[evanb]

I mean National Park in exactly the same way that everybody means National Park: Rock Creek Park was the third National Park, made so by an Act of Congress, just like any other big-N National big-P Park.

https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/51st-congress...

If you're willing to travel as much as it takes you to get to Big Sur from San Francisco, you can easily visit Shenandoah or the Blue Ridge, both bona-fide up-to-snuff pre-approved Real™ Beautiful™ National Parks from DC. There's also the Chesapeake, tons of magnificent beaches and state parks in the surrounding area---many beautiful sites on the east coast had already been state parks far before the notion of a national park was invented. That doesn't make them less beautiful or grandiose, however.

[hpkuarg]

That's fair! I do acknowledge conceit in my comment, but you can attribute that to my jealously (as an eastern seaboarder) of the landscapes of the American West.