Every year everyone in my family descends on somebody's house for a long weekend family reunion.
It is cramped, it is crowded but we are together.
About three years ago my work started doing their annual retreat at a National Park in the area.
We do this retreat in the October which is a beautiful time in Tennessee to be in a park because of the leaves changing color.
After our second retreat at the park, I spent the next weekend at one of our family get togethers.
After juggling for the bathroom with10 other people it hit me that a National Park would be a perfect place for a family reunion.
Since our families live in different areas of the country from Pennsylvania to California to Florida, I began to do research on National Parks in those states and states that would be convenient for everyone to travel to.
I found hundreds of National Parks across the country they all had a variety of amenities and many catered to family reunions and retreats.
Amenities at the National Parks vary from park to park.
Some parks just have cabins and hiking trails.
Others are almost like resorts with spas and swimming pools.
We wanted a place that had plenty of activities for the children but still would give us enough space to relax and enjoy each others company with the added bonus of having our own rooms and our own bathrooms.
Many of the parks had extra activities such as canoe rides, horseback riding and family movie nights.
We ended up staying at a National Park that had a picnic area at the base of a waterfall and we all took a hike to the top after lunch.
After our first experience having a family reunion at a National Park we decided that this was the way to go.
We are in the process of booking our family reunion in the fall this year at the Smokey Mountain National Park in Tennessee so that they can all experience the beauty of the changing leaves.
This means we are going to have two family reunions this year, but it is more like a vacation than simply a family get together because we get to experience new things and nobody has to worry about cleaning their house and stocking up on supplies for the whole clan.
Whether you are planning a work retreat or a family reunion, I highly recommend going to a National Park.
They have something to offer for everyone, which means everybody tends to be happy going there.
Once the place is booked you don't have to worry about doing anything but packing your stuff and going there.
The definition of a getaway is to get away from everything, which is exactly what you can do when you go to a National Park.