The Peace Garden straddles the international boundary between North Dakota, US and Manitoba, Canada, with the entrance located in between the customs/border patrol stations of each country. That means that you can visit without officially “entering” into a new country.

I needed to visit as part of my Affiliated Areas of the NPS quest, and my buddy from back in my days on twitter, Todd Scott, could make the drive down to meet up in person for the first time. I’m a big proponent of turning online relationships into offline friendships (hey, you can even add yourself to my database of people to meet up with during my travels).

Todd is an eclectic guy. For a number of years, he was a duct tape artist for Duck brand duct tape. No, I’m serious. Here’s an article in The Washington Post about one of his creations. These days, he’s a CPR/First Aid/AED¹ instructor, who at the time was filming short CPR videos².

We thought it’d be fun to have a handshake across the international boundary. You know, for the sake of international relations and all.

Knowing that I was a big craft beer fan—and as a super nice Canadian—he also came prepared with some gifts. A nondrinker, he polled his friends on what the absolute worst Canadian beers were…and then picked up several of them for us. Uhhh, thanks Todd (well played my friend). He also brought a couple decent ones, and some Canadian snacks he thought we should try.

Funny enough, there prior day we had been at our favorite brewery in the country, Drekker Brewing in Fargo. And we had STOCKED UP. Awkwardly, Todd’s gift now put us over the limit of what you can bring back into the United States without paying an (expensive) import tax. Gah! We’d have to kill a few of these before heading back, and hope that we weren’t asked about anything in the car.

We enjoyed a few hours wandering around the garden, having lunch, and visiting with Todd. It’s not the most interesting destination, but I really like the premise. Besides the gardens, there are some more natural areas; camping, cabins, and a lodge; an interpretative center (sorry, “centre”); auditorium, and a bunch of other stuff, too. We primarily stuck to the gardens area.

A few shots:

Here’s a final shot of Jen and I with the worst beer Todd had gifted us, a few days later at the end of the trip. Perhaps amongst the very, very worst I’ve ever had (I didn’t drink beer until my thirties, so I jumped right to craft beer). Again, well played, Todd.

1. Here’s a TED Talk he did entitled: An intergalactic guide to using a defibrillator ︎
2. We filmed one of them at the Peace Garden, near where we shook hands. The “plot” was that we were both doing CPR in our respective countries, but I wasn’t using proper technique and bending my arms, so I got tired too soon and keeled over. He dragged me across the border to ensure that I had access to free health care. ︎

The post Visiting the International Peace Garden on the US-Canada border appeared first on rscottjones.

I used GPS the entire way, running off of a custom map of pins we had created for the trip.

I’m continually amazed at how much easier and less stressful it is to drive in unfamiliar areas using GPS than before—especially navigating crowded city centers, areas with only one-way roads, and spaghetti freeway intersections.

There’s nothing like avoiding an hour-long backup by getting a notice of it early enough that you can take a far better alternative. And it’s nice to know about road hazards and speed traps in advance, too. And getting a heads up as to which lane to be in for your turn is quite handy. And it’s especially great when it recalculates a new route if you miss your turn. Or remind you what the speed limit is on that rural highway that doesn’t seem to have a sign.

GPS can be an absolutely amazing tool for roadtrips.

Unfortunately, as GPS moves you through the streets of an unknown city with ease, it does so in a dis-orienting way. You don’t get the same sense of the geography when you’re simply following an arrow on the map. That’s especially true when that map remains, nearly always, intently zoomed into just the block or two you’re currently traversing—never pausing to lift its head up and look further afield.

As a result, you rarely get to orient yourself to the shape or layout of a city in the same way you naturally would if looking at a paper map. It’s hard to know which way is north, or what you’re bypassing by taking this particular route.

When someone asks me where I visited in a city—was that brewery on the east side of town, or the southwest? I might struggle because I’m not sure; I just followed the turns the GPS told me to, got in the correct lanes when it said to, and followed the blue line on the map. I don’t really know where I went.

