Collecting National Park cancellation stamps

Around New Years this year I started travelling to National Parks on day trips. The kids started getting into the fun of travel and collecting the cancellation stamps for each park. That is part of the reason we planned this trip. So the photos in this blog show all of the stamps collected to date. Once you find the park, you have the challenge of finding the different stamps that may be present. 

Gateway Arch, Jefferson Expansion National Monument

This was a return trip for me, I last visited this location when I was in high school headed to a National FFA convention. It was great to come back and see it again with my kids. The kids completed the park Jr Ranger program and we all road the tram to the top for a nice view of St. louis. 

This final photo was taken from inside the top of the Arch in the observation platform at 630 feet. 

Little Ranger

I think Mia is enjoying the trip. 

Crossing the Iowa State Line

We have made it safe and sound through another state. 

Harry Truman National Historic Site

We did not have time to make it to The Jefferson Expansion National Memorial, so after we finished at the Truman site we drove on and parked in Columbia, MO. The Truman site was pretty neat but like the Carter site is kind of a bore, the intent is to give you a inside perspective of the community that the former president gree up and lived in, but like all areas time has changed this community. It was interedting to read some of his diary comments about his time in the Whitehouse and his nickname for it being "the white prison". It was also nice that after the presidency he returned to his prior civilian life.

 

The Trek Home

Just crossed into Missouri, plans are to visit the Harry S. Truman NHS and the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial aka the St. Louis Arch. 

Caves, desert, and lots of miles.

We started our day off on 5-28 visiting Jewel Cave National Monument. This is another nice cave system (160 miles long and still being mapped) that was set aside by Teddy Roosevelt. Worth a trip to see and like the other National Park caves sytems it is not backlit by tacky colored floodlights like you see in commercial caves. 

 

We then moved on to the Minuteman Missle National Historic Site. How often do you get to peer into and examine a ICBM and its siloh?  Unfortunately the command center tours do not start until June 16 so we could not go underground. Still very neet to see. 

The Minuteman site borders the Badlands which was our next visit and man did it live up to its name. We stopped at Badlands National Park, but I am not posting any photos, if you want to see it take the trip. 

We stopped for the night in Salem, SD at what had to be the cleanest, and lushest RV park we have ever seen. After a week and a half in desert and semi arid environmenta it was a welcome change to have soft green grass and shade from elm trees.