Put a Pin in it!

Tara and I with the most recent update on the Big Map. Tara's pointing to Big Bend. Park No. 36 on our quest to visit all of our national parks.

How do you mark your travels? 

When we visited our first National Park after we got married (Badlands NP), Tara suggested that we get a National Parks "passport" and start getting stamps at places we visit. It sounded lame to me, and it cost money, so it seemed unnecessary and I told Tara no. After visiting a few more Parks, Tara had a great idea. We would get a big map of the United States, and then place a decorative/lapel pin from each National Park we visited. Of course, we could attach the pin to the location of the Park on the map. Ironically (and of course, fitting) this endeavor has been much more expensive than the Passports would have been. 😊 But, I'm glad we did it, the pins are much more cool than the Passport stamps.

It's been kind of frustrating to get these pins. Sometimes, the Visitor Center Gift Shop doesn't have them, or they'll have a pin but it doesn't really look like any of the other pins we have from other Parks. There's no uniform series (which is something I would like). So, I like some pins more than others. But, it has been exciting for Tara and I to collect the pins and put them on our map, hoping to collect all 60 (yes, that's right, there are 60 National Parks now!) on our map.

Here is our newest pin:

 Rio Grande rolling through the canyons of Big Bend.

Love the unique shape of Mammoth Cave pin. It incorporates a stalagmite and a stalactite to take on a very cave-like look. Great Smoky Mountain pin perfectly captures what the smoky blue mountains look like. The Congaree pin shows a very common scene while walking along the boardwalk through the Park.

Acadia pin shows Otter Point.

Pins of the Washington parks: (1) Rainier (2) Olympic and (3) North Cascades

The California Pins (we have so far): Love the Yosemite one

(1) Yosemite (2) Kings Canyon (3) Sequoia and (4) Death Valley

Glacier NP is very unique from the other ones we have.

Our other pins:

Utah parks and Mesa Verde (we didn't get a close up picture of Zion pin once we got it. Oops.

Rocky Mountain Pin highlights Trail Ridge Road

Never been happy with this Crater Lake pin, probably going to get a new one next time we visit.

I must admit, even though I have zoomed in as close as I can. Other than the cabin on the right, I cannot tell what is on this pin! 😊

Arizona's pins are rockin' it! 😊

Our Nation's National Parks...majestic mountains, vast deserts, never-ending forests, magnificent rivers and streams, impossibly colossal canyons and...bathtubs?! 😊

We look forward to collecting all 60 pins. There's also other collectible things and vintage posters of our National Parks that might be subject of a future blog post. One of the joys of traveling is checking things off a list, and I think we have come up a super fun and creative way to check off that list! But yeah, I still regret not getting the goofy National Parks Passport thing. 😊