National Park Trips

Oscar and I love hiking and exploring the outdoors, and I would love for us to visit a few national parks in the 14 years between now and when he goes to college. Here are the five national parks that I currently think about the most.

1. Glacier
Oscar really wants to head out west, and Montana seems like a good place to start. Glacier National Park is huge. It looks like people hotel hop to be near different trail heads every few days. We will take the Amtrak to Glacier, pay for a cheap shuttle to our first hotel, and then use the free shuttle to hotel hop. We will definitely take a boat ride and hike our hearts out. The park recommends bringing bear spray. Oscar is already looking forward to writing that description into our budget spreadsheet (we add notes to items in certain categories since I do not save receipts after entering an expense into the spreadsheet). Glacier looks amazing.

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2. Crater Lake
I have wanted to visit Crater Lake ever since I saw a picture of it on a card I received 15 years ago. Oscar, who keeps track of what states he has visited, will be happy to be in Oregon for the first time. I have not done too much trip research on Crater Lake National Park at this point, but I am sure the hiking trails near the lake are amazing.

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3. Mesa Verde
This national park is a bit of a drive from the nearest Amtrak station, but I have a feeling it will be worth the effort to get there. Just viewing the pictures available on the internet leaves me awestruck, so I am sure actually visiting will have quite an effect on both me and Oscar. This trip will probably be a few years down the road because I want Oscar to really appreciate what he will be seeing there.

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4. Hawaii Volcanoes
Natural land features and natural disasters have both always fascinated me, so seeing another volcano would make me very happy. I did a volcano project for science fair in second grade, I had the opportunity to stand atop Mount Vesuvius in the late 90s, and I took a fascinating geology course on volcanoes as an undergrad (volcanology has nothing to do with Star Trek - apparently that confused a lot of people). Volcanoes fascinate me, and I hope Oscar finds them interesting as well. This trip is probably a few years down the road, too. I would love to bring my mom along and stick her on the Hawaiian beach for a week.

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5. Zion
Cory posts so many beautiful pictures of Zion that I have decided I must see the park for myself one day. I have not looked into visiting Zion, but I know that I would like to see it at some point in my life. It is difficult to imagine living so close to something so beautiful and having the opportunity to run there on a regular basis. Lucky Cory.

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