Kathy and Phil Ridings were the
fifth ones to complete their
Passport to Parks program. They started in August of 2009 and finished visiting all 42 parks in just one month! How did they do it you ask? In a word, retirement! The Ridings hit the road to travel and see the state parks when they retired and found the Passport to Parks program online.
"We picked out and planned where we would go ahead of time and reserved sites six months in advance. We try to go during the week but our camping club usually travels Thursday through Monday."
When asked about their
favorite park, the Ridings replied: "It's so hard! There are so many that are good. We took our photo at
Mueller but we liked
Ridgway a lot, the scenery there is just beautiful! And, I remember John Wayne filmed
True Grit there." Other favorites include
Pearl Lake,
Roxborough and
Vega.
The thing that surprised them when visiting state parks was "
John Martin - we didn't realize bald eagles wintered there, and at
Lake Pueblo too."
Their advice to other would-be Passport Champions is to hang in there and stick with it! "We coordinated where we were camping so we could go to several parks at a time."
Kathy and Phil plan to continue their travels across the state. As president of their camping club they are always checking out places for future rallies. Happy trails!