Free, discounted passes provide museum and park options

With prices on the rise, free and discounted admission passes can help ease the cost of traveling.

Several options are available, including the Every Kid Outdoors Pass, The America the Beautiful National Park Pass and the Michigan Activity Pass.

Every Kid Outdoors Pass

The Gawel family of Monroe visited several national parks with the Every Kid Outdoors Pass, offered by the National Park Service.

The program saved the family about $200 in admission fees. The free pass is available to all fourth-grade students.

Steve and Laura Gawel and their children, Alex, 16 and Bekah, 11, learned about the Every Kid Outdoors Pass years ago, but were again eligible last summer, when Bekah was in fourth-grade.

“I first heard about it when my son was in sixth-grade. When we were looking for a family vacation a few years later, I remembered the program, and we went looking for more information,” Laura said. “Applying for the program was really easy.”

Bekah just had to answer a few online questions about places she’d like to visit.

“It allowed her the ability to feel like she had a role to play in planning this vacation, which made her more interested in what we saw,” Laura said. “At the end of the survey, you get a page to print out that has the entrance voucher for the program. We presented that voucher at the first park we visited, and they gave us an ID card that worked at all the other parks we visited.”

The pass provides free admission for the fourth-grade student. In some cases, the whole family was admitted free to the park, Laura said.

The Gawels ventured to the Great Plains with the pass.

“We decided to take advantage of several national parks in the Upper Great Plains. We started by visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, then we spent a couple of days in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. We drove south from Yellowstone and spent a day and a half exploring Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. After that, we headed back east, visiting Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and Badlands National Park in South Dakota. It was a really special time for our family," Laura said.

She said the family only took the trip because of the Every Kid Outdoors Pass.

“We wouldn’t have gone on this trip. Having the pass gave us the incentive to go, and it was fun to plan a trip seeing how many national parks and monuments we could visit in one trip," Laura said. "This was a great way to get our family to visit the national parks and give our kids a chance to see some of the amazing gifts nature has to offer."

The Every Kid Outdoors Pass is accepted at 2,000 federal recreation areas. Next year’s season begins in September.

“No matter where you live in the United States, there's a site within two hours of your home,” the National Park Service said.

On the Net: https://everykidoutdoors.gov/index.htm

The America the Beautiful National Park Pass

The McCarty family of Monroe saved about $100 this summer with The America the Beautiful National Park Pass, also offered by the National Park Service.

The pass costs $80 a year and offers free admission for up to four adults to more than 2,000 national parks and federal recreation sites. Children age 15 and under are admitted free.

Scott and Jenn McCarty purchased the pass earlier this year. They have two sons, Brian, 10, and Harrison, 8.

“We actually just finished up a two-week to Utah and Arizona, where we visited Zion, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Capital Reef, Canyonland and Arches National Parks,” Jenn said.

The family has a fourth-grade student, but instead of the free Every Kid Outdoors Pass, opted for The America the Beautiful National Park Pass, as it offered free admission for more family members and lasted longer.

“Even buying the pass, we saved money. We visited six national parks this summer. The entrance fees for all six would have cost us around $185, so we saved about $100 by buying the annual pass in advance,” Jenn said.

On the Net: https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm

Michigan Activity Pass

Anyone with a Monroe County Library System library card can check out a Michigan Activity Pass.

The pass offers discounted admission to museums, theaters, historic sites, science centers and other locations in the state, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Yankee Air Museum, Hidden Lake Gardens and the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills.

Some attractions offer free admission, while others give buy-one-get-one-free admission or discounts at the gift shop.

“Now they even offer mobile passes,” Barbra Krueger, community outreach coordinator for MCLS, said.

The MCLS has offered the pass since 2013. It is offered through The Library Network.

"I have always believed that your library card is the key to unlocking a world of adventure. Our partnership with Michigan Activity Pass is just another example of the unlimited potential of your library card,” Krueger said.

The Michigan Activity Pass is a well-used program. In June, 864 reservations were made by Michigan library patrons.

For more information, visit https://mymcls.com/michigan-activity-pass/.

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National Park Service’s Junior Ranger Badge

Visitors to U.S. national parks can participate in the Junior Ranger Badge program.

“Participants in the program can pick up a free booklet with information and activities. The materials are aimed at kids ages 5-12, but anyone can participate, even adults,” reported a recent Gannett story.

To get a badge, participants must complete activities in the booklet. Activities may include puzzles, gathering information from a landmark or doing a good deed.

The River Raisin National Battlefield Park in Monroe started its Junior Ranger Badge program in 2013, during the Bicentennial of the January, 1813 battles, Jami Keegan, chief of interpretation, education and volunteers, said.

“The program is based on our exhibits and programs,” she said. “Anyone who visits the Battlefield’s Visitors Center can participate and earn a badge.”

Since 2013, more than 6,500 have completed the program.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Free, discounted passes provide museum and park options