Nature Valley And Our National Parks

Can I please tell you that I am sad to see this summer slipping away and the school year starting? 

Yes, I have told you this.  But luckily I love the smells of fall (fresh pencils and new clothes. yes please.) and enjoyed backpack shopping, however, I love the wonderful sunny weather and living outdoors all day (kids being worn out and skinned knees by the end of the day are the best) and summer is the perfect time for family vacations, it is hard for me to know we are headed back to a steady routine and schedule.

I love family vacations and some of my favorite trips have been camping and hiking in some of our National Parks. We were lucky enough to visit several state parks this last summer, but I am hoping in future summers we will be able to take our kids to see our National Parks, since I really enjoyed visiting them while I was growing up.  

 
 
 Above are two pictures of Marc and I enjoying Arches National Park in Utah.  I am huge and pregnant with Jackson, but having tons of fun.  I walked and biked as much a possible to "hopefully" get labor moving along.  :)  It felt so good to get my huge body moving everyday.  :)   

So let me tell you about the National Parks Project and Nature Valley. Nature Valley and Patricia Schultz (international best selling author for 1,000 Places to See Before You Die) have teamed up with our National Parks to help clean them up and continue to preserve them.

 

What can you do?  

Simply purchase a box of specially marked Nature Valley Bars and mail in your wrappers to the address below:

National Parks Project
PO Box 450328
El Paso, TX 88545-0328

Nature Valley will recycle them and donate 10 cents to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). This year, the National Parks Project will focus on restorative work at Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Biscayne National Parks.  

To learn even more about the Nature Valley National Park Project and how you can make a difference, check out PreservetheParks.com and check out Nature Valley on Facebook or Twitter.  Become a Facebook fan and you can also enter to win a trip, as well as share your photos and videos of your summer vacations. 

It is easy for me to represent these delicious granola bars, because I have grown up eating them.  They are one of those snacks that I can totally get behind.  I have actually taken them and crumbled them into milk and had them for breakfast.  So good!  I have bought them for Jackson, and they are definitely an "outside food" with the crumbliness, but he loves them!  

So, when Nature Valley offered me this prize pack through My Blog Spark, I quickly accepted for you.  :)  I thought you would enjoy winning it.  What is in this prize pack...let me tell you....  Your prize pack will include a mini backpack; a military grade compass; a solar-powered, key chain flash light; a reusable water bottle and a copy of Patricia Shultz’s 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List.   
 

How to win, you might ask?   

To enter:  Tell me about a National Park you have visited or would like to visit. 

Three extra entries: Become a blog follower or "like" us on Facebook or add the epicurean style blog button to your blog.  <a href="http://www.epicureanstyle.com"><img src="http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/ll432/epicureanstyle/4cover_alt8x1025_for_bleed-1.jpg"></a>

Three extra entries: "like" Nature Valley on Facebook

Two extra entries: Blog or Facebook about this giveaway

One extra entry: for every twitter (once a day)...post a comment for each twitter

Giveaway ends on: Friday September 10, 2010 

Comments

[Julie]

so great! I loved visiting Yellowstone with my family as a child and would love to take my kids there now.

[marci]

my father has the travel bug and i guess i have inherited it. I have been to arches, grand canyon(2), yellowstone, mesa verde, yosemite, rainbow bridge, canyonlands, zion(+), bryce canyon, grand teton,crater lake, ellis island, death valley, lake mead, craters of the moon, city of rocks, the uss arizona, and i am sure that i am missing a few more. i would love to take my hub and kiddos to all the places that i have been. i heard once that people that never travel it's like reading only 1 page in a book.

[Hillary S.]

I love traveling and love our national parks! I have visited a few of them, but would love to see more of them..especially the grand canyon

[Amanda]

Nature Valley! I love this idea! I just bought a package of Nature Valley bars at the store this last week, now I will definitely be sending them in.

[Shelley F.]

Traveling is something I have always enjoyed, but after adding our first child I wasn't sure if I would ever want to do again. :) However the older he gets the easier I think it becomes to travel and the more fun we have (less baggage, less fussing). I would love to visit our National Parks. I have heard good thing about all of Red Wood Forest in California and ALL of Southern Utah's locations.

[Susan]

I loved seeing Yellowstone as an adult, but that was before my husband and I were married. It would be so fun to take him back there with me.

[Amy]

I have lived in Utah for several years and have never seen any of the southern utah landmarks. It is time to make that change.