We leave footprints and take lots of pictures when we visit national parks, but we also spend a good deal of time in park gift shops looking for souvenirs. For some it might be a poster or print, or maybe a coffee cup emblazoned with the park's name.
I've long treasured Yellowstone National Park, and have amassed a nice collection of souvenirs and memorabilia ranging from decorative plates and even salt shakers to stereoviews and hand-painted glass photographs.
Some folks enjoy collecting books that they can page through years later, or even special edition blankets that were made with that specific park in mind.
Understanding that some mementoes you connect to a specific park are found not in the park but at flea markets or antique shops, we'll accept wide-ranging answers for details on what your most-treasured national park souvenirs are. But please let us know what you look for when you're looking for a souvenir.
Comments
Park Map's. I frame them and hang them in the den.
Pictures you requested
http://www.flickr.com/photos/82942962@N02/7599597336/in/photostream/
Niiiccccceeeeee!
My beloved is a career Parkie, so she has to be high on the list. I'm a gift shop junkie, and lean towards tshirts, metal water bottles, and heavy porcelain coffee mugs. And passport stamps, of course.
Patches that get sewn onto my backpack.
A giant hand-drawn map of Congaree NP, framed and given to me by my brother and fiancee. (And as a ranger told me, despite being hand-drawn, it's still the most accurate and comprehensive map of the park.)
I have to go with some others and say my fiance is my favorite. We met when we were both working in Death Valley. I also collect the lapel pins from all parks I visit and I buy t-shirts from the parks I work in and I plan on making them into a quilt near retirement. But my absolute favorites are the letters that I've received from visitors and the children that attended my outreach programs. I treasure those more than anything.
I don't know if I can still find them, but I've gotten several postcards cancelled directly at the post office with stamps depicting that particular national park.
Before I went on a particular trip, I obtained one of the Bryce Canyon NP airmail series stamps. I bought a post card, affixed the stamp, and asked the clerk at the Bryce, UT contract post office at Ruby's Inn to hand cancel it. I noticed that she did it with a lot of care, specifically trying to get a clean stamping. Other than that, on the same trip I tried to do the same with a Yosemite stamp in the same airmail series. However, I got there on a Saturday afternoon and the post office in Yosemite Valley closed at about noon. I just mailed the post card to myself and it was cancelled with a Yosemite NP postmark.
My passport with cancellations. More valuable to me than the passport from the State Department.