Monday, June 16, 2008

What High Gas Prices mean for Parks


The jury is never in when there is change in the public dynamic. We use history to give us a clear picture of reality--but it's the past. Case in Point; in the 70's the country lived through gas rationing with lines at the pump. People envisioned all optimistic and pessimistic senarios--Except Hummers that run on 10 miles per gallon as a popular car. Today we have seen the price of gas skyrocket so fast we all are adjusting our lifestyle patterns and creating new thoughts about what activities will now make sense to us.

A major part of American life is recreation and leisure activities. High gas prices simply mean that people will choose to reduce their activities that require using gasoline. That trip across the country in an RV will change to picnics at parks close to home. If you live in Colorado people can visit Mesa Verde in the south, Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park, or Lake Granby for campsites complete with fire rings and picnic tables. North Carolina has many parks in the Blue Ridge mountains. South Dakota has the Black hills while New York has the Catskills. I could go on and on about the parks accessible to many Americans in every state. Many people have probably never experienced local parks because it has been so cheap to go other places in this country for years. Now is the time to explore parks and recreation close to home.

For myself, I live in Florida and I couldn't be happier with all the beautiful parks I can visit closeby. Just in my"neck of the woods" there are 24 parks to visit. That is just one fifth of what Florida has to offer. My wife and I have purchased scooters (Vespa's) to save gas going back and forth to work. We might just take our bikes to our next vacation--they cost $12.00 to fill up....beats the heck out of $70.00 for my Murano! Recreation close to home is looking pretty good!

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