The Great Outdoors

Welcome to Dirt Cheap Travels!
Have fun doing things like getting up close and personal with elk in Great Smoky Mountains National Park--not that we recommend getting this close!

We've been to many, many national and state parks and forests. We have fond memories of young children (not so much fond memories of the teens) poking each other on cross-country van trips.But it built character, right, guys? 


When you're outdoors, there's always new stuff to discover beyond whatever you read or whatever you expected. Be a kid! Watch wildlife. Smell flowers. Pick up bugs. Pick wild blueberries. (Oops--sorry--that could get you in trouble. But after hiking to tops of mountains in Acadia National Park in Maine, we felt we deserved a teeny-weeny taste.)

If you love being outdoors, keep reading.

Because each year the National Park Service has admission-free weeks and days. 

Next up: Saturday, Sept., 25, which is also National Public Lands Day.

There are more than 300 parks, landmarks and monuments in the park system, and you could save big. Park admission fees range from a few dollars to as much as $25 (good for a week, though). You can see Yosemite or Yellowstone or any of this country's spectacular places for that!

Volunteers help keep federal lands clean, accessible and downright interesting. But many visitors don't know that. Besides professional parks rangers who do jobs as varied as leading wildlife tours and checking metal bear-lockers at campgrounds, volunteers staff  information centers, lead nature programs, serve as campground hosts, and make and post trail signs--among other things. 

We're going to introduce you to some of them. Stay tuned.