The National Park system is the best vacation value in the country

The National Park Service provides tremendous value for US travelers.?If you?re planning a family summer vacation,?keep our national parks and national forests in mind.

By Trent Hamm,?Guest blogger / July 14, 2013

Stone formations are seen in the Mammoth Dome area of Mammoth Cave during a tour in Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky. Hamm recommends the National Park Service for finding affordable, enriching experiences during US travel.

Ed Reinke/AP/File

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Over the past two weeks, Sarah and I combined a tenth anniversary getaway for the two of us along with a family vacation for ourselves, our children, and Sarah?s parents and youngest sister. This meant almost two full weeks of traveling.

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The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.

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Along the way, I kept taking notes on the inexpensive and free stuff I discovered along the way, but when I came home and actually evaluated the list, one giant theme kept coming through.

The National Park Service (and, similarly, the U.S. Forest Service) provide tremendous value for the traveler within the United States.

My list of ?frugal tips? from our travels of the past two weeks was simply loaded with references to these two services, particularly the National Park Service. If you?re going anywhere, look into what these two services have to offer in the area to which you?re traveling.

Here are some specific highlights from our recent travels.

In Boston,?the Freedom Trail was an amazing day-long highlight. Most of?historic Boston?is maintained by the Park Service, the highlight of which is the Freedom Trail, which is a clearly marked route about three miles in length through Boston and Charlestown, which takes you by dozens of different landmarks relevant to the start of the American Revolution.

Not only did they provide us with free maps along the way, they also provided a?free Android/iOS app?that provided a step-by-step guide to the trail. In addition, there were guided tours of the trail led by NPS employees and several regular talks at various points along the trail. We toured the?USS Constitution (?Old Ironsides?)?for free with a tour guide as part of this day-long excursion, as well as the wonderful Bunker Hill Monument which provided a great view of the city.

In Salem,?the Park Service provided a free guided tour of the harbor along with the Customs House.?This was a roughly hour-long tour that highlighted the history of maritime trade in New England as well as highlighting the Customs House where Nathaniel Hawthore worked while writing?The Scarlet Letter. If you miss the tour guide, the Park Service offers a?free downloadable audio tour of the area.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/PUBOuoOOVi0/The-National-Park-system-is-the-best-vacation-value-in-the-country

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