America is Your Park!

I’ve been a regular lately at my favorite Park, Kennesaw Mountain. Walking and hiking have been favorite ways for me to stay fit and in shape over the years and this nearby mountain and park has been one of my regular stops for many years and especially this summer as I have been back in my hometown again.  In fact, I’m meeting a friend of mine there every Friday morning for a brisk walk/hike.

Long an advocate of staying physically fit, walking is one of the ways I can do that and Kennesaw Mountain has a variety of walking and hiking trails for the fitness enthusiast.

Are you taking advantage of the good summer weather and getting outside?  Your local state or national Park is a great place to gather friends and family for a fun outdoor outing.  Get those frisbees out for a rousing game.  Get off the couch and get to walking.  It’s free exercise!

You probably have a favorite park in your area too.  I shared our picnic with you a few weeks ago where I was joined by Kayla Aimee and I just wanted to remind you that the Vote for Your Favorite Park campaign is still going on!   You have until September 6th to cast a vote for your favorite park.  You can also visit BlogHer for a recap on this project.

I hope you’ll stop by and visit some of my fellow bloggers, like Bonggamom and Leah in San Francisco, who joined forces at the beautiful Golden Gate Recreation area for their picnic.  And in Columbus, Ohio, Susie and Momi Fali enjoyed the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park on their day out at the park.   A fun time was had by all and it got us all out of the house, enjoying the day, moving and working some physical fitness into our routine.

I’m honored to be a part of this event in working with Coca-Cola to get the word out about the wonderful park treasures that we have here in our country.

This is the second annual America Is Your Park campaign sponsored by the Coca-Cola Live Positively initiative and their goal is to encourage people to play, be active and help their favorite national, state, or local park win a recreation grant provided by Coca-Cola Live Positively. I can’t think of anything I’d love better than helping my favorite local national park, Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park win a grant!

You can help by voting for your favorite park to win the title of “America’s Favorite Park” by visiting LivePositively.com/americasparks. Take a look at what they will win!

First place winner receives $100,000 and the title of America’s Favorite Park, second place wins $50,000 and third place gets $25,000.

Voting runs until September 6, 2011. I’m going to do my best to help my favorite park win, by voting often! Our local parks are special places to bring friends and family and create memories.

There are other ways to vote for your favorite park, including uploading photos of the park to LivePositively.com and checking in on Facebook Places when you go to your park. More information about these methods on LivePositively.com/americasparks.

Do you have a special park in your area too? I’d love to encourage you to go and vote!