Affordable, Easy and Fun Family Vacations at our National Parks

Ever since the girls were little, we wanted to get them in nature as much as possible, but also have more of a context and memory than simply camping out and going on the river or lake (even though these relaxing, nothing to do, no agenda times are precious too). But we are definitely a goals-oriented and love to learn family, and National Parks are a happy balance between soaking in nature time and learning and accomplishing (beyond a hike or a multi-pitch climb, for instance, even though these are also fantastic ways of accomplishing).

That bridge between nature and learning? It's the Junior Ranger program — available at nearly all of the 400+ National Park Service sites. You not only have the well-tread National Parks, but National Historic Sites, National Battlefields, National Memorials, National Recreation Areas, National Riverways and Shores. The Junior Ranger Badges are a way to learn history, science, art, math, English, all in a book, American history and nature wrapped up in a bow. Then the kids present it to a National Park Ranger, who may discuss with them, teach them, ask questions and swear them in with a badge, presented with the oath of preserving and protecting our National Park System. And teaching others about what we learned at these National treasures. This teaches ethics, service, and gives a sense of purpose.

To me, there is truly no better affordable, easy, and meaningful family vacation that packs in nature, beauty, and learning. Instead of an overpriced tour, you are visiting a tax-payer funded magnificent, in many cases, visitor center, museum and park movie. So, yes, this multi-hour experience is free, but also we all collectively support it with our taxes. Instead of a paid excursion, you can take one of the many well-preserved trails and hikes, with many times signage and information. If you create an itinerary, to visit multiple parks in a week would lead to collecting books and badges, variations in hikes or caves or historical re-enactments and buildings. So it's also a variation in experience on every turn.

Now when our teenagers learn about history in the classroom, they can apply it to the real-world experience that they saw with their own eyes, and walked with their own feet, at Battlefields from the Revolutionary, French-Indian Wars, 1812, Civil War, Mexican-American, and current events - in fact, my younger daughter says that battlefields are her favorite national parks, and because of this they know that "Remember the Raisin" was the memorable cry to civil memory in the same way that "remember 9/11" is today. History doesn't fade away, it rhymes, and there is no better way to empower our children in the future to see this with their own imprinted memory of what came before.

We have become experts at making Junior Ranger Adventures affordable, almost I could say cheap, and easy. Yes, you do have to have a reliable adventure vehicle, and I will not claim that this is low-cost. It isn't, our van was bought as a shell in 2017 before prices exploded, we paid a super chill Argentinian van converter in Colorado a few months of my husband hustling hard working overtime, and did DIY and all the conversions and upgrades since 2018 ourselves. We load the fridge full of drinks, veggies, easy oven meals. We have a full tank of propane. Full tank of water. All our dog's necessities, an empty chemical toilet, all boxes checked and we are off. There are endless 'food deserts' in the USA, sadly, so we always make sure we are well-stocked. Our main cost then, with the van maintained, and loaded with food and water, is simply fuel. National Park entry - minimal cost, an Access Pass for the year. That's it. Depending on how local you stay (and you would be surprised how many National Parks are in your own backyard) you are, even with high fuel prices, paying pennies compared to airline tickets and hotel packages.

So to lodging - we used to spend a lot of nights at KOAs. They have become grossly overpriced since 2020. We prefer to boondock - and there are endless boondocking, or dispersed camping, sites all over the country. We have never not found one within 30 minutes of where we wanted to be or stop for the night. Leave no trace, cost: $0. We would stay at a KOA, or a State or National Park campground for a black or gray water dump, or showers. Grab a hotel if we are getting in past 10pm at night (or not, there have been nights we pull in at midnight and quietly set the beds up at a boondock site).

The key takeaway: endless flexibility. Make it what you want, eat out for dinners, or load enough you have a camp dinner each night. Visit a park a day, or take in the scenery and slow roll to a few parks in a week. Get a hotel every 3 days for a stretch and shower and hot coffee not van-made, or boondock (disperse camp) the entire time and make nightly lodging $0. You could do a week van trip for under $200, or make it $1000. The best part: the memories of the nature and history at each National Park system site, the discussions with the Rangers, the badges and the happy campers. All affordable, easy, fun and free.

And, nature is home. It is good to go home as much as possible.