National Parks are free for three summer weekends

I spent my Memorial Day weekend camping out in Yosemite, and I can easily say that the summer crowds and traffic jams there are as big and bad as ever.

Still, the number of campers and daytrippers in our national parks overall have been on a steady decline. That's why Ken Salazar, our new Secretary of the Interior, has announced that entry fees will be waived at the 147 national parks that charge them for three weekends this summer (June 20-21, July 18-19 and Aug. 15-16).

That will save you anywhere from $3, charged at national historic parks and monuments, to $25 charged at the crowd-gathering whoppers like Yellowstone and Yosemite.