Origins of my National Park LOVE

In celebration of officially visiting 75+ National Park Units, I am sharing photos of my first visits. My quest to visit all of the NPS units has also started another journey through all of my life’s photos to find my photographic evidence. This turned into a massive photo project and I made stacks for all of my siblings too. Since we now live in a digital world, I am thankful that I was gifted all of our family photos by my parents, so I can share them all of these years later.

My first park visit was to the City of Refuge National Historical Park, now known as Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, on my parents honeymoon in 1976. I was six years old and was fascinated by the park.

“The 420 acre (1.7 km2) site was originally established in 1955 as City of Refuge National Historical Park and was renamed on November 10, 1978. In 2000 the name was changed by the Hawaiian National Park Language Correction Act of 2000 observing the Hawaiian spelling.It includes the puʻuhonua and a complex of archeological sites including: temple platforms, royal fishponds, sledding tracks, and some coastal village sites. The Hale o Keawe temple and several thatched structures have been reconstructed.”

My second park was to the iconic Yellowstone National Park on a roadtrip with all of my siblings and a few cousins with my Uncle Mike. I was in awe of all of the wildlife we saw and of the smell of sulfur throughout the park. Old Faithfull was blowing and it was like walking on another planet with its unworldly bursts. “The iconic image of Yellowstone is an expansive spring with rainbow-like colors radiating from its center, dominated by a fiery orange hue at its edges.”

Then it was off to Grand Tetons National Park where the mountain range was magnificent. I’ve visited Grand Tetons park three times and each time, I am amazed by its beauty.