I routinely drive through many small towns on my trips. Too often I find that I’m routed around historic downtowns or otherwise interesting neighborhoods—sometimes without even realizing it—simply for efficiency’s sake. I’ll be directed to turn right three blocks before the historic old courthouse to miss the only stoplight in town, cutting a corner off to save a minute or two, but also missing the only thing I’d find interesting about the place. This ruthless efficiency is great for your daily commute. But it’s less than ideal when the point is exploring along your route.

That relentless optimization is the biggest downside for me. There’s simply no way to prioritize a scenic or interesting route—just the most efficient one. So I’m routinely forced to add otherwise meaningless waypoints along the route I want to take, just to ensure that it will be offered as a choice to select.

And since these apps often “find a faster route” and automatically override your current route unless you opt out in time, these waypoints become critical for taking the slightly longer but far more enjoyable route.

Like I said, GPS can be an absolutely terrible tool for roadtrips.

The post Why GPS sucks for roadtrips, and why I’ll still never drive without it appeared first on rscottjones.

Wait, what do you mean by surprise?

Jen and I want you (or someone like you) to help choose a surprise destination for our April road trip. We won’t know where we are headed until a random number generator chooses a suggestion from the entires you and others have submitted. Having already packed before the selection, we just get in the car and go, planning out the trip as we go.

The process

Use the Google Form below to submit an entry that follows the important rules outlined below before we leave on April 12.

On April 12, we’ll pack our car for the trip. We’ll log into the form, find out how many entries there are, and then use a random number generator to pick a number for us. We’ll use that number to select the corresponding entry. If the entry meets the rules listed below, that will be our required destination. If it doesn’t meet our rules or is otherwise invalid, we’ll simply discard it and pick another random number. Once we learn where our destination is, we’ll hop in the car, hit the open road, and plan the trip as we go.

Obviously, we’ll likely add some additional stops on our itinerary, based on our prior knowledge and our after-the-surprise trip planning, but we’ll make sure to at least visit the selected destination. If the destination is boring or not fun, we won’t stay long and will simply move along to find something better. After all, we take road trips to have fun.

Follow #SurpriseUsRoadTrip on twitter or my stories on instagram for more updates, including during the road trip itself.

The rules

We’re placing some limitations on the suggestions. If your entry doesn’t meet all of these requirements, it’ll be disqualified and we will have to randomly select another entry. You can submit multiple entries.

Destinations must:

• be within 6 hours of driving time from Phoenix (calculated by Google Maps)
• be accessible by car (or easily accessible on foot—no submitting destinations that require difficult hikes, paddles, climbs, etc)
• be legally accessible without a permit or reservation
• not be located in Mexico
• be places we can safely drive to (and out of!) in my Subaru Outback without any consternation (in short, don’t send us someplace that requires high clearance or 4WD driving skills)
• not be impacted by things like flooding, wildfire, safety concerns, shitty beer, etc. (ok fine, we might go to places with shitty beer, but only because we’ve already packed our own)
• not be an inappropriate place for us to visit publicly (eg, no underground sex club, random person’s house, opium den, MAGA rally, etc)

Why are we doing this?

For fun!

We’re also believers in the idea that you can have fun on nearly any trip, and this is a way to test that theory out. Let’s see if we do!

And if we do…

If we enjoy this, we’ll likely do another one next year that involves flying somewhere and doing a surprise roadtrip from there (maybe we’ll have two rounds and even let you choose the city we fly to). After that, we’re tentatively planning a “dice” trip, where we fly into some European city, roll some dice, and let it choose our path for us. For instance, first roll of the dice determines which train platform, second roll determines how many stops we’ll go before getting off. Or some similarly random way of selecting destinations. We’ll continue to repeat this until we have to make our way back to the airport to fly home.

Here’s the form to submit for entries.

If you can’t see the embedded form below, you can find it here instead.

Thanks for participating! Feel free to submit more entries.

The post Choose a surprise destination for our upcoming road trip! appeared first on rscottjones.

