4th grade pass

That's awesome greyhook!

Our youngest was in 4th grade last year and we took advantage of the program. We set out on a cross-country trip and managed to visit 10 National Parks. Was made even more special because it was the Centennial--lots of limited edition stuff. We bought our Centennial Edition Passport books and started our collection of stamps and cancellations.

I was about to get a regular pass for our first family RV trip this summer and saw the link for the 4th grade pass. Not sure how they validate it at the parks but I like the idea. Gets folks out and we had our daughter write a short paper on each of the national parks we will see this summer. I got her a 105 on her social studies test since that is what they were studying at the time (yes she got the extra credit questions for identifying more places on the map than required).

I wrote a thank you note to the Head of the National Parks for implementing this program.:b

Definetly a great thing getting the kids outdoors in to our national parks. You will be surprised how many kids don't get out much.

If it gets the kids outside, gets them interested in preserving our parks, I'll happily subsidize the initiative.

Enjoy your pass!
Pick someplace cool. :)

When we were travelling through Alaska and parts of the Lower 48 last year, we were told about this at some of the National Parks and Forests as we traveled. We thought it was a brilliant idea. A great age to get them involved with nature and the outdoors. They have enough reasoning power to convince mom and dad to visit and then keep coming back. And when younger sibling gets the pass in a couple years, the whole family is onboard. So a few tax dollars spent now leads to a lifetime of visiting ALL the wonders of the National Parks and the fees that generates.

I would rather see my tax dollars go to free passes to parks than buy cell phones, etc, etc, etc..

Absolutely. If we don't teach our children a love and a respect for the outdoors at an early age then we can kiss our natural future good-bye. I'll gladly hand over a few extra dollars for that.