National Parks Unveil New Exhibits and Improvements
This year holds mixed news for luxury vacation rentals near national parks. On one hand, the weak dollar could mean that more American travelers decide to stay in the United States, rather than travel abroad. On the other hand, high gas prices and continuing headaches with the airlines could mean some people might just stay home.
Regardless, there are many reasons to be excited about what's new at the national parks, according to Rob Lovitt's column on MSNBC.com. This year's theme seems to be visitor centers.
This month saw two new visitor centers at major vacation spots. The Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania unveiled a $103 million facility with a 22-minute film and 12 galleries housing more than 300,000 artifacts. The Blue Ridge Parkway has a new destination hub in Asheville with a film and an interactive "I-Wall," a 22-foot long map with a plasma screen slider.
Two other visitor centers won't be open until summer and fall, but deserve extra recognition for the way they were built. Denali National Park in Alaska and Lassen Volcanic National Park in California will both have energy-efficient green buildings with the highest "Platinum" level of certification from LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This will be Lassen's first visitor center, by the way.