We got the official word that ASU’s bowl game would be in Las Vegas while we were on the other side of the globe in Fiji. Luckily, with some hotel wifi and fb messenger, we organized a ticket order with our tailgating crew—and even managed to score a free hotel room. Even better, my dad and his girlfriend would be able to attend as well.

Since this was an unscheduled trip, we’d have to squeeze it into a short weekend. That meant leaving after work on Friday and returning Sunday night—a quick turnaround from our Tuesday night return from the South Pacific. We’d also need to take Jen’s vehicle, as Sam the Subie was overdue for some new struts, so that meant no dirt road adventures on the way home.

Unfortunately, we returned from our big trip less than healthy, which made the pre-game celebrations with our tailgating group at the casino on Friday night a bit muted. Nonetheless, we enjoyed a few hours collecting free drinks at the slots while our friends won and lost money. We’re not really gamblers—those casinos aren’t built out of free money—but we’ll definitely pretend to play for some free drinks and a chance to hang out with friends.

I was feeling pretty awful after another sleepless night nursing a worsening cold, but I wasn’t going to miss the game. We grabbed breakfast and arrived early at Sam Boyd Stadium. We skipped doing a tailgate and instead caught up with our group for a remarkable tour (sorry—I can’t say what the tour was, but it was pretty darn cool).

Given a long list of injuries and some other circumstances surrounding the game, we didn’t expect a victory. And, unfortunately, the game played out much as we anticipated. But in spite of the outcome—and some chilly weather in the shady part of the stadium—we had an enjoyable time.

By the time we had returned to the casino, another friend had joined us, and the five of us spent the remainder of the night enjoying a number of drinks and a huge pizza in a corner food court of the casino. It wasn’t your typical Vegas celebration, but it was a perfect way to end the day.

We added on a short lunch stop with one of Jen’s friends before heading home the next day—another college football season in the books.

The post A short weekend at the Vegas Bowl appeared first on rscottjones.

In March 2013, I had one of my most productive national park road trips. I called it my #BattlefieldsandBeginnings trip, and it primarily focused on as-yet-unvisited national parks in Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland. I also snuck in a quick jaunt over the Pennsylvania border to hit Gettysburg and the adjacent Eisenhower National Historic Site.

My original plan was to add about 10 days onto a work trip that would bring me to rural Virginia and DC, adding about 15 national parks to my list. In the end, I was able to add a few extra days and more than double my original goal.

It was a fast-paced trip, but with some serious strategizing, early mornings and late nights, I was able to see everything I wanted. It helps that my targeted parks were located in an area dense with mostly historically-focused national parks.

I wasn’t able to make many other stops, most notably for the state high points or roadside oddities that have recently found their way onto my trip itineraries, as there were simply too many national parks available to visit. Of course, it’s not like I was passing many must-have photo ops along the way—unlike Kansas and the other fly-over states, there’s a dearth of fun roadside oddities near our nation’s capital (insert your own joke here).

Finally, one word about all of the battlefields I visited on this trip. I enjoyed them. No, really. After a battlefield-laden trip to the Deep South several years ago with Kim, I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy another battlefield in my life. However, watching Ken Burns’ excellent Civil War series this spring, I had a better appreciation for the various battles. Although, I’ll admit, I had really wanted to include Harpers Ferry to officially finish off all of the Civil War battles.

The national parks I visited:

1. Manassas National Battlefield Park
2. Prince William Forest Park
3. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park
4. Fort Washington Park
5. Piscataway Park
6. Richmond National Battlefield Park
7. Maggie Walker National Historic Site
8. Petersburg National Battlefield
9. Appomattox Court House National Historic Park
10. Booker T Washington National Monument
11. Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
12. Moores Creek National Battlefield
13. Cape Lookout National Seashore
14. Wright Brothers National Memorial
15. Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
16. Cape Hatteras National Seashore
17. Fort Monroe National Monument
18. Colonial National Historic Park (Jamestowne & Battle of Yorktown)
19. George Washington Birthplace National Monument
20. Thomas Stone National Historic Site
21. Greenbelt Park
22. Gettysburg National Military Park
23. Eisenhower National Historic Site
24. Monocacy National National Battlefield
25. Catoctin Mountain Park
26. Antietam National Battlefield
27. Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
28. Hamption National Historic Site
29. Clara Barton National Historic Site
30. Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
31. Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts

Other relevant links

You can also find my national park passport stamps for the trip here.

