Searching for bugs, butterflies, and beetles, along with countless other species, at Rocky Mountain National Park will be one of the highlights of Founder's Day, August 25, when the National Park Service turns 96.

National Park Service officials again have declined to approve a professional bicycle racew through Colorado National Monument, saying the event "conflicts with federal regulations and agency management policies."

It’s hard to argue that Acadia, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Smokies, and Shenandoah don’t represent the cream of what the National Park Service offers in Eastern America. There are a lot of great experiences in these top East Coast national parks, but for the truly discriminating explorer, the friends groups for these parks have truly awesome best-kept-secret suggestions.

When your family sits down to choose a vacation destination, what possibilities arise to compete with a national park vacation?