National Treasures

National parks and memorials are always a part of road trips.  We learned early on in our marriage that these places along the road side are inexpensive and fun.  One thing we learned on this trip is that Michael's veteran status added more to our valued treasure...he can get a annual pass without cost because he served our country!  YAY!!!  We saved a lot of money thanks to this veteran perk!

Junior Ranger Pledge at Badlands Nat. Park

And thanks to our children we always enjoy learning about the different aspects of the parks we visit while they earn their Junior Ranger badges.  If you are a parent and have not taken advantage of this program...you are missing out on your children gaining information in a fun way!  We love this program and it is FREE!!!  Almost every national park and memorial have some kind of booklet and it greatly enhances the experience, including all the aspects of the park (historical, cultural, and natural).

I will try to keep these stories brief as not to bore you with all the details...here are a few of the highlights we enjoyed:

We endured the smelly sulfur smell that wreaked throughout the area just so we could get close to our first geyser.  This was in the Chickasaw National Park north of Ardmore, OK.  None of us have seen a geyser before so we were very excited at the thought.  We had no idea what was in store for us...are all geysers this smelly?  Let me just say that we did not stay long!  However, the idea of a geyser was still cool!

One of our most emotional stops was at the Oklahoma City Memorial.  We really thought we would only stay here a few minutes.  In fact, I only put enough quarters in the meter for thirty minutes.  Needless to say Michael had to race back to feed the parking meter so we could fully embraced this compelling site.  The park ranger had me in tears many times during his explanation of some of the components of this memorial.  For instance, the rectory across the street from the memorial was destroyed in the explosion.  In order to honor those lost in this devastating event, the Catholic church erected a large statue of Jesus weeping (John 11:35).  When we approached the statue, it was hard not to notice the many black pillars surrounding the statue.  When we asked the ranger, we were told there were many interpretations, but the one with the most impact is that the pillars number the number of children who died in the blast.  Jesus is walking away from the explosion into eternity and the children are following Him.  All I can say is that I had a hard time leaving this place.  There was so much meaning in its simplicity, and I encourage anyone who is within a day's drive take the time to go to this place where time seems to stand still.



I think the place we took the most pictures was in the Badlands National Park and Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.  These sites are somewhat connected and extraordinary landscapes.  Every turn in the road had us oohing and aahing...we also had to drag Amanda and Henry back into the van on many occasions. Amanda insisted she could hang out the window and take pictures!  I really thought I would be forced to tie a rope to her waist, but I convinced her that it would be too dangerous!

Mt. Rushmore National Monument was nice.  However, some might be surprised that this was not our favorite highlight of the trip.  It was magnificent in itself but it is actually quite small.  We spent time exploring some of the paths but only spent a couple of hours at this site.  Although the monument is a true art form, the best part of this stop was seeing our first (and only) mountain goat and Henry became a professional photographer (He was paid for his first photo!).

My mother (who joined us for this leg of the trip) told us that when she was young there was only a picnic table at the bottom of the mountain side and most people would only snap a picture as they drove past.

As we entered into Nebraska, my mother talked us through the important spots that she knew growing up.  Not only did we hear the history of the area but also some of her childhood stories.  We made stops along the way at Agate Fossil Beds National Park, Scott's Bluff National Park, and Chimney Rock National Monument.  We were a little upset to find out we walked a two-mile trail at the fossil beds to find out it was just an empty hole.  However, the view at the top of Scott's Bluff was beautiful.  Henry took many pictures at the top of the bluff.

My Mom helping with the Junior Ranger booklet at Agate Fossil Beds

The most disappointing national park was Capulin Volcano (in New Mexico), but not because of the park.  We left early in the day to try to make it to this site.  We knew we would need to arrive by a certain time to be able to make the drive to the top of the rim.  However, rain storms and auto accidents ate away at our time on the road and we arrived just as the rangers were closing the gates.  No amount of begging could convince hi to keep the park open for us.  We could hardly blame him, as he was just doing his job.  To add to this disappointment, I had told the boys that there was a fossil bed discovered by the construction crew and it was available for us to walk through the fossils.  The older children and I had done this 14 years ago.  However, when we walked the trails, we discovered that the fossils had been removed.  We will need to do some research to find the missing fossils.  The only option...plan another road trip.

Some of the more historical spots along the way included Fort Scott (Kansas), National Pony Express Memorial (St Joseph, MO with a private museum close by), and the Minuteman Missile National Site (South Dakota).  We did not spend a lot of time in these places but hope to learn more about them over the summer months.  We also drove through many national forests, trails and grasslands.

We loved the experience.  These parks alone would be enough for a two week vacation, but as you all know, the Reynolds family never does things that way.  There is more to tell, so continue reading over the next few days for more of the other stuff!