Parks and Recreation

  1. Five National Park Areas To Visit If You Want To Feel Like You Are In A Sci-Fi Movie

    Five National Park Areas To Visit If You Want To Feel Like You Are In A Sci-Fi Movie

    Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho. (National Park Service Photo

    If you want to experience what it's like to visit another planet without getting in a spaceship, consider these five national park areas with out-of-this-world landscapes.

    Let's start with one of the most obvious:

    Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve

    This enormous park, 400 square miles, located in Idaho definitely has a different planet-type appearance to it. Much of the landscape basically consists of undulating black mounds with really nothing else. That's because those mounds were once made with molten lava. This area has some of the best rift cracks in the world (including the deepest on earth at 800 feet), varieties of basaltic lava, ancient tree molds and lava tubes. Within this desolate landscape, you can also see fissure vents, cones, and giant rock blocks. But in

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  2. Picnic Tables With Game Tops Provide Fun Social Feature To Parks, Schools And Restaurants

    Picnic Tables With Game Tops Provide Fun Social Feature To Parks, Schools And Restaurants

    Picnic tables with game tops can quickly become a popular place at your location for people to meet and socialize

    Picnic tables can offer another benefit to the public besides a place to dine outdoors when you add this item - a game top.

    When ordering a metal or concrete picnic table, consider including the game top option.

    With that option, a common checkerboard (also used for chess and other games) is embedded into the steel or concrete surface.

    This adds a whole new dimension to your picnic table.

    For one, the game top checkerboard can be used for both chess and checkers.

    In fact, there are also several other games that can be

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  3. How To Take Incredible Tours Of National Parks On Your Computer With Park Rangers and Google Cameras

    How To Take Incredible Tours Of National Parks On Your Computer With Park Rangers and Google Cameras

    Bryce Canyon National Park. Read how you can take a "virtual hike" through this amazing landscape and four other fascinating national parks. (Source: National Park Service)

    For people who are indoors but yearn to be outdoors and visit a national park, Google has teamed up with the National Park Service to give us a Virtual Guide to five fantastic, and incredibly diverse parks.

    Take a hike from your computer and view stunning videos that make it appear you are actually walking on a park trail.

    In these virtual tours, you walk alongside an experienced park ranger who provides a trail's eye view through five national parks along with an interesting narrative about the location.

    With high-def cameras and drone footage from above, you and your mouse can climb into an ice-blue crevasse,

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  4. 2020 Top National Parks In The US Based On Visitors

    2020 Top National Parks In The US Based On Visitors

    A few notes about the Top 20 National Parks compiled by The Park and Facilities Catalog.

    There is a new park on the Top 20 list - Indiana Dunes National Park, which also happens to be a newly designated national park. As far as the Top 5 National Parks, Yellowstone bumped Yosemite back one spot for the fifth position. This year for the first time we added the total visitor numbers from the prior year so you can see the change from one year to the next. Unfortunately for Sequoia National Park, it was knocked off the list with the addition of Indian Dunes National Park. If you are interested in reviewing more park visitor data, check out this National Park Service page.

    We

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  5. How Adding Park Benches, Plants And A Few Amenities To A Vacant Lot Increases Home Values

    How Adding Park Benches, Plants And A Few Amenities To A Vacant Lot Increases Home Values

    A park bench at a pocket park located at The Episcopal School in Dallas. (Photo by staff photographer)

    There's a movement going on in urban and suburban areas to bring parks closer to residents, improve unsightly abandoned lots and help people socialize.

    They are called "Pocket Parks."

    The concept is a simple one and so is the process to build one.

    All it takes is some dedicated citizens, assistance from the local parks and recreation department, donors and some elbow grease.

    But the rewards can be plentiful.

    Pocket parks are small, but benefits are huge

    To get people fired up about the idea, let's start with the benefits of pocket parks:

    Transforms a vacant lot, perhaps an eyesore, into a beautiful, relaxing place to gather. Improves
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