Here’s an archive of my tweets and foursquare check-ins during the trip.

The post My #BattlefieldsandBeginnings road trip appeared first on rscottjones.

While I’ve had some amazing travel years, 2012 surprisingly ranks near the top.

I made it to 39 national park units I had not yet visited, took my first big solo national park road trip, visited a few new states and two new parts of the country, made it to the first Graham family reunion in several decades, marked off a few straggling park units that had dogged me for years, rafted and backpacked in some amazing places, gained a nickname for visiting all three specimens competing for the title of the World’s Largest Ball of Twine, started a new quest to hit all of the highest points of relatively flat states, and stopped by over one hundred roadside oddities and attractions. And, of course, created some fabulous memories.

And while I missed out on anticipated trips to finish up the South, attend ASU’s bowl game, and hit San Francisco, it’s hard not to consider the year a great success.

Here’s the list of where I went this year:

October

• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Navajo Bridge)
• Arches National Park (Delicate Arch)
• Yucca House National Monument
• Curecanti National Recreation Area

Great Waters of the North – August (incomplete listing)

• Missouri National Recreational River
• Niobrara National Scenic River
• Voyageurs National Park
• Grand Portage National Monument
• Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
• Isle Royale National Park
• Keweenaw National Historical Park
• Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
• Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
• Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
• Lincoln Home National Historic Site
• Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
• Effigy Mounds National Monument
• Mississippi River National River & Recreation Area
• Saint Croix National Scenic River
• Northwest Angle – Angle Inlet
• The remaining two Largest Balls of Twine
• Three highest points: Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin
• Roughly 60-70 other roadside oddities…

Hohokam Pima National Monument with Kim – July

Graham reunion & Roadside oddities of the Prairielands – July

• Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
• Nicodemus National Historic Site
• Fort Larned National Historic Site
• Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Chickasaw National Recreation Area
• President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site
• Buffalo National River
• World’s Largest Ball of Twine and the Walk of Twine (Cawker City, KS)
• Mount Sunflower (highest point in Kansas)
• Panorama Point (highest point in Nebraska)
• Chase County Courthouse – longest continuously operated west of Mississippi River
• Council Grove and associated historical sites
• Rock City
• The hole where the guy who killed the guy who killed President Lincoln lived
• Geographic Center of the contiguous US (and chapel)
• Nazareth Convent and public gardens in Concordia
• Garden of Eden
• Bowl Plaza public bathrooms
• Jack Kilby Memorial
• World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things
• Pawnee Rock
• Santa Fe Trail ruts
• Rush Center, Home of the Largest St Patrick’s Day parade
• Barbed Wire Museum & Hall of Fame
• Monument Rocks National Natural Landmark
• World’s Largest Easel & Van Gogh’s Sunflowers
• Kit Carson Lookout
• Tri-state boundary marker (NE-CO-WY)
• Eiffel Tower of Texas
• Oklahoma Truck Supply sign

Chaco with Mom – May

• Chaco Canyon National Historical Park

Utah Canyons – May

• Cedar Mesa/Grand Gulch backpack
• San Juan River rafting (Sand Island/Bluff to Mexican Hat)
• Capitol Reef National Park
• Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

The Gila – April

• Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
• Trail of the Mountain Spirits National Scenic Byway
• Catwalk National Recreational Trail
• Mogollon (ghost town)

Grand Canyon – April

• Grand Canyon National Park
• Agua Fria National Monument

San Diego – January

• Cuyamaca Rancho State Park
• Anza Borrego State Park
• Pacific Beach

Forts and Seashores – December 2011/January 2012

• Charles Pinckney National Historic Site
• Fort Moultrie
• Fort Sumter National Monument
• Charleston, SC
• Fort Pulaski National Monument
• Savannah, SC
• Fort Frederica National Monument
• Cumberland Island National Seashore
• Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve
• Fort Caroline National Memorial
• Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
• Fort Matanzas National Monument
• Canaveral National Seashore
• De Soto National Memorial
• Gulf Islands National Seashore

It’ll be tough to top this list, but I’m hoping 2013 will yield some amazing trips as well.

