Last Day

No, no. It's not our last day of fulltiming.

It's the last day of our National Parks Annual Pass.

Today we made a quick (That's relative, mind you.) jaunt into Yellowstone to enjoy a picnic lunch at Lake Yellowstone, which we'd yet to lay eyes on. As we pulled up to the "prepaid visitors" gate at West Yellowstone, Paul flashed our Annual Pass.

"Today is your last day," smiled the friendly volunteer.

Why, yes, it is!

We bought our first-ever annual pass just over a year ago when we ventured to Mt. Lassen National Park the weekend we sold our house. Unlike many of our friends that we're so so jealous of, we don't get to take advantage of the "golden age" pass. No, we have to shell out 80 bucks a year for the next 10 years!

I remember thinking as we plunked down those four twenties a year ago: Where will we go in the next year? What parks will we see?

Well, now we know! Here's a list, as well as we can remember, of the places where we've flashed our fancy pass over the last 13 months.

1. Mt. Lassen National Park, California

2. Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

3. Cape Blanco Lighthouse, Oregon

4. Olympic National Park, Washington

5. Glacier National Park, Montana

6. Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument, Montana

7. White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

8. Tuzigoot National Monument, Arizona

9. Montezuma Castle National Monument, Arizona

10. Montezuma Well National Monument, Arizona

11. Earthquake Lake, Montana

12. Mesa Falls, Idaho

13. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (x 4 over the last month!)

The 7-day fee for Yellowstone alone is $25. And, we've made one trip a week to that park for the last month. Our annual pass paid for itself here alone!

Yep. This little $80 piece of plastic was a great deal, any way you slice it. Will we get another? Of course! We're planning to visit Devil's Tower in a few days. So, we'll make the purchase then, if not sooner.

And, yes, we'll be asking ourselves the same question.

Where will we go in the next year? What parks will we see?