Tribute Tuesday: Vintage National Park Posters

I recently took a road trip through many of America's National Parks in the Southwest. They're a reminder of what awe really feels like. They are epic, and beautiful, and overwhelming, and ancient. 

The trip was personally significant for many reasons, which means that the idea of commemorative art really appeals to me. One of the many constants at the Visitor Centers were a series of vintage posters being rereleased to celebrate the original WPA posters, and new releases in a similar style. 
As a general rule, vintage travel posters are extremely popular for a reason. They're sweet. So let's see some tributes to places we saw and some motivation for future visits!

The National Parks After Dark campaign is an adorable reminder that the parks serve as a perfect antidote to the urban light pollution. They are spectacular after dark, offering a view that simply can't be replicated in most visitors' hometowns. 

 

I especially like posters that capture the otherworldly, Martian redness of some of the parks. Sledding down the dunes at White Sands in the shadow of these jagged mountains was quite the contrast. 

  

I remember Sequoia as a lush, wet green and feeling remote in an entirely different way than the Southwest. There is something alien (to this New England girl at least!) about the redness and starkness of the desert. Sequoia felt like the forest of a German fairytale. Foggy, mountainous and secretive, with constant swoops and rises as we climbed above the clouds. These trees simply didn't fit any scale I'd ever encountered.

I like the way these capture Joshua Tree at different stages of the day, and the one on the right has a slightly more modern, streamlined vibe. 

In terms of those future visits, the Aurora Borealis has always caught my eye so perhaps this poster boosts Denali another rung up on the Bucket List. 

And if you're really a National Parks groupie looking to add something special to your home, the Pendleton line of blankets are swoon worthy!

Also, be a team player and help the National Parks fight their "age problem" by swinging by this summer and bringing down that average age of entrance. Show them that Millenials aren't just slaves to their battery life. 

Does the National Park Services Have a Youth Problem?