Collecting Souvenirs From National Parks

There are a few things I bring home from each National Park I visit but it is important to me that these items take up minimal space in my bag.

So no cheesy t-shirts or coffee mugs for me.

Meaningful experiences, like the ones National Parks provide for me, deserve meaningful mementos, so I make sure to only bring home items I intend to keep long-term.

One great thing about purchasing something from the National Parks visitor center is that the park typically gets a portion of the proceeds from every purchase.

Postcards

Postcards are probably the cheapest souvenir you can collect while traveling. One major perk of these is that postcards are small and won’t take up much space in your bag during your return journey.

Additionally, you could write some of the highlights of the park (or city if you’re doing some urban exploring) on the back to reminisce over later. I tend to grab a few extras along the way so I can send messages to friends and family while traveling.

Patches

Another item I’ve made a point to gather at each National Park I’ve visited is a patch, either the iron on kind or sew on kind will do, but I’ve always preferred the embroidered ones to the printed fabrics.

Recently I got a Lands End tote bag and used fabric glue to attach my patches to it. Usually, these patches cost around five dollars and similar to the…