Glacier Bay National Park – Alaska
Alaska is just a massive state, and it was on our second visit that we set our sights on traveling into Glacier Bay National Park. Stories of John Muir traversing the same area inspired us to want to journey where he also traveled, into the waters and fjords he once explored by canoe.
It was August, and this would be the last National Park tour of the season as ice was already forming around the bay. Highlights of the day included the wildlife along the edges as we moved deeper toward the glaciers and the breathtaking spectacle of ice calving into the bay, massive chunks crashing into the sea.
Glacier Bay’s protection as a public treasure began in 1925 when President Calving Coolidge proclaimed the area a national monument. Later, in 1980, President Jimmy Carter formally designated Glacier Bay as a National Park, ensuring its preservation for future generations.
Today, Glacier Bay is part of a larger UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized for its dramatic glaciers and fjords and its rich ecosystems and cultural history. Visiting Glacier Bay was awe-inspiring and worth the effort to get there.
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Big Cypress – Florida
Big Cypress is not exactly a national park, but a national preserve. A national preserve allows certain traditional uses to continue while still protecting the land. When Congress established Big Cypress in 1974, it became one of the very first two national preserves in the country, Big Cypress protects nearly 729,000 acres of land, making […]
Wright Brothers National Memorial – North Carolina
When visiting the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Erin and I spent a day at the Wright Brothers National Memorial, the very place where powered flight first lifted off the plane and changed human history. Set in Kill Devil Hills, the memorial preserves the windswept dunes where Wilbur and Oliver Wright achieved the world’s first successful, […]
Cesar E. Chavez National Monument – California
One December, I mapped out a trip to California to travel by myself and visit a number of historic sites, national parks and presidential libraries. It was an ambitious plan, and as it turned out, driving those busy California highways alone took far longer than I expected. One of the stops on that journey was the Cesar […]
