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
- Not yet: 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
- Not yet: 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
- Not yet: Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve
- Not yet: 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
- Not yet: San Juan Island National Historical Park
- Not yet: Whitman Mission National Historic Site
Recent Posts
Lewis and Clark National Historical Park
A few hours before we flew home from teaching in Oregon, we took a road trip to Fort Clatsop, part of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. What began as a simple side trip became one of those memorable moments where history suddenly feels very real. Standing at the place where the Lewis and Clark Expedition […]
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve was part of our 2014 trip to Alaska. We drove into the Wrangell area, and what I most remember is the vast and distant everything felt. This is not an easy part to access. Roads are limited and distances are long. Most of the park is still reached by small […]
North Cascades National Park
North Cascades National Park came into my travels during a visit to Seattle, where Marty was recording techniques classes. With a few hours to myself, I decided to make the drive, about three hours from the city, and what I found felt like stepping into another world They call this region the “North American Alps,” and […]
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is a place of incredible diversity: mountains, rainforest and rugged coastline, all within one park. My day here was oneI took on my own. At the visitor center, I remember learning about a predator in the park, and that gave me pause. It shifted my mindset that I wasn’t quite as confident […]
John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
I took this ride to eastern Oregon solo, and what I remember is the isolation. The roads stretched on without interruption, the landscape opening wider with every mile. This is a different part of Oregon, far removed from the coastal side that most people know. There is no ocean here, not dense forest. I stayed […]
Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
Another remarkable place that preserves a much older chapter of Earth’s story is Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument. Located in southern Idaho, along the Snake River Canyon near the small town of Hagerman, this landscape holds fossil deposits dating back 3 to 4 million years. This region was once very different. Instead of the dry terrain […]
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 […]
