![\"Arches](\"images\/stories\/arches.jpg\")
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The National Park Service and the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America\u2019s national parks, invite people everywhere to enjoy, explore, learn, share, and give back to America\u2019s nearly 400 national parks during National Park Week 2012.\u00a0Celebrating the theme, \u201cPicture Yourself in a National Park,\u201d National Park Week will run from Saturday, April 21 through Sunday, April 29. Throughout the country, visitors can enjoy the beauty and wonder of 84 million acres of the world\u2019s most spectacular scenery, historic places and cultural treasures for FREE!<\/p>\n
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\u201cAmerica\u2019s national parks have something for everyone,\u201d said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. \u201cTake a break and experience something new, enjoy some fresh air, get some exercise, and see where history happened. And, since admission is free to all 397 parks, all week long, National Park Week is a great time to get up, get out, and explore a park.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our annual celebration of America\u2019s best idea \u2013 our national parks,\u201d said Neil Mulholland, President and CEO of the National Park Foundation. \u201cWe are proud to stand with our partners at the National Park Service and encourage people everywhere to enjoy, learn from and support our nation\u2019s greatest treasures.\u201d<\/p>\n If you haven’t had the chance to visit a National Park lately or you go all the time, today is the day to start preparing. It is only a couple weeks away, but there is probably a park near you that you can visit. So head over to\u00a0www.nationalparkweek.org<\/a> and start planning your trip. You will not be sorry that you did. We would also love to know where you are planning on going, so leave us a comment or ask for suggestions and we would love to share some of our ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The National Park Service and the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America\u2019s national parks, invite people<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9009],"tags":[9541,9543,9542],"class_list":["post-4434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news","tag-national-park-week","tag-national-park-week-2012","tag-national-parks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"redwoods\"](\"images\/stories\/redwoods.jpg\")
National parks will mark the annual celebration with special events and activities including Volunteer Day on April 21, Earth Day on April 22, and Junior Ranger Day on April 28. From ranger-led hikes and kayak trips to camping and exploring, park visitors can plan their National Park Week at www.nationalparkweek.org<\/a>. Discover information about events, special activities for visitors of all ages, how to share your park adventure with other travelers, and how to support the parks.<\/p>\n