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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - The MAKENS FAMILY
Congratulations to the Makens Family of Texas who completed all 50 states this March in Hawaii during Spring Break. Parents, Jim and Julie, started their quest ten years ago to visit all fifty states before their oldest daughter, Lindsay, graduated from high school. Strategic trip planning!
Their youngest daughter, Kaitlyn, now age 12, has 59 junior ranger badges, earning her first one at age 5. Her father, Jim, thinks the most difficult badge was Muir Woods just north of San Francisco, California. Although the children complete the activities to earn the badge, it also tests the patience of parents as they take the time to help decipher clues and walk circles in a museum trying to find an answer for a booklet! We at Travel Goal Getter know from experience! The reward for young people and parents themselves is having a deeper understanding of the park they are visiting. According to Jim, "Kaitlyn found Fort McHenry to be one of the more difficult because it required writing a few paragraphs about the Star Spangled Banner, but now she know all about Francis Scott Key." Some other memorable Junior Ranger Badge experiences the Makens family mentioned were: Yellowstone, Arches at 105 degrees, Redwood Forest, Arcadia, and Sleeping Bear Dunes
. The Makens are celebrating the 100 year anniversary of NPS in a big way by intending to visit Haleakala, Pearl Harbor, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Cedar Breaks, and Great Smoky Mountains and the Everglades all in 2016. Talk about coast-to-coast, across the ocean travels! Jim and Julie have obiviously passed on their passion for travel and adventure to their daughters. As evidence by Lindsay's plans after she graduated in May. She is taking a "gap" year which will include a 9 month mission trip around the world, working in 5 countries on three continents (Africa, Asia, and Central America). That's a Travel Goal Getter! We wish her and the rest of the Makens family continued safe and happy travels! |
Been to All Fifty States?
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