+1 for hiring a guide in Manuel Antonio but to do it better/cheaper, hire a guide for the walk from the beach back to the entrance. By that point, the guide has already entered the park (something they might ask you to pay for) and they’ve already had at least one paying customer that day making your rate likely…

I’m a technologist by trade and hobby but prefer the low-tech syphon system that takes water from a 5 gallon bucket next to the tree and adds it automatically to the reservoir in the tree stand. Easily gives me a couple days between waterings when the tree is fresh-cut and even longer after it stops drinking so much. 

We cut our real tree the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We like Griswoldian trees which seem to go first from the tree farm we frequent, getting there early is key. Over the last 5 or so years we’ve put the tree up that early we haven’t had a big issue with needle loss though we do use a big water bucket/syphon system to…

Their favorites so far have been at Sequoia, Yosemite, Bryce, Grand Canyon, and Lincoln’s Boyhood Home. They’ve earned a few more than that but those have been the highlights.

I can’t add a strong enough endorsement of the Junior Rangers program or the NPS as a whole. My bigger two kids _love_ it and have greatly enjoyed earning the badges at several places within the NPS (not just parks but some monuments and historical places too). By earning the badges and going through the workbooks…