I have a goal for my travels... I want to visit every National Park in the contiguous United States. Honestly, I want to get to ALL the National Parks! But you see... I like road trips.... a lot. Just ask my friends and family about that:) So I decided to set my goal based on my ability to get to the Parks via road trip. Once that goal is met, I'll figure out the rest.
As I mentioned in a previous post, our family wandered to several of the National Parks while I was growing up, some more than once, and some I'd like to see again. I've had the good fortune to visit Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons three times. I've lost count of the number of times I've been to Carlsbad Caverns. I've been to the Great Smoky Mountains several times.
In the past few years, I've traveled with one of my best friends and camping buddies... Libby. We hiked Yosemite, explored Sequoia, discovered the colors of Death Valley, and wept over the Grand Canyon (yes, that trip will take a few posts to cover!). Her mom, Elaine, told us she wanted to see Carlsbad Caverns and Big Bend National Park. So we loaded her up and off we went! We're working on a couple more "bucket list" trips... stay tuned for those stories.
My daughter caught the wander-lust bug from me. Ashley, my sister Peggy, and I went to Yellowstone years ago. Ashley and I have also wandered through Mammoth Cave and the Smokies together.
So far, I've visited 19 National Parks and a fair number of National Monuments and Historic Areas. In our family travels, we stopped a lots of these off-the-beaten-path places... more than I could ever recall accurately! The National Park Service has 59 designated Parks... 12 of those are in Alaska, Hawaii and island territories, so they're not in my original "goal" plan. But I bet I manage to hit most of them! Here's where I've been: Badlands, Big Bend, Bryce Canyon, Carlsbad, Death Valley, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Tetons, Great Smoky Mountains, Guadalupe Mountains, Kings Canyon, Mammoth Cave, Mesa Verde, Petrified Forest, Sequoia, Shenandoah, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion.
It's funny that I've never stopped at Hot Springs NP in Arkansas... it's less than a day from me! Hmmm... I feel a weekend road trip coming on. Who's in with me?