Midwest Region
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Iowa
- Not yet: Effigy Mounds National Monument
- Visited: Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
Illinois
- Visited: Lincoln Home National Historic Site
- Visited: Pullman National Monument
Indiana
- Visited: George Rogers Clark National Historical Park
- Visited: Indiana Dunes National Park
- Not yet: Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
Kansas
- Visited: Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park
- Visited: Fort Larned National Historic Site
- Visited: Fort Scott National Historic Site
- Visited: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
- Visited: Nicodemus National Historic Site
Michigan
- Not yet: Isle Royale National Park
- Visited: Keweenaw National Historical Park
- Not yet: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
- Not yet: River Raisin National Battlefield Park
- Not yet: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Minnesota
- Visited: Grand Portage National Historical Site
- Not yet: Mississippi National River & Recreation Area
- Visited: Pipestone National Monument
- Visited: Voyageurs National Park
Missouri
- Visited: George Washington Carver National Monument
- Not yet: Harry S Truman National Historic Site
- Visited: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
- Visited: Ozark National Scenic Riverways
- Not yet: Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site
- Visited: Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield
Nebraska
- Not yet: Agate Fossil Beds National Monument
- Visited: Homestead National Historical Park
- Not yet: Missouri National Recreational River
- Visited: Niobrara National Scenic River
- Visited: Scotts Bluff National Monument
- Visited: Pony Express National Historic Trail
Ohio
- Not yet: Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument
- Not yet: Cuyahoga Valley National Park
- Visited: Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
- Visited: First Ladies National Historic Site
- Not yet: Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
- Visited: James A. Garfield National Historic Site
- Visited: Perry’s Victory & International Peace Memorial
- Not yet: William Howard Taft National Historic Site
Wisconsin
- Visited: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
- Not yet: St. Croix National Scenic Riverway
Recent Posts
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
At the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, I saw not just the resting place of a president, but also the beginning of his life. Located in the small town of West Branch, Iowa, the site preserves the humble Quaker community where Herbert Hoover was born in 1874. Hoover’s grave site one a quiet hillside overlooking […]
George Washington Carver National Monument
The George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Missouri, honors the life of a man born into slavery who would become one of the most respected agricultural scientists and educators in American history. Visiting this site is about a beginning. George Washington Carver was born in the early 1860s on a small farm owned by […]
Niobrara National Scenic River
Some National Park sites are immersive, day-long explorations. Others are quick stops, places we discover while driving through an area without the luxury of lingering. But even on those shorter visits, I will always stop at the visitor center. I want to understand why this land is protected. What happened here? What story is layered beneath […]
Apostle Island National Lakeshore
There are places in the National Park System that offer a different kind of experience. The Apostle Island National Lakeshore is one of those places. Reaching the Apostles is part of the experience. Located along the northern edge of Wisconsin on Lake Superior. The inland roads give way to water, and the sense of direction […]
Fort Larned National Historic Site
Along our coasts and across the vast interior of our country, we have built military forts. They rise not in settled times, but in moments of change, when boundaries shift, when commerce pushes outward, when cultures meet in tension. Fort Larned stands as one of those witnesses to transition. In 1859, along the corridor of the […]
Homestead National Historical Park
Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice, Nebraska preserves the story of one of the most transformative legislations in American history: The Homestead Act of 1862. Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, the Act allowed citizens to claim 160 acres of public land if they lived on it, built a dwelling and farmed it for […]
Voyageurs National Park
I have explored many National Parks on solo driving tours. There is something about the quiet rhythm of the road with long stretches of highway and time to think. Driving to Voyageurs in northern Minnesota was one of those journeys. I followed the North Shore of Lake Superior for part of the trip, marveling at its vastness. […]
Pony Express National Historic Trail
In the wide-open landscapes of the American West, communication was once slow, uncertain, and often perilous. Long before telegraph wires stretched across the continent, letters were the only way to stay connected across the plains, deserts and mountain ranges. Carrying the mail by horseback became one of the boldest experiments in frontier logistics ever attempted. This […]
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
I enjoy studying and exploring Presidential sites, and I have visited all of the Presidential libraries and many smaller historic locations. Of course, I am partial to some presidents more than others, and for me one that is most special is Abraham Lincoln. As a child, we celebrated his birthday in February each year, separately, […]
Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield
As I gather my photos from years of National Park exploration, there are many Civil War battlefields among them. These are sacred landscapes that once witnessed unimaginable bloodshed on our own U.S. soil. Missouri’s Wilson’s Creek is one of those places, marking a fiercely divisive battle during the earliest months of the Civil War. Preserved […]
Scotts Bluff National Monument
Another memorable stop on our 1995 family cross-country road trip was Scotts Bluff National Monument in western Nebraska. Coming from the eastern part of the country, we wanted our daughters to see first-hand what life was like for families who traveled west by wagon train. Rising from the plans, Scotts Bluff was one of the […]
Perry’s Victory & International Peace Memorial
As we continued driving west on our family road trip in 1995, we boarded a boat on Lake Erie and crossed the water to the Perry’s Victory and International Peak Memorial. Reaching this site by water made visiting it more intentional and part of the story. Rising from South Bass Island is this 352-foot granite column that […]
