ABSTRACT
The curious adventure, perhaps facilitated by the traveler’s position as an executive of Trans World Airlines, took twenty-five years and covered a network of parks with outer limits extending from Alaska to Hawaii and American Samoa and to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The national park system, which does contain a majority of the outstanding tourist attractions in the United States, is constantly expanding. Some monuments would fully qualify for national park status except that they are subject to mining claims or other commercial development. The park system can be likened to a checklist of the nation’s outstanding landscapes—called America’s Wonderlands in the National Geographic Society’s popular book—and a full representation of the significant historical sites of American history. Park superintendents report to regional offices located in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Omaha, Santa Fe, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and Anchorage.
