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…
Oh, Indiana Dunes! One of the newest National Parks, but has been a long time National Lakeshore. I had many camping trips here as a child with my family, and I have such fond memories. Fun fact, when I was young, I had forgotten the name of the park and called it Indiana Jones park and my family had a field day with that. My cousin Lauren and I chased the waves and shrieked with joy when they would “get”…
After visiting Death Valley National Park, we did a bit of a 180 in landscape and visited Great Basin National Park in northeast Nevada. While both parks have incredible valleys, peaks, and colors, Great Basin is lush with lakes and caves and some of the oldest trees on our planet! This park is severely underrated. Before this trip, if I was to name National Parks off the top of my head, Great Basin would have been on the bottom of…
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…
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…
The southwest desert is hot, ya’ll! Especially when you’re silly like us and visit in the hottest time of the year. After visiting Joshua Tree in California, the lovely Saguaro National Park is just a hop skip over the border into Arizona! On the way there, we stopped and visited some friends from the Midwest who happened to be down in Phoenix that weekend! Morgan and Jim, a million thanks for swooping in with the most delightful company (and AC…
After yet another short four hour drive down the coast of California from Pinnacles National Park, we arrived to Ventura, CA where the Visitor Center is for Channel Islands. And boy oh boy, Channel Islands National Park…. what a gem. This park does take a little bit of pre-planning. There are only three ways to get to the islands; by a private boat, a plane through Channel Islands Aviation, or – the most cost effective and popular option – by boat…
I don’t think anyone could ever live in California and say there is nothing to do! It seems like no matter where you are at, there is a National Park treasure just a couple hours away! After we visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon, we drove a quick four hours to Pinnacles National Park! It was late afternoon on a hot August weekend in southern California when we arrived to the park, so we took one of the last campsites they…
While Yosemite was wonderful and beautiful, this park was much more our style! Just a few hours down the road, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (2 in 1!) is the less visited, but just as amazing, National Park gem! Sequoia is the second oldest National Park, thanks to its namesake tree being the largest on Earth (and our past Presidents and leaders had the foresight to preserve such precious commodities, and cared about conservation more than profit…). Since we…
Next up on the journey, one of the most visited and popular parks in the country… Yosemite National Park! Yosemite is full of waterfalls, valleys, giant sequoias, rivers, wildlife, huge granite cliffs and rock formations, and more. With all these amazing things, they also bring ALL. THE. PEOPLE. In case you haven’t noticed, Mike and I tend to shy away from the crowds, and we were here during prime vacation time. We arrived at sunrise, as it’s proven to be…