I sure hope we’ve been living well. It sure seems like we have. We’ve done so much in the past year that it’s a bit hard to know where to start. Last we left off we were maybe a few days into our two week trip through the NC mountains. It was a very incredible trip with lots of warm summer days, not too hot, lots of mountain river tubing, and lots of summer mountain wildflowers. Unfortunately, it’s incredibly hard to keep up with a blog when you don’t have quick and easy access to wi-fi. And so, I failed at writing throughout our entire trip.
But since that time we were able to get to our remaining state parks and successfully completed the NC State Park challenge by visiting all 41 NC State Parks within 365 days. If you’ve yet to get started with the NC State Park Passport program, you really need to check it out. For every ten parks you visit, you get a little prize pack. And really, aside from the gas and maybe a picnic lunch, it’s all free.
These are the prizes we received each time we visited ten parks:
The last prize pack we received included not only our prizes for visiting 40 parks but also our prizes for visiting all 41 parks in a year. I guess what you can’t see in the photo is our access pass. We both got access passes that are good in every state park. Having the access pack means that you can go to any of the state parks that have access fees for like canoe rentals or beach access fees, and we don’t have to pay.
And honestly, the prizes are great and a fun incentive, but what we’ve gained the most in the last year is the pure simplicity of being outside. Of enjoying all that nature has to offer. The rain, the cold, the heat, the wind, the water, the animals. We’ve been living out here in this city for a long time and it’s been very calming and fulfilling to reconnect with nature.
Life in the right lane,
Rachel
DMG Exploration 