Stamp Collecting

I went on a solo day trip this weekend (the boys were with their dad) and made a discovery I'm anxious to share: the Passport To Your National Parks.

How did I not know about this?

The Passport program is not new.  It's been around since 1986 (the year before my family drove from California to Maryland--oh the stamps we could have collected!).

The idea? 

Step 1: buy a passport ($8.95 - available at your local national parks or online). Proceeds benefit the National Park Service.  

Step 2:  get out there and visit national parks!  Parks are listed by region in the passport.  Cancellation stations are typically located in the park's visitor center.

Not all of the 393 national parks participate in the program, but most do.  Some parks even have more than one stamp.  Example: Clara Barton National Historic Site in Glen Echo, Maryland.  There was a stamp for the site, a stamp commemorating the Passport program's 25th Anniversary and a stamp for the Clara Barton Parkway.

I wonder how long it will take the boys and I to collect all the Mid-Atlantic region stamps? Care to guess?