Society & Culture
"We're the Parkbound Maitlands. This is our 402nd Park. We're going to all of them. It's taken about 8 years to get to this many... Our job is not to be like 'oh look at us, we've been to all these Parks', we want kids, we want more people to come visit these Parks to learn about the history of these Parks. We need to help the world because the glaciers are slowly going away. We need more people to help... to understand that these glaciers aren't going to be here that long if we don't do something about it." -Gerald Maitland The Parkbound Maitlands are a traveling family of four that have been to HUNDREDS of National Park Units, and have collected incredible stories and fascinating knowledge, over the last 8 years. I met the Junior Park Rangers Gerald and Jameson Maitland, and their parents Cheri and Jim at Exit Glacier in Alaska, because of their vests and jackets that were LITERALLY covered in Jr Park Ranger badges and patches. I asked if I could hear their story for the podcast and they excitedly agreed. Meeting the Parkbound Maitlands were one of the highlights of my entire trip. You can tell how much I enjoyed the conversation during this interview, and after I turned the mic off, we continued to chat for hours, and still keep in touch. We had so much in common, even beyond our shared love of Parks we had so many stories to exchange. Plus, they’re just really nice people! After I chatted with the kids about National Parks, I talked to their parents about stories of traveling and meeting people on the road, then we headed to their RV (with an attached trailer) to get out of the rain and talk even more. In this interview we talk about their many years of National Park travel, the things they’ve learned while visiting the units, some of their many stories, tips for travel, and so, so much more. And I end this episode in a unique way, so you won’t want to miss that. After listening to this interview, you will want to see the incredible amount of patches and badges they have. You can find a picture of the family (holding my pup) with all of the badges on the Nat Park Stories Instagram and Facebook. You can also see a bunch of pictures of them and hear a ton of their fascinating stories online, just google Parkbound Maitlands.