My Personal Travel Quests

It wasn’t until the release of the book Happiness of Pursuit that I really started to think about the role that quests and goal-seeking had played in my life. Looking back, it’s always been a part of what I’ve done. It probably started with trips to the state parks of Michigan with my mom when I was a kid, as we sought refuge and tried to make the most of our annual park pass.

Of course, the most well-known and important of my quests was to visit all 419 units of the National Parks System. But that’s not the only one I’m currently pursuing.

Why you should adopt a personal travel quest

Below is a listing of quests currently in progress, as well as ones I’ve already completed. Some of them are “complete” only for awhile, while others are more static. It’s unlikely that we’ll end up with a new county high point, for example, while new breweries in Arizona are opening every month or two. Still others, like the highest points of otherwise flat states, are more about just collecting as many as I can with no final number in mind.

I’ve divided the quests up based on the scale of the objectives involved: national/global, statewide, and local. I’ve also listed previous quests that have since been incorporated into larger ones, as well as quests that I’m considering adopting but haven’t committed to yet.

If you like travel quests, check out Go Questing, the online home for all things Questing.

National & Global quests

My National Parks Quest (completed in June 2019) - visiting all 419 units of the National Parks System.

Highest Points of Otherwise Flat States: visiting each of the country's Drivable State Summits, aka the "Lazy Highpointers" quest.

Treasured Places - visiting every national park unit, national monument, and national conservation—478 in total.

Manhattan Project sites—visiting the major sites associated with the development of our early nuclear weapons.

Stein Brewery Quest: visiting every brewery in countries that end in "-stein" 😂(completed 2017)

Visiting all three of the World's Largest Balls of Twine (completed 2013)

National Scenic & Historic Trails: visiting all 25 scenic and historic trails managed by the National Park Service. (completed 2018)

Statewide quests

#azbeerquest - Visiting each of Arizona's craft breweries. — I have been staying current in spite of frequent new openings and closings.

Local quests

Sketchy Chinese restaurants of downtown Phoenix

Phoenix Trail Quest - Hiking every mile of every official trail in the City of Phoenix

Visiting all of the craft breweries of Washington DC

Completed quests that were later incorporated into larger quests

National Conservation Lands: major areas protected under the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System (Completed 2019)
[eventually incorporated into the Treasured Places quest]

National Monuments of the US: visiting each of our land-based national monuments (Completed 2019)
[later incorporated into the Treasured Places quest]

PhxBrewQuest: visiting all of metro Phoenix’s breweries (completed 2015)
[later incorporated into AZBeerQuest]

Quests I’m considering adopting

National Natural & Historic Landmarks of Arizona
“Culture Pass” locations in metro Phoenix
Section hiking the Arizona Trail
An Irish pub in 32 countries
State capitol buildings
Utah craft breweries
Scenic driving All-American Roads, National Byways, and Backcountry Byways of Arizona