National Parks Traveler

With gray whales soon to start their migration to warmer waters, and elephant seals heading to the beaches of Point Reyes National Seashore for breeding, the park's shuttle buses can help you get to a viewpoint with little hassle.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., often known simply as "The Wall," contains the names of over 58,000 Americans who gave their lives in that conflict, but there's another Memorial Wall with more than 17,000 names from World War 2 in America's most-distant national park. The Asan Bay Overlook Memorial Wall at War in the Pacific National Historical Park had been damaged by storms and vandals, but rehabilitation of this wall has now been completed.

Five motorists who headed off into an area of Padre Island National Seashore that was off-limits to vehicles and drove around the tidal flats there have agreed, along with their insurance agencies, to pay more than $150,000 in damages to the park.

A throwback to the days when commerce flowed up and down canals to Washington, D.C., a Lockkeeper's House that dates to the 1830s, will be restored to near-mint condition thanks to a $1 million grant from American Express to the Trust for the National Mall.