I haven't been to the Grand Canyon, put I am a national parks fan. And though I enjoy the pictures from well-photographed national parks such as Yosemite, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, I have not been to those, either, no, before last summer, my family's park experience had been at the less rugged eastern locales such as The Great Smokey Mountain Park in Tennessee or the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

But last summer we ventured out West and included Arches National Park in Utah on the itinerary. Utah is so proud of the park that it displays the famous Delicate Arch on its license plate. After a brief, very hot hike and short scramble across a rock face, we came to stand next to Delicate Arch and learned that the license plate definitely does not do it justice. Nor do the pictures. You really have to stand next to the arch to appreciate the site, with its surrounding expanse of red rock vistas and glorious deep blue skies. It's memorable.

At Arches, my daughter began her collection of national park patches and enthusiastically talked about her next addition. A few days later we stopped at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, where we were guided through the ancient cliff dwellings, climbing rugged ladders, scrambling through holes, gazing near the edge of precipices. What an experience! We had to purchase a beautiful patch to remind us of it.

Back into my ordinary life, I dream I will get the chance to be awed at another national park sometime soon. In fact, I am anxious to watch the Ken Burns PBS special, "The National Parks: Americas Best Idea" starting Sept 29 and see which park piques my interest for planning our next trip. In the meantime, my daughter displays her park patches on her backpack, and I have my National Landmarks wall calendar, so we will both be inspired to create another national park memory.