Day 29 (D-32) America's Best Idea

Day 28 (D-32) America's Best Idea

But first, before our visit to Arches National Park, let's take a look at the entire picture.  Arches and Canyonlands are two of America's 58 national parks.

"America's National Parks: America's Best Idea" is an extraordinary documentary film for television made by Ken Burns. It was shown on PBS television (Public Broadcast System), 2-hour episodes for six days, September 27 to October 2, 2009.

You can watch the short introduction to this 12-hour documentary film here:

https://www.nps.gov/americasbestidea/

Be patient.  It takes a little time to download.   Choose "Secretary of the Interior" and there you click "Watch Now."  Click the arrow in the lower left-hand corner.  Look, listen and read. You can click on "pause" at any moment to have more time to read.   You can also click to have the video on a full screen by clicking the far right icon at the bottom.

Enjoy!  Interesting.  Beautiful.  And good English listening and reading comprehension!

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Twenty-nine states have national parks. (There are also national parks in the territories of American Samoa and the United States Virgin Islands.) 

California has the most national parks (nine), followed by Alaska (eight), Utah (five), and Colorado (four). 

The largest national park is Wrangell-St.Elias in Alaska.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parc_national_de_Wrangell–Saint-Élie 

At over 8 million acres (32,375 km2), it is larger than each of the nine smallest states. The next three largest parks are also in Alaska. Maybe we should plan a trip to Alaska one day!

The smallest park is Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri, at approximately 192.83 acres (0.7804 km²). 

The total area protected by national parks is approximately 52.2 million acres (211,000 km²), for an average of 870 thousand acres (3,500 km²) but a median of only 229 thousand acres (930 km²).

My best,
Jane

Source: Kris Wiktor / shutterstock

Grand Teton National Park 

Source: Sara Winter / shutterstock

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, Acadia National Park

Source: Ekaterina Pokrovsky / shutterstock

Bryce Canyon National Park 

Source: anthony heflin / shutterstock

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

So sorry, but these are parks we WON'T be visiting this time.

Which is the most popular of all the 59 parks? (58 or 59???) Look here: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/us-national-parks-popularity/