Theodore Roosevelt, in western North Dakota, is a lovely and underrated park. This was the third park of our 2023 National Park Adventure and it hit all the right notes – beautiful warm weather, no set agenda, and plenty of time to enjoy the scenery, plus good health and energy all around. A quick note […]
theodore roosevelt national park Read More »
The second park on our Colorado tour was Mesa Verde, a “green table” of historic cliff dwellings located in the southwest corner. They’re a classic attraction – every native Coloradan we spoke to remembered coming here on a school field trip. These ancient homes are presumably 700 years old and surprisingly, they still seem pretty
mesa verde national park Read More »
When we got home from Yellowstone in September 2023, we set our sights on Colorado as our next big national park trip. There are four national parks in Colorado, spread out around the state. We started working on a plan to fly into Denver and circle the state, ending up in Rocky Mountain for a
great sand dunes national park Read More »
We took this trip in July 2023, but it didn’t get posted until June 2024 (hello baby Claire) Judging from how many people have never heard of Voyageurs, I’d say it’s one of the lesser known national parks. This park is made up of a series of large lakes at the very top of western
voyageurs national park Read More »
Our most underwhelming park yet, Wind Cave is located in the southwest corner of South Dakota. It is, obviously, a cave, and entrance is allowed only with a guided tour. Sadly, after reserving our places on the cave tour, I was notified that the park elevator had broken and all tours were canceled until further
wind cave national park Read More »
Getting out to Wyoming to visit one of America’s most famous parks was a huge undertaking for us this year. With the rapidly growing interest in national parks, reservations for activity passes or on-site lodging at popular places have to be reserved no less than 9 months in advance, sometimes earlier. When we planned out
yellowstone national park Read More »
Like many of our remaining parks, Isle Royale takes a lot of planning. It’s not one where you can drop in unannounced. A small ship makes daily runs from the closer Minnesota side of Lake Superior, while a larger ship does the same from the further Michigan side. For the wealthy, seaplanes come and go
isle royale national park Read More »
This trip to St. Louis was a departure from our normal meticulous planning; instead, we made a hasty decision in late August to visit Gateway Arch over Labor Day, influenced by the looming season of colds and potential masking requirements. The plans for driving 11 hours out (and back) then became entangled with a Labor
gateway arch national park Read More »
After a visit to New River Gorge National Park, we traveled about 9 hours northwest to reach Portage, IN, just outside Indiana Dunes. These dunes have been on our radar for a while, and they are yet another park, in a 20-hour driving radius from Charlotte (my current personal limit for road trips). This was
indiana dunes national park Read More »
New River Gorge is the second closest national park to Charlotte (closer than the Great Smoky Mountains but not as close as Congaree) and yet it’s taken us a while to visit. It’s the newest national park (thank you President Trump) and by all reports, a lovely natural area featuring one of the world’s oldest
new river gorge national park Read More »