Adventuring beyond through travel, food, and more.
Oh, caves… They are all so similar, and yet very different! After visiting the Mammoth Cave, Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, and Russel Cave units of the National Park Service we have been in some dark underground places! Someday we will cross off the last two park units named after caves – Oregon and Timpanogos Caves! Carlsbad Caverns is its’ own adventure and one we were glad to be able to visit!
Black Canyon of the Gunnison is experienced pretty well in one day if you don’t plan to do extensive hiking or to visit multiple areas of the park (similar to Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and many others). That being said, you can also walk away from it having only driven the road to High Point without seeing much of what makes it special!
I should note that to truly experience this park you should do a river rafting tour or hike one of the trails down to the river itself. Due to our time available for our visit, this was not in the cards for us this trip. You can also visit the less popular North Rim, which we also did not get to do this trip.
So, how do you have an awesome day in Black Canyon of the Gunnison? Join me as I replay our day in the park! A note on photography – the time of day matters a lot for this park, and we went first thing in the morning during mid-July and the lighting worked out well. At other times of the day the canyon will be darker and photos will be harder to capture the beauty of the park.
…I love Grand Teton National Park – its best views are super accessible, the amount of wildlife is impressive, and it is the epitome of the West for me. The hardest part wasn’t developing this list from our recent trip, but rather whittling it down to the top 9 things to do in Grand Teton National Park!
There is simply nothing more calming to my soul than mountains, and Grand Teton doesn’t hold back an ounce on that power. The craggy, powerful mountains dominate the park in a similar way to that which you’d find in Glacier, Mount Rainier, the Hurricane Ridge part of Olympic, or North Cascades National Parks.
…Note: We receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.
While many plan for a whole week to visit Yellowstone, we didn’t have that kind of time and knew that we would be returning to Yellowstone another time. We decided to focus on the more popular activities in the park on this visit, so here is our itinerary on how to see the best of Yellowstone in 3 days with kids.
Yellowstone has always felt overwhelming to us. So overwhelming, that it was the 27th National Park we chose to visit and it was only the whole COVID epidemic and associated closures that made us decide to go there when we did. It is a really big park, with a lot to see and do. We don’t (ok I don’t!) like to settle into a single big park for a week at a time, but rather like to spend 3 or 4 days in a park and then move along somewhere else and compile a list of places we would catch if/when we return.
We’ve decided to provide a visiting Yellowstone during COVID post as well as this top sites post, and an itinerary post with suggested places to stay and how we did what we did in just 3 days!
So, without further ado, here are our top 9 things to do in Yellowstone National Park!
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If you are anything like our family, you may be going stir-crazy at home by now and are itching to get out and explore again. While to some it may seem irresponsible to go out and explore during the COVID outbreak, we believe in living life to the fullest even during uncertain times and that if we were cautious and conscientious we would be fine. Visiting Yellowstone during COVID was just what we needed!
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Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a bit tricky to visit – it is remote for most of the country, split into 3 sections that are not close together, and for a solid half of the year the wind and snow keeps visitors away. For those who do come, you are blessed with views of badlands, historical buildings, prairie dogs, and wild horses. It is easy to enjoy 1 quick day in Theodore Roosevelt National Park!
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As with many national park sites in Arizona, it is easy to visit Petrified Forest in just one day. We chose 9 of the best things to do in Petrified Forest to cover in this post. We were staying in Flagstaff when we visited Petrified Forest, which is just under 2 hours drive from the park. While not close, we were visiting the nearby Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments and stuck with our normal plan of limiting how many times we change lodging.
Petrified Forest National Park is home to large deposits of petrified wood, which are gemlike and stunning in the bright Arizona sun. It is a super easy park to visit with great freeway access and easy hiking. The only “strenuous” part of the trip will be the heat if you go in the summer and the wind that has few barriers on this stretch of land. Join us on our trip through this great Arizona National Park!
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Surrounded by Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Mount Rushmore, and other national parks and monuments, Custer State Park is both a treat and unique compared to these other locations. After our visit, these are hands-down our family’s picks for the 4 best things to do in Custer State Park!
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Grand Canyon, like most busy national parks, is popular for a reason. It is stunningly beautiful, diverse, and easy to set your family up to have a fun 1 day in Grand Canyon. We, however, planned poorly and had the worst day instead! Like Canyonlands National Park, Grand Canyon is a park where you can just peek over the rim and get bored as you look on the same big ditch in the ground. We will help you avoid that fate!
We had originally come from Flagstaff, a fun town with a number of great restaurants and easy to find lodging that is also more affordable than those closer to the park. It is also a great base if you want to run over to Petrified Forest National Park or the interesting Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater, or Wupatki National Monuments, as we did.
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