This year, things had changed. Even so, I was able to make it to a bunch of new parks—eight to be precise—and also made return visits to 10 other ones.

Most of the return visits occurred during personal time extended onto existing work trips. All but one of the new visits happened during my summer roadtrip. It was great to be able to mark off a bunch of parks — I’m looking at you Manzanar and Devils Postpile — that I had driven past before but was never able to stop and see.

Return visits

• Arches National Park
• Canyonlands National Park
• White Sands National Monument
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• Redwood National and State Parks
• Golden Gate National Recreation Area
• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
• Grand Canyon National Park (North Rim)
• Petroglyph National Monument
• Saguaro National Park (Rincon District)

First visits

• Aztec Ruins National Monument
• Manzanar National Historic Site
• Devils Postpile National Monument
• Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
• Lassen Volcanic National Park
• Lava Beds National Monument
• WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument (Tule Lake unit)
• Oregon Caves National Monument

I considered ranking the parks I’ve seen this year, but it’s always difficult to choose amongst such cool places. Each is in their own way special, whether it’s because of the terrain or the memories you create there. However, a few of this year’s experiences stick out.

One of those moments was seeing the bat show at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Another was finally—finally!—visiting the north rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Or being part of some amazing sunset light at White Sands National Monument. Or collecting wild blackberries by kayak in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. Or exploring Fern Canyon in Redwoods State and National Parks. Or spending several days kayaking through Canyonlands National Park.

There were certainly other moments, special moments, and others that are more forgettable, but each unique and special in its own way.

I’ve been particularly bad about posting photos and trip summaries from the trips I’ve taken this year. I’m hoping to start getting those up in the next few months.

So what are my 2011 National Park goals? I’m not sure yet—I suspect that it’ll be a relatively lean year, but I’m definitely hoping to mark off a few more. Do you have any national park trips planned this year?

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All in all, it was a great trip. I’m glad that I won’t have to drive through Texas again (we did it last winter for our Texas roadtrip and the summer before that for our post-wedding trip through the South) – and that was enough. It was interesting to see another part of the country (you’re up next New England!), though I am yearning for some large, wilderness parks.

• Most surprising unit: Vicksburg National Military Park
• Most disappointing unit: Chalmette Battlefield (or New Orleans Jazz NHP)
• Unforgettable memory: New Years Eve in the French Quarter
• Forgettable memory: having a dead car battery on Christmas Eve at a New Mexico rest area
• Best food: Oceana, just off Bourbon Street. We ate there consecutive nights.
• Worst food: Chuy’s restaurant in Van Horn, Texas.
• If we would have had more time: we would done walking history tour of New Orleans
• Best part of the trip: spending it with Kim

National Park Service units we visited (9 new, 2 repeat visits):

• Big Thicket National Preserve (TX)
• Cane River Creole National Historic Park (LA)
• Poverty Point National Monument (LA)
• Natchez Trace Parkway (MS)
• Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail (MS)
• Vicksburg National Military Park (MS)
• Natchez National Historic Park (MS)
• New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park (LA)
• Jean Lafitte National Historic Park (LA)
• Jean Lafitte National Preserve (LA)
• Fort Bowie National Historic Site (AZ)

Blog posts on scottandkimmie.com:

• An inauspicious start
• Christmas driving, Riverwalk, and the Negotiator
• The plantations of the Cane River Lake
• Poverty Point and Vicksburg
• Driving the Natchez Trace and touring an antebellum mansion
• Ringing in the New Year in NOLA

Blog posts here on rscottjones.com:

• An inauspicious start to the roadtrip
• More thoughts on Big Thicket, Cane River Creole, Poverty Point, and Vicksburg
• Thoughts on New Years Eve in the French Quarter of NOLA
• This just in: John Madden has terrible taste

Some final random thoughts:

• Natchez Trace Parkway is full of really cool stuff and it’s a nice drive too. I definitely recommend some time along it.
• Jean Lafitte National Historic Park & Preserve is one of the more diverse units in the system. It contains several cultural centers, a prime French Quarter visitor center, the Chalmette Battlefield and the Barataria Preserve. Not bad for a relatively obscure park.
• Vicksburg National Military Park could do with a more reasonably priced auto tour drive – or at least allow visitors to borrow it for the tour (Lyndon Johnson National Historic Park did this well).

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Last year, we took advantage of the planning freedom afforded us by a sub-par season to hit as any of the Texas National Park units as possible. We nearly completed them all, had I not managed to get sick and delay our departure.

