If you’re sixty, the U.S. National Park Service basically hands you a Golden Age Passport for free—if you fill out a form and pay a tiny processing fee (okay, it’s $10, but that’s basically free in old-people math). This pass gets you into every national park, monument, and historical site for life. One ranger said to me, “It’s like a backstage pass to America, but with fewer drugs and more scenic overlooks.”
And here’s a surprising fact: Free doesn’t just apply to the entrance. Many parks also offer free guided walks, where a volunteer will point out a rock and say, “This granite is 1.7 billion years old,” and you’ll nod, thinking, “I’m practically a baby.”
