One year, one Tacoma family, and a trip to 59 national parks

A couple of months ago, President Obama created an initiative called Let’s Get Every Kid In A Park.

“He set up an opportunity for 4th grade children and their families, starting next fall, to have free access passes to all the national parks, waterways and monuments,” said Julie Hurst. “So, kind of inspired by that, we want to embark on a journey to visit all 59 parks.”

Hurst, a single mother of two in Tacoma, plans to drive around the country in an RV, hitting all 59 national parks come September.

“I kind of mapped it out over a nine month plan. So it would be, like, 6.555 [national parks] per month.”

But not all of the parks are in the continental United States, so Julie’s thinking it will take them closer to a year to see them all.

“We have two in Hawaii and then we have a national park in Samoa as well as one in the US Virgin Islands.”

“We’re getting on the track of starting to do it,” said 13-year-old daughter Maitri Christensen. “But I think it’s a chance to start new things.”

The family has only been to one national park together, and they’re just getting into camping and hiking in preparation for the trip.

Julie’s younger daughter, 9-year-old Annie Swanson, will be in 4th grade this Fall. She’s basically the family’s free ticket into the parks. But her 4th grade year won’t be spent in a classroom. Julie is taking the girls out of a school for a year for the adventure.

“I’m really excited,” says Maitri. “I think my favorite part about it would be able to choose assignments that I would love to learn about. Like, if I’m wondering how tornadoes are made, I could just study it and actually experience what’s going on.”

Julie thinks a year of learning about nature and the world will be a perfectly worthy education for her children, and she’s excited to experience it with them.

“One thing that has been hard, I’m a single mom, I have a couple jobs, I don’t get to be a real active member in their education. It feels detached,” she said. “I think it’s going to be great to be a part of their every day educational experience. I’m looking forward to it.”

“We’ll probably get sick of each other a little bit, but that’s what walks are for!” Julie added.

Julie says no one has criticized her for taking her kids out of school, but some people have doubted that she could do the trip at all.

“We were in Monroe at an RV show. I was telling someone, a man, about our plan. And the first thing he said was, ‘I’m assuming there’s a man involved,'” Julie said. “Like I couldn’t go by myself.”

That wasn’t the only example.

“It happened just a couple days ago, it was a female, she was asking about my husband!” she said. “It’s interesting, how, that’s kind of your first thing? Like, why would these three ladies do this on their own? And I am saying, ‘why not?'”

Click here if you want to donate to Julie’s family trip fund.