Our National Parks turned 100 last Aug. 25 and Donna and Mike Guthrie were able to sing "Happy Birthday" to all 59 of them.
The "Donna & Mike Take a Hike" great adventure was a delightful retelling for those attending the Broadmoor Garden Club's annual community event May 12.
Donna said the two had been celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary in 2009 and realized there was still so much of America they wanted to see before they were 70. With a bucket list and $10 senior parks passes, off they went. Seven years later, on June 11, 2016, they were done, celebrating last September with a party for more than 100 in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park where they had started their adventure.
This time, friends and family wore special Donna & Mike ball caps made especially for those who had accepted the couple's challenge to visit at least one national park during the time of their trek.
Their favorite parks? "No. 1: Yosemite, the jewel," said Donna. Then the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Denali and the Everglades.
Not so good? Cuyahoga Valley, described by Donna as built on a Superfund clean-up site in Ohio and running under the freeway.
Adventures they haven't done? Walk the Appalachian Trail and hike the Pacific Rim Trail.
When she isn't hiking, Guthrie, a local author, filmmaker and playwright, is a co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival. The Guthries donated their speaker's fee back to Broadmoor Garden Club grants for local projects, including Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Venetucci Farm, Rock Ledge Ranch and the Galileo School Garden Project.
Seth Boster's story when they first completed their adventure: gazette.com/article/1579744
More photos: gazette.com/life/around-town
