adventure pup – Not So Junior Ranger

New River Gorge National Park

April 17, 2022 alex Comments 1 comment

The newest National Park, New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia, was fantastic! I definitely see this park becoming very populated, more than it already is. It’s been an adventure (white water rafting and rock climbing primarily) destination for a long time now, but with it’s upgraded designation from National River to NP, I anticipate that the nearby towns will soon become a bit more touristy and kitschy, like Gatlinburg at the Smoky Mountains. Mike and I visited this park…

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Voyageurs National Park

January 22, 2022 alex Comments 0 Comment

Our next park on the trip was Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota. It believe it’s one of the most northern parks in the lower 48, and shamefully, it’s one of the least visited. This park is 40% water and comprised of four main lakes; Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan, and Sand Point. This park shares some of their waters with Canada, and was a prominent international trade route. While there is plenty for everyone at this park, most of this park…

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Death Valley National Park

January 9, 2021 alex Comments 2 comments

After Petrified Forest, we headed west again to visit Death Valley National Park and enter the park through it’s southeast entrance. Death Valley is well known as the hottest, driest, and lowest National Park. Driving north through the park, on it’s main road; Badwater Road, we drove slowly through the mountains and was in awe of the colors we were passing which is aptly named Amargosa Chaos. We stopped at some of the overlooks and perused the ruins of Ashford…

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Petrified Forest National Park

November 15, 2020 alex Comments 1 comment

The day after our visit to Saguaro National Park, we headed just four hours north to Petrified Forest National Park! While the Grand Canyon is by far the most well known National Park in Arizona (and the whole country), this park is severely underrated. While you can’t argue with the breathtaking and inspiring beauty of the vast Grand Canyon, my experience there also made me feel small and question our existence. Petrified Forest, on the other hand, put a spotlight on…

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Joshua Tree National Park

August 21, 2020 alex Comments 1 comment

I’ve said it before, and probably/definitely will say it for every Cali park post…. Californians are SO lucky to have so many amazing places to visit. After we left Channel Islands (and picked up adventure pup from his amazing Rover doggy day care!), we headed over to Joshua Tree National Park – just a mere 3.5 hours away. We entered through the North West station to grab my booklet, talk to the rangers, and make a game plan. I don’t…

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Lassen Volcanic National Park

November 17, 2019 alex Comments 0 Comment

On the next stop of our California tour; Lassen Volcanic National Park! It was a short 4 hour drive from the Redwood, which makes it a great addition to a Redwoods destination vacation. It adds a little variety and will have a lot less crowds! This park gets its name because it of the volcanoes. Within this park, all four types of volcanoes can be found; shield, composite, cinder cone, and plug dome. Lassen Peak is one of the largest…

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Redwood National Park

November 1, 2019 alex Comments 1 comment

We finally made it to California! After Alaska, I think I was most excited to visit California since it has such a large number of National Parks and they’re vastly different across the state. The first park on our list was Redwood National Park. This park is absolutely huge and encompasses a lot of State Park area as well. We started from the North and stopped at Crescent City Park Headquarters first to get started. From there, we drove down…

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Olympic National Park

September 26, 2019 alex Comments 1 comment

After Alaska, we zoomed 45 or so hours back to Bellingham, Washington, where my friends Beth and Lauren live. They are amazing and took care of our fur baby, Luca, while we were adventuring and hanging out with bears. Luca had a great time while he was there; he still hasn’t stopped talking about it. After some good catching up and tacos, we headed down to Olympic National Park. We were joined by my mom for this park, as she…

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North Cascades National Park

July 24, 2019 alex Comments 0 Comment

After dropping Ry off at his hostel in Portland, we headed up to Washington; Mike on his bike, me in the car. We had plans to go to Bellingham, as that’s where my friend’s, Beth and Lauren, live. They are going to watch Luca for us while we go to Alaska (I’m already crying about leaving him). We decided to check out North Cascades National Park before heading over to their house since it wasn’t too far. Like most parks,…

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Dog Blog: Did They Leave Me?

July 13, 2019 alex Comments 1 comment

Dear Diary, I had a great couple weeks with Mom and Dad! We went to so many parks that I’ve taken poos in. I haven’t been able to always get out of the car because the bears are scared of me, but I’ve gotten lots of air-sniffing-out-the-window time! Mom also bought a chuck-it, and it’s my job to go get the ball. I’m really good at it and I take my job super seriously. We visited a friend named Luke…

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