Black Friday is the day we Americans traditionally feed our capitalist overloads, but wouldn't you rather take a scenic tour of our beautiful state? On November 25, the day after Thanksgiving, 116 of our 280 state parks will offer free vehicle day-use passes.
This program, known as Green Friday, comes via California State Parks, Save the Redwoods League and the California State Parks Foundation. They are offering 13,000 free vehicle day-use passes, which will cover admission and parking to numerous state parks. The passes will be given out on a first-come, first served basis to ensure the parks do not exceed their capacity, but only one pass is needed per car. So, if you and your pals all go together, you will only need to snag one pass for the lot of you. (Note: Fees for boating, camping or museum entrance are not included.)
Using Green Friday's website, you can view a list of available parks within the state, and you can even filter them by terrain, historical significance, or accessibility. Then, you can register your parking pass online, which will be emailed to you immediately. See a map of all of them here. Some participating parks not too far from Los Angeles include Will Rogers State Park, Crystal Cove State Park, and San Clemente State Beach. If you don't see your favorite park on the list, it might be because there is no day-use fee, so check and see before getting bummed out.
Green Friday was inspired last year by sporting goods store REI, which closed completely on Black Friday, but still paid all of their employees, telling them to use the day off to enjoy nature. According to Green Friday, the number of participating parks has increased by 140 percent from its inaugural year, during which only 48 parks participated.
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