Rocky Mountain National Park – Colorado
Another spectacular National Park is Rocky Mountain National Park. My oldest daughter Emily lives in the foothills of this park, so we have enjoyed more visits than most. From the rugged alpine cliffs to the mountain lakes, this landscape reminds us how diverse this park is.

Established in January 1915, when Woodrow Wilson signed the act that officially set it aside as a national park, Rocky Mountain National Park preserves more than 415 square miles of dramatic terrain.

One of the park’s iconic features is Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved road in the United States. Climbing above 12,000 feet, it carries you to be above the trees. The park also included stunning lakes, like Bear Lake.

Each season of this park reveals something new: golden aspens, winter snow, spring green and the summer heat. It is another one of the jewels of our National Park System.

Read More From Nancy
Timpanogos Cave National Monument – Utah
On a solo trip, I flew into Salt Lake City and made my way into the mountains towards Timpanogos Cave National Monument. The drive led me away from the city and into the Wasatch Range. The caves are hidden within the mountains and inside holds features that seem to ignore the rules: these delicate formations that […]
Denali National Park – Alaska
Flying into Anchorage, our first destination was Denali, and the drive itself felt like the beginning of the adventure. Leaving the city behind, the road quickly opened into vast stretches of wilderness where the scale of Alaska became unmistakable. The Parks Highway winds north through wide valleys and uninterrupted views that seem to stretch forever. […]
White Sands National Park – New Mexico
White Sands is one of those landscapes that feels almost otherworldly as there is wave after wave of white dunes stretching across the Tularosa Basin in southern New Mexico. What surprised us most was these dunes are not sand but are made of gypsum. Gypsum is a soft mineral that usually dissolves in water, but here, because of the […]