Category: Uncategorized
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White Sands National Park
2/13/24 Something happened today that I doubt we will ever do again! We spent time in 3 National Parks in 1 day! We left Guadalupe Mountains in the early morning, were astounded by the natural entrance and Big Room at Carlsbad Caverns and spent sunset at White Sands National Park! We arrived in time to…
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Carlsbad Caverns National Park
2/13/24 We drove the short 40 minutes from Guadalupe Mountain National Park to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. They are at two opposite ends of the Guadalupe Mountain range. Let me start by saying that for some reason both of us had short or low expectations for this park. Well, we were very wrong! We were…
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park
2/11/24 Guadalupe Mountains National Park is one of the least visited National Parks. The Guadalupe Mountains are a rugged mountain mass of uplifted marine fossil reef in the huge Chihuahuan Desert. It is less than 1 hour southwest of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The park was established in 1972. It is 135 square miles. We…
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Big Bend National Park
2/8-2/11/2024 Mon 2/5 We left Lake Mills, WI and drove as far as The Shawnee National Forest in southern IL, near Carbondale. It is a very large park. It has 7 areas. We did two nice hikes in The Garden of the Gods part of the park. The Garden of the Gods Loop was extremely…
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Biscayne National Park
January 19, 2024 Biscayne National Park is 270 square miles of waterfront property within 30 minutes of Miami, and only 45 minutes from The Everglades. This prime real estate became protected in the late 60s to prevent it from being developed into waterfront hotels. The park is 95% underwater. Since we don’t have a boat,…
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Everglades National Park
January 16-18, 2024 The night of January 15th we stayed in a beach front hotel in Islamorada, 1/2 way up the Keys. The next morning we walked on the boardwalk and were treated to a bunch of lizards sunning themselves. They were all different sizes and colors! We drove to Everglades National Park and entered…
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Dry Tortugas National Park
January 15, 2024 Happy New Year! Tim and I are back on our National Parks Journey! We were extremely lucky to have a perfect weather day to experience Dry Tortugas National Park. It was sunny and in the low 80s. Our friends back in the Midwest are experiencing negative temperatures. We arrived in Key West…
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Favorites of the National Parks
This leg of the trip has ended, but we are already reminiscing about the fabulous journey we had! We never had rain during the day when we weren’t driving. We saw stupefyingly gorgeous things and met fascinating people asking the way. Calypso provided an amazing home base for us. Our original plan was to stay…
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Great Sand Dunes
October 24-25 Great Sand Dunes is a high altitude desert highly dependent on water. We arrived at the 14th and last National Park of this leg of our journey around 10 AM. We did our picture and passport business and enjoyed the movie at the visitor center. Our first stop was the Sand Dune Trailhead.…
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Petrified Forest
October 22-23 Sunday Petrified Forest is an interesting park! It is colorful badlands, forests of fallen trees turned to stone, fossils of prehistoric animals and plants, ruins and petroglyphs of ancient people, plus the nostalgia of Route 66! That’s a lot for 1 park! We arrived early afternoon. As you enter, the Ranger tells you…
Wilderness Wandering 