Mastodon Mastodon
cave

Caves I’ve visited

One of the natural features I often enjoy visiting on my travels are caves. I’m not a caver, but I seem to find myself in many places that have caves and cave tours, and it’s rare for me to pass up an opportunity to explore yet another one. In fact, I’ve been to more than … Read more

mojave_npres

Our Mojave National Preserve roadtrip

It was February 2009 when Kim and I brought friends Victoria and Terry on a short roadtrip to California. Our primary destination was Mojave National Preserve, a national park unit tucked away between I-15 and I-40 near the borders of California, Nevada, and Arizona. It was a first visit for Kim and I, who had … Read more

horseshoe bend

National Parks I visited in 2010

2010 was an uncommon year for me in my national park quest. For years and years, Kim and I would have gone on several trips each year, all with the sole purpose of marking dozens of parks off of our list. This year, things had changed. Even so, I was able to make it to … Read more

Roundup of our Bayou roadtrip

I belatedly realized that I hadn’t posted a summary of our Bayou roadtrip yet. Well, here it is. We drove 4,106 miles through 5 states in 11 days to see 11 parks, plus spend New Years Eve in the French Quarter of New Orleans. In doing so, we finished off the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, … Read more

Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site

After our wedding, Kim and I took a roadtrip across the South to visit a bunch of national parks as part of our quest. I commented last month that one of the benefits of our quest was that it brought us to see some really cool places that we otherwise wouldn’t have. One of those … Read more

We need an America the Beautiful pass for kids

For the ninth or tenth straight year, Kim and I bought an America the Beautiful Pass (or its predecessors, the National Parks Passport and Golden Eagle Passport). For $80 a year, it’ll get you and your family into every National Park unit and the other federal land management agency lands for free. Given the fabulous … Read more

uss cairo

Pleasant surprises in the national parks

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about my national park quest is that it pushes me to visit places I wouldn’t otherwise visit. It encourages me to step outside of what I know and am interested in to at least dabble in something new. I may not come away with a deep appreciation of … Read more

Our winter National Parks roadtrip: LA, MS, AL

It’s nearly the holidays, and that means that Kim and I are planning another roadtrip. Usually, this trip is half-planned for us: it’s often centered around which bowl game ASU will be playing in. Sadly, that hasn’t been the case the last couple of years. Last year, we took advantage of the planning freedom afforded … Read more

park stamp passports

Our park stamps

As many of you know, Kim and I are on a quest to visit all of the 391 units of the National Park Service. Well, we’ve established several routines when it comes to marking off each of these units, including taking a picture of us there, snapping a shot of our Forester in front of … Read more