(My New Obsession)
How I Discovered the National Parks Passport Book
As I was standing in a national park visitor center looking over a table of National Park Passport Books??, stickers, and stamps and I wondered to myself what is all this crap?? It looked like a BIG DEAL, but every book was cellophane wrapped so I couldnt break in! Ughhh
Please raise your hand if you have also lived 41 years and have never discovered the National Park Passport 🙋🏻♀️
Jump Ahead…
- What to expect inside of your passport
- Reasons to pickup your passport today
- Where to Purchase
- Locate a National Park
- America the Beautiful Pass Series
- PRO TIP not to be missed
- Our Goals at each National Park
Therefore I turned to ask the park ranger for an open copy, and that’s when the sweetest mom and her adult daughter stepped around the bookshelf and offered their book for me to glance at. As the younger of the two handed me her notebook sized passport, I noticed it was in mint condition while also being filled with stickers, stamps, and little maps.
After we chatted a bit (my kids say I could talk to a wall) her mother then offered me her classic size passport to look over. It was obvious the memories that this tiny book held! They lived 3 hours north and this was just a little weekend trip for them.
Mother-daughter bonding time ☺️
These sweet ladies were visiting 3 national parks in the area and collecting 3 more cancellations in their book. Mom & Dad picked passports up for their girls when they were just little tiny things, fast forward 12 years later and they are still making memories. Love That!! 💜💜
It was hard for me not to think of my girls as I talked with the duo.
The oldest, with her perfect condition passport, such a first born trait… Perfectionist! She shared with me her younger sister currently doesn’t know where her book is, I really had to laugh out loud because that sounds just like my youngest. Apparently this wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last, but she was using it as her guide to travel all 50 States! What a great idea! Either way…
I. WAS. SOLD.
Did these ladies work for the visitors center because they deserved my commission?!
So the BIG question of the day is…Have you purchased your passport to your national parks yet??
As you can see I now own 3, well actually one notebook sized passport and I grabbed two classic sizes for my girls (14 & 11 years old)
I conveniently live minutes away from a National Park where i could snag up these gems 💎 but if you don’t have this luxury, no worries!! They are available online and even on Amazon (honestly what isn’t, am I right?!). Amazon is charging a bit much for these books,they are ~$9 at the park, but if you just can’t wait.
Inside National Parks Passport Book
A map showcasing our national parks across our great states 🇺🇸
Every green dot and space is a New Adventure 💜💜💜
You will see each book is broken down into regions, and then states within those regions, which contain a checklist of each cancellation waiting to be collected by YOU!
The following pages contain a spot for each National Park with a place for your dated cancellation and a commemorative stamp. If the space is blank that means the sticker hasn’t been created yet (As seen in last pic of the gallery above). These date back as far as 1986! Needless to say I’m way behind 😅
As you can see from my gallery pics there are slight differences in the pocket vs the full size passport. The main differences are:
- The full-size has space for a checklist of areas where the pocket is more of a list condensed into a page.
- Full size has a space for each cancellation and sticker beside a description for the park. The pocket has pages for cancellations, fit 4-5 in a block, and spaces for stickers. Placed in any order on the pages.
4 Reasons to get a National Parks Passport today
- Memories with your loved ones ( or with yourself for my solo travelers 😉)
- New adventures…do you enjoy exploring new trails? Do you hike, bike, or enjoy getting out in the great outdoors? If not you’re surely missing out!
- Do you love history? Every park is a keyhole into our past. You will without a doubt learn something new with every visit.
- It’s a free souvenir!! And essentially a scrapbook. These books are highly customizable and unique to you. A ranger in my location shared with me that instead of the commemorative stamps she puts a family picture they took in front of the welcome signs. Yup! I’m stealing that and that’s just what we did.
Where to Begin…
1. Purchase your passport from the parks online store or another retailer.
- They come in a million different shapes, sizes, covers, waterproof, straps, etc. It seems never ending.
- Cost: roughly 9.99 for the pocket and 29.99 for the full size. This is the best ~$9 you will spend at the park. Prices vary by retailer.
2. Locate your National Park and Plan your trip.
- Y’allllll think Grand Canyon, the Washington monument, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse…
- Always, Always check your parks website. Most parks keep buisness hours and some even have fees so please check before you go to keep the disappointment to a minimum.
- If you plan on visiting multiple parks in the span of a year it may be worth purchasing an America the Beautiful Pass. I purchased one at my local park visitors office or you can purchase a pass online. The cost is $80 and we plan on using it for the Grand Canyon $35, Lake Mead $25, The Petrified Forest $25, Montezuma Castle $20, Glen Canyon Overlook $30 and possibly more all in one week. It’s good for one year so I have 51 weeks left for more adventures.
3. Cancellations
- A stamp collected is called a cancellation!
- Head to the cancellation station. Verify the stamp is on the correct date by testing the stamp on the scrap paper provided. STAMP AWAY! Congrats you’ve collected your first cancellation. LET YOUR NEW OBSESSION BEGIN!!
- Side Note: the visitor center is a great place to collect extra supplies for your passport if needed so make sure you look around.
4. Passport Stamp Series
- Collect your commemorative sticker if you haven’t purchased it yet, remember these date back to 1986!
- They have National, regional, and even extra cancellations and stamps you can collect.
- PRO TIP shared by the lovely ladies I met in the visitors center: If you’ve traveled to a location before purchasing your book you can send a self addressed stamped envelope and a sticker like this for your cancellation to the visitor center requesting the date stamp of your previous visit. (Yes, i will absolutely be doing this)
5. Last but not least Make sure you stop by the official sign for a picture.
Our Goals
Our “Musts” at each national park we visit.
- Get a picture with the official sign. I ordered this tripod/selfie stick (#commisionsearned) with a remote on Amazon. It saves me trying to balance it on a rock, which never ever works. Then I print wallets for our passports.
- Explore the Visitors Center. No two visitors centers are the same. A great place to grab a souvenir and learn a little history of the area.
- Snag a Unigrid. What’s that exactly? An official park brochure. Includes info on the park, including what to see and what to do.
- Collect park cancellation. Most cancellation areas are located in or around the visitors center.
- Choose Atleast one adventure at the park. This can include hiking, water sports, sightseeing, etc.
Thank you for sharing in my first blog post with me. I can barely wait to share my next post on how we got our first cancellations. YAY! I would love for you to share your favorite, must visit park with me in the comments so I can add them to my bucket list!
Until next time , keep adventuring 😁💜
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