The post 2012 was among my best trip years yet appeared first on rscottjones.

Last week, I took what is probably my last national park road trip with Betsy: a long overdue visit to Chaco Culture National Historical Park—one of the first places we had intended to go once we got it. It was a last minute change of plans that had me take the Forester on that trip, but it was great to bring her out one last time, and especially to a remote park that requires a significant drive on dirt roads to access.

With 175,000 miles on her, and several significant repairs I’ve been delaying, and only one long national park road trip to the Pacific Northwest remaining (I’ll fly to the northeastern parks from now on), she’s likely finally retired from her road trip career. While I’d love to do some more long roadtrips with her, I’m also happy shuttling around my kayak and mountain bike around the state. Thanks for all of the lifelong roadtripping memories.

The post Roadtripping the national parks in my Forester appeared first on rscottjones.

Along the way, we stopped at the Blythe Intaglios, a series of rock geoglyphs near the Colorado River. Because it had rained just before we left Arizona, some roads in Mojave were a bit rough and the park ranger suggested we stick to just a few parts of the park. We spent some time at the Kelso Depot and Kelso Dunes, and camped and hiked near Hole-in-the-Wall. We also managed a tour of Mitchell Caverns within the Providence Mountains State Recreation Area. When it was time to head home, we traveled along historic Route 66 and stopped off at Joshua Tree National Park for half a day before finishing the drive home.

It was a short trip, but we managed to see quite a bit. I’ve finally posted the photos from the trip, so please feel free to take a look and leave a comment or two.

• Blythe Intaglios
• Mojave National Preserve
• Mitchell Caverns
• Along the way—Route 66/Amboy
• Joshua Tree National Park

The post Our Mojave National Preserve roadtrip appeared first on rscottjones.

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?

The post National Parks I visited in 2010 appeared first on rscottjones.

There have been a few of these places along the way. George Rogers Clark National Historic Park’s huge granite memorial, which clearly deserved to be the central attraction of a major city but was instead plopped down seemingly nowhere. The visitor center at Brown vs Board of Education National Historic Site, which stands as the most emotionally moving I’ve seen. The incredibly high tree canopy of Congaree National Park, the largest remnant of an old growth floodplain forest on the continent, which seems tucked away in South Carolina. And so forth.

Add to that list Vicksburg National Military Park. Well, at least two components of it. I was greatly impressed with the Illinois Monument, which reminded me a bit of both the archives building and the George Rogers Clark memorial I mentioned above. And I was completely caught off guard by the USS Cairo (pronounced KAY-row). I remember seeing a picture of an armor-clad Civil War battleship back in school, but had no idea that we were going to see one until we turned the corner on the driving tour. Both unleashed those unexpected fleeting moments of excitement when you first realize that there’s something much cooler to this place than you had anticipated. The thrill of discovery, you might call it.

Touring the national parks has focused our attention on learning more about the country in which we live; experiencing, at least within a narrow focus, some of what it’s meant to be American or experience a bit of America.

There have been a few disappointing parks we’ve visited, but it’s always because we wanted to learn more than the park has resources to provide. And even in those disappointments, we gain a new understanding of the natural or cultural heritage that we must continue to protect.

But most of the time, we walk away excited and awed by some magnificent fact or memorable experience of a place we may not ever had taken the trouble to see. It’s these kinds of pleasant surprises that energize me through the year in protecting a new set of worthy places.

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