National Parks Are Free to Enter This Weekend (And On Several Other Dates), Just in Case You Haven't Heard the News

On three different websites that appear in my list of incoming e-mails, I've been advised by helpful travel journalists that more than a hundred major national parks will be waiving their entrance fees this coming weekend (January 14-16). These include the Grand Canyon (normally charging $25 per automobile load), the awesome Yellowstone National Park ($25; you simply have to visit this one), and Yosemite ($20). On the off-chance that some of our readers may not have received similar alerts, I'm repeating the news here. The National Parks are the pre-eminent destinations for thoughtful, cost-conscious travelers, and if you haven't been to Yellowstone, Grand Canyon or Yosemite, you're missing the most important attractions of America. The same observation applies to those sites of Civil War importance (Gettysburg, Shiloh, Antietam) and to Great Smoky Mountains.
 
Put down on your calendars that the same entrance fees will be waived three months from now, during National Park Week (April 21-29), and on June 9 and September 29.