Stretches of road elsewhere in the country are as spectacular, but nothing matches the manicured, uniquely uncommercialized, half-a-thousand-mile thoroughfare of the Blue Ridge Parkway through the lofty heart of America’s first frontier. The scenery is great, but equally memorable is the encounter with history and traditional Appalachian culture and music.

A possible lack of attention has led to the deaths of two vacationers at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and left a juvenile with minor injuries, according to the National Park Service.

As an enticement to get folks back into the mountains after recent storms tour through the mid-Atlantic states, the lodging concessionaire at Shenandoah National Park is offering a $25 voucher for folks who book a room there.

Yellowstone National Park, which attracted national attention in 1988 when wildfires burned nearly half the 2.2-million-acre park that hot and dry summer, so far has managed to avoid any fires this summer.