healthykids
Exploring America’s National Treasures by S. Alison Chabonais
PARK IT HERE T
he Kent family, of Amherst, New Hampshire, has faced many “Can I really do this?” moments while adventuring in America’s national parks. So far they’ve visited 57, and with Pinnacles just named a full park in January, they’ll likely be headed for California again. American Somoa, in the South Pacific, potentially the last and most remote destination of their 11-year odyssey, is under serious consideration. Along the way, father Scott, mother Lisa and (now) 18-year-old Tanner and 16-year-old Peyton each grew increas- ingly self-confident in testing their skills at everything from spelunking, subtropi- cal snorkeling and paragliding to ice trekking and kayaking subarctic waters. “If they offered it, we tried it,” says Lisa. “Our family regularly debates our favorite memories.”
While they hiked and explored natural rock formations at every op-
38 Hudson County
NAHudson.com
portunity—including New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns, Kentucky’s Mam- moth Cave, South Dakota’s Wind Cave and California’s Yosemite—the gals also liked to ride horses while the guys fly fished. “One of my favorite moments was when Tanner and I hiked a Colo- rado trail to a pristine lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, where he caught his first trout,” recalls Scott. “I never give the same answer as to the best experience or best park,” adds Tanner, citing Yellowstone, in Wyoming, and Wrangell-St. Elias, in Alaska, as particularly spectacular, partly for their distinctive wildlife. His favorite anec- dote? “When I was little, I stared down a barracuda in the Dry Tortugas, off the coast of South Florida, wildly pointing it out to Dad, who was calmly photo- graphing itty-bitty fish and never saw it.” “It’s so cool to get close to a big animal,” says Peyton, recalling when
she and Mom were sea kayaking Alaska’s Glacier Bay near a humpback whale. “I thought we were going to end up in the whale’s mouth,” she laughs. The family agrees that their longest expedition—eight Alaskan parks in three weeks—was extraordinary. “We had to fly into the Arctic Circle on a float plane and walk the ice using crampons,” Pey- ton notes about their visit to the remote Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley, among America’s least-visited parks, in contrast to the most-visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park, straddling Tennessee and North Carolina. Whether witnessing Kodiak Island bears, Hawaiian volcanoes or Ever- glades’ alligators, their overarching mission was to visit every major park before Tanner embarked for college. The family’s National Park Service Passport already has 57 stamps secured during school holidays and summer vaca- tions, timed to prime park seasons and complemented by destination photos. “It’s easy to talk about the big moments, but you can have a memo- rable time in any park,” says Lisa, from appreciating the beauty of a boardwalk to boarding a ferry for an island picnic. “Getting back to basics has been really good for our family, part of the glue that binds us together.”
She says her growing children learned to be brave and patient, help fel- low travelers and be happy without cell phones. “We moved away from immedi- ate gratification to focusing on a greater good,” remarks Lisa. “We enjoy interact- ing and doing simple things together.”
S. Alison Chabonais is the national editor of Natural Awakenings.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52