national park service

10 Must Visit San Francisco National Parks

by

Do you love National Parks? Are you going to the Bay Area? Then find out 10 must visit San Francisco National Parks to put on your to do list!

During our recent visit to the San Francisco Bay Area, we unexpectedly found ourselves at a national park site that we didn’t even know existed. Researching this a bit more, I was surprised to learn there are 10 national parks near San Francisco. Considering how much we love the national parks and seek them out everywhere we go, you might find it surprising that we didn’t know about these parks. To our defense, there are over 400 sites in the US that the National Park Services manages, many of these being lesser known sites of historical significance.

While images of extraordinary natural landscapes of places like Yosemite and Yellowstone pop to mind when talking of the national parks, there are a great deal of wonderful sites located in busy populated urban areas. Many famous and well visited tourist sites are also classified under the park system (i.e. The National Mall in Washington DC), which most people don’t even realize.

For people visiting (or living!) in the San Francisco area, there are a great deal of parks that are easily accessible no matter where your trips takes you. As with all of the NPS locations throughout the country, these attractions provide an educational and fun adventure for kids and their parents, not to mention the awesome junior ranger badges!

Read more

Guide to a Mojave National Preserve Camping Trip

by

Thinking of a Mojave National Preserve camping trip? If you read our post on Exploring the Mojave Preserve, you might remember that the basic premise for this park is a place for self discovery, adventure and exploration. This extends to where you will stay as well. Given that there is no town anywhere nearby and the park itself does not provide any accommodation options, camping is essentially the only option if you wish to really explore the park rather than just driving through.

Researching for our first visit to Mojave felt daunting as there seemed to be little information or photos on where to stay. Therefore, I thought I would outline some of the possible options for camping in the Mojave National Preserve that we came across during our visit.

Read more

Exploring the Mojave National Preserve

by

Exploring the Mojave National PreserveIf you are like most people, you have heard of the Mojave Desert, but your association might be limited to images of barren landscapes dotted with military bases. The Mojave definitely represents some of this, but it also has so much more. The Mojave Desert is a massive area encompassing large portions of California, southern areas of Nevada as well as small sections of Utah and Arizona. It’s expansive area includes Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park and the Mojave National Preserve.

All these years in California I have heard about the Mojave Desert but didn’t really know what or where it was. I had vague inklings that it was out in the middle of nowhere on the way to Las Vegas, and that it pushed its way into portions of Joshua Tree National Park, but that was the extent of my knowledge.

On our recent trip to Death Valley, passing the Mojave National Preserve on the way home, our interest in the park was kindled. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop, but I promised my son I would get us back there soon. Less than a month later and there we were, checking off another national park (preserve) as well as finally checking out the JUCY mini-RV! 

Read more