This year, we’ll build on what we accomplished last winter and the summer prior to that by finishing off a good chunk of the South. In particular, we’ll finish up the states of Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

Not necessarily the places you’d think of, well, vacationing in, but it’ll get done an important chunk in our quest to visit all 392 units of the National Park Service. And we always enjoy our roadtrips, no matter where we end up. As we plan and get started, I’ll post additional information. For now, here’s our expected itinerary:

• Big Thicket National Preserve
• Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve
• New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park
• Gulf Islands National Seashore
• Natchez National Historical Park
• Vicksburg National Military Park
• Poverty Point National Monument
• Cane River Creole National Historical Park

We’ll also try to spend some time in the city of New Orleans, tour an old plantation, and maybe even mark Fort Bowie National Historic Site (Arizona) and/or Chickasaw National Recreation Area (Oklahoma) off the list, too.

The post Our winter National Parks roadtrip: LA, MS, AL appeared first on rscottjones.

With those limitations – and the caveat that we want to focus on units we haven’t been to yet – it’s really down to either the Bay Area, the California desert…or Texas. It’s all about strategy in choosing.

We’ve visited all but a few NPS units in the Bay Area (Eugene O’Neill, SF Maritime, Rosie the Riveter, and Port Chicago) but love the area and could easily bunk in with family and find other non-NPS sights to visit. We could also hit Mojave and the Santa Monica Mountains, two places that we’ve passed through, but haven’t really stopped in. However, we’re planning a roadtrip to a future ASU away game (maybe Stanford on Oct 24 next year) and we could easily find ourselves in the Emerald Bowl next year as well, so we can always do those units then.

Next on the list is the California desert. This trip would include stops at Mojave, Death Valley (we’ve been there, but didn’t get to see everything we wanted to), Manzanar (we drove past without stopping back in ’99), and maybe a stop at Santa Monica Mountains and/or Lake Mead. Most of these places are places we could visit in conjunction with a Vegas Bowl trip, or technically a Rose, Holiday, or even Poinsetta Bowl trip for that matter. They’re also close enough to just hit on a short 3-4 day trip.

Finally, there’s Texas. This trip would focus on Big Bend and Fort Davis, plus any other stops we could work in. But we always figured that we’d tack Big Bend and Fort Davis onto a Sun Bowl trip. We’ve also been “saving” Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns for an additional Sun Bowl trip or a shorter 4-5 day trip. Of course, we’ve also planned on taking a long roadtrip to hit the rest of the South, mostly focused on the units around the Gulf Coast – so we’d probably be driving passed these Texas units on that trip.

So, what did we decide? We’re headed to Texas.

Yeah, I know, it’s Texas – a state we do our best to avoid. But here’s the rationale. We’re quickly running out of trips that we can drive to, and Texas is far enough away to make for a serious roadtrip while not making us feel bad about eliminating shorter long-weekend-type trips. And, let’s face it, it’d be great to get Texas out of the way and instead fly into New Orleans and start the Gulf Coast loop from there.

So here are the units we’re considering hitting:

• Big Bend National Park
• Fort Davis National Historic Site
• Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River
• Amistad National Recreation Area
• Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site
• Padre Island National Seashore
• San Antonio Missions National Historic Park
• The Alamo (not a NPS unit, but hard to pass by without stopping)
• Lyndon B Johnson National Historic Park
• Chamizal National Memorial

Other possible add-ons:

• Guadalupe Mountains National Park
• Big Thicket National Preserve
• Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
• Fort Bowie National Historic Site (a unit on my 101 list)
• Austin – yes not a unit, but we need something to do on Jan 1 when NPS units are closed.

That trip would get most of Texas done in a little over a week, and if we were able to tack on Big Thicket and Guadalupe Mountains, then we would actually completely finish off the state. Of course, Guadalupe Mountains would get done whenever we do Carlsbad Caverns, and Big Thicket could easily be incorporated into the Gulf Coast loop, so we won’t be orphaning these units if we skip them this time around.

It’s not a particularly glamorous National Park roadtrip, with only Big Bend making on to my top 25 NPS units I still haven’t seen list. But it does get a bunch of stuff done – and hopefully for cheap, as we can camp at most of the units (or in adjacent state parks). And while Big Bend is definitely the main attraction, though I think it will be interesting to see The Alamo and some of the San Antonio Missions, and you never know when you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

We’re still planning the trip, but I’ll post the final trip plans whenever they come together.

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