Western Region
American Samoa, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, and Nevada.
American Samoa
- Not yet: National Park of American Samoa
Arizona
- Visited: Canyon de Chelly National Monument
- Not yet: Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
- Visited: Chiricahua National Monument
- Visited: Coronado National Memorial
- Visited: Fort Bowie National Historic Site
- Not yet: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
- Visited: Grand Canyon National Park
- Not yet: Hohokam Pima National Monument
- Visited: Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site
- Not yet: Montezuma Castle National Monument
- Visited: Navajo National Monument
- Visited: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
- Not yet: Petrified Forest National Park
- Visited: Pipe Spring National Monument
- Not yet: Saguaro National Park
- Not yet: Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
- Visited: Tonto National Monument
- Not yet: Tumacacori National Historical Park
- Visited: Tuzigoot National Monument
- Not yet: Walnut Canyon National Monument
- Not yet: Wupatki National Monument
California
- Not yet: Cabrillo National Monument
- Not yet: Castle Mountains National Monument
- Visited: César E. Chávez National Monument
- Not yet: Channel Islands National Park
- Visited: Death Valley National Park
- Not yet: Devils Postpile National Monument
- Not yet: Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site
- Visited: Fort Point National Historic Site
- Visited: Golden Gate National Recreation Area
- Visited: John Muir National Historic Site
- Not yet: Joshua Tree National Park
- Not yet: Kings Canyon National Park
- Not yet: Lassen Volcanic National Park
- Not yet: Lava Beds National Monument
- Visited: Manzanar National Historic Site
- Visited: Mojave National Preserve
- Visited: Muir Woods National Monument
- Visited: Pinnacles National Park
- Visited: Point Reyes National Seashore
- Not yet: Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
- Not yet: Redwood National and State Parks
- Visited: The Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park
- Visited: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
- Visited: Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
- Visited: Sequoia National Park
- Visited: Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
- Visited: Yosemite National Park
Guam
- Not yet: War in the Pacific National Historical Park
Hawaii
- Not yet: Haleakalā National Park
- Visited: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
- Not yet: Honouliuli National Historic Site
- Visited: Kalaupapa National Historical Park
- Visited: Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park
- Visited: Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park
- Not yet: Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site
- Not yet: World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument
- Visited: Pearl Harbor National Memorial
Nevada
- Visited: Great Basin National Park
- Visited: Lake Mead National Recreation Area
- Visited: Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument
- Visited: Death Valley National Park
Recent Posts
Point Reyes National Seashore
A great place to walk just outside of busy San Francisco is Point Reyes National Seashore. Within an hour of the city, you step into open coastline, rolling hills and windswept trails that feel wonderfully removed from urban life. This stunning stretch of California coastline was protected in 1962, when it was signed into law […]
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Driving through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument at dusk, the landscape does not feel empty, it feels inhabited. As the sun lowers behind the Ojo Mountains, long shadows stretch across the sand. The silhouette of organ pipe and saguaro cacti rise with arms lifted toward a sky painted in amber color. This is the Sonoran Desert, one […]
Lake Mead National Recreation Area
Lake Mead National Recreation Area stretches across the Nevada/Arizona border and surrounds the vast reservoir created by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. It is a landscape of desert mountains, open water and red rock shoreline. Lake Mead was formed in the 1930s when Hoover Dam was completed during the Great Depression. The project brought […]
Tonto National Monument
Tonto National Monument preserves dramatic cliff dwelling built by the Salado people in the late 1200s and early 1300s. The site is located in central Arizona, in the Sonoran Desert. The monument protects two primary cliff dwellings constructed within natural limestone alcoves high above the valley floor. The multi-room masonry homes were built on local stone and […]
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
Walking along Aquatic Park in San Francisco, I made my way to the Hyde Street Pier and the visitor center of San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. San Francisco’s identity was forged by the sea. When gold was discovered in 1848, ships began arriving from everywhere: New England, South America, Europe, China, Australia. The sea routes brought […]
The Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park
Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park was another place I visited during our time teaching in California. This one I did on my own, getting there early when it first opened. Located in Richmond, California, along the San Francisco Bay, the park captures the extraordinary war mobilization that transformed this shipbuilding town almost overnight during […]
Tuzigoot National Monument
Rising above the Verde Valley in Central Arizona, Tuzigoot National Monument is one of those places where the land and the past feel inseparable. Tuzigoot preserves the remains of a large prehistoric settlement constructed by the Sinagua people, who lived in this region between the 1100s and early 1400s. Over time, what began as a smaller cluster of […]
Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park
Visiting Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park on the Big Island is an encounter with a living cultural landscape that reflects how Natick Hawaiians sustained themselves for centuries in balance with land and sea. In the park are the traditional fishponds built from lava rock and guided by tidal flow. Fish were allowed to enter and grow which provided […]
John Muir National Historic Site
John Muir’s home in California offers a intimate window into the life of one of America’s most influential conservationists. Located northeast of San Francisco, the site is preserved today as John Muir National Historic Site. Muir lived here from 1889 until his death in 1914. While many picture him wandering through Yosemite or Alaska’s glaciers, this […]
Grand Canyon National Park
I wanted to be someplace special on my 65th birthday, and my thoughts naturally turned to Grand Canyon National Park. My December birthday comes with some challenges as many of the majestic national parks have limited access that time of year, but the Grand Canyon felt right. I can still remember the first time I stood […]
Yosemite National Park
August 2019 was the last time, but not the first time, I visited Yosemite National Park. When people think of our National Parks, many envision vast, majestic landscapes and Yosemite is the very definition of that. The first time I drove into Yosemite Valley, I remember a moment of pure speechlessness. Countless writers and explorers have […]
