Alaska
- Not yet: Alagnak Wild River
- Not yet: Aniakchak National Monument
- Not yet: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve
- Not yet: Cape Krusenstern National Monument
- Visited: Denali National Park
- Not yet: Gates of the Arctic National Park
- Visited: Glacier Bay National Park
- Not yet: Katmai National Park
- Visited: Kenai Fjords National Park
- Visited: Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
- Not yet: Kobuk Valley National Park
- Not yet: Lake Clark National Park
- Not yet: Noatak National Preserve
- Visited: Sitka National Historical Park
- Visited: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
- Not yet: Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve
Idaho
- Visited: City of Rocks National Reserve
- Visited: Craters of the Moon National Monument
- Visited: Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
- Not yet: Minidoka National Historic Site
- Not yet: Nez Perce National Historical Park
Oregon
- Visited: Crater Lake National Park
- Visited: John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
- Visited: Lewis and Clark National Historical Park
- Visited: Oregon Caves National Monumen
Washington
- Visited: Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve
- Visited: Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
- Visited: Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
- Not yet: Lake Chelan National Recreation Area
- Not yet: Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
- Not yet: Manhattan Project National Historical Park
- Visited: Mount Rainier National Park
- Visited: North Cascades National Park
- Visited: Olympic National Park
- Not yet: Ross Lake National Recreation Area
- Visited: San Juan Island National Historical Park
- Visited: Whitman Mission National Historic Site
Recent Posts
Oregon Caves National Monument
Driving solo the Redwood Highway along the northern California border is an experience in itself. The road winds through towering trees and dense forest. This is the kind of drive where discovery is around every bend. As I made my way towards the Oregon state line, I turned inland toward Oregon Caves National Monument. Here […]
Klondike Gold Rush Historical Park
The Seattle Visitor Center of the Klondike Gold Rush Historical Park sits in Pioneer Square, inside the historic Cadman Building. This was the heart of a young city eager for opportunity. When news of gold discoveries in the Yukon reached the United States in 1897, Seattle seized the moment. Newspapers declared the city the “Gateway […]
Craters of the Moon National Monument
Another solo driving tour took me through Idaho. There were early mornings on those roads when the light stretched across open land and I found myself wishing someone else could see what I was seeing. Some landscapes feel almost too vast to keep to yourself. I knew there was no way I could fully describe it. […]
Crater Lake National Park
I visited Crater Lake National Park on one of my solo excursions. It was one of those places I wished I had shared with someone else. The color of the lake matched the bluest of skies as I walked along the rim, a blue so intense it almost felt unreal. There are no rivers flowing […]
Glacier Bay National Park
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 […]
Sitka National Historical Park
On our second trip to Alaska, we made the effort to travel to Sitka, and this town did not disappoint. When the ferry glided into this quaint harbor town, it felt as though we had arrived somewhere different from anywhere else in the state. Walking its streets, we paused at shop windows filled with Russian icons and […]
Mount Rainier National Park
Mount Rainier rises more than 14,000 feet above the surrounding forests and valleys. Mount Rainier dominates the horizon. Its snow-covered summit is visible from miles away. Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano and the most heavily glaciated peak in the contiguous United States. These glaciers feed rivers that shape western Washington and sustain ecosystems, agriculture and communities […]
Denali National Park
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. […]
