I was very disappointed not to be able to collect my first stamp.

A few days later, we visited Denali National Park, and again I was lamenting not having my passport book with me. So I went into the visitor's center to buy a new one. They told me they were out of books, but that I could get a stamp at the main desk and put it in my book. I walked over to find people stamping small pieces of paper, so I did the same. As I pushed the stamp down on that scrap, I said to the ranger, "I forgot my passport book," and she replied, "You're the only one who ever has." (wink!)

When I got home, I carefully cut around the stamp and glued it into the Pacific Northwest & Alaska Region page. My first stamp in my book, and it's from the king of all National Parks, magnificent Denali!

3 comments:

  1. Very cool book. Glad you were able to get a stamp. Could you write to someone in Alaska to get your Mendenhall Glacier stamp?

    I thought Yellowstone was the King of National Parks.

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    1. I doubt it, or else everyone would just write to the parks instead of visiting them for their stamps. It's okay. It wasn't a National Park, just a recreation site.

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    2. Btw, I guess some people would consider Yellowstone the king, but I love Denali and it is much more rare to go there. (This was actually my second trip.)

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