Favorite National Parks

So the National Parks has this passport thing which is quite awesome - you get to do a stamp (or chop, in our terms) at every national park we visited. 2012 was the 100 years anniversary, and there was some special edition version, which we did not buy. Of course, after visiting countless parks and having the wife swearing under her breath about not getting the passport any sooner, FINALLY, after 1 year in the United States, we bought our passport!

Unfortunately, all the places we visited prior to the purchase were not stamped, but I did note down all the national parks and monuments we have visited by state, and we will talk about the favourites later.

DC (all in April 2012)

• Lincoln memorial - the old man super sized - pretty majestic, but toooooo many tourist trying to snap pictures.
• Washington memorial - had a wonderful picture taken as I was walking up to it during the wonderful twilight hours of sunset, so it was sweet
• White House - MEH. Anyway, can only view from so far away.

CA (April 2012)

• Yosemite NP - Great trip with our friends, the drive up and back, the almost ridiculously long trek which we decided to go uphill all the way instead of the usually taken downhill route - going back to nature living in Curry Village, which later we found later in the season, had some fatality resulting in some rat poop. But we are alive.

UT (May 2012)

• Zion NP - who would have thought after Yosemite, that hui will still be crazy enough to continue with all the cheong sua - namely, "Observation Point" and the river wading through slot canyon "The Narrows". Although my feet was blistered and the last mile down from Observation Point was almost the most painful experience in my life walking, Zion still is one of my favourites.
• Bryce Canyon NP - The natural formations were amazing, the walk, like Badlands NP, was as though you are going through Mars. Nice
• Arches NP - Very interesting natural formations of Arches too. One of my favourite parts was the Fiery Furnace, it felt very backcountry and wild and untouched - without well marked signs etc.
• Canyonlands NP - voted for best scenic and panoramic view of the Utah area. Awesome and nice that there wasn't too many mad hikes to take (you can imagine hui is pretty physically exhausted at this point)

AK (August 2012)

• Kenai Fjords NP - What can I say - Glaciers!!
• Denali NP & Preservation - this park holds a special place in our hearts because this was where we found out we were expecting little Emma (yes, peeing onto a stick when we were living in a tent!). Mt McKinley, or Mt Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, is indeed impressive, but not as much as the cool tundra vegetation we hardly get to see.

FL (Dec 2012)

• Everglades NP - I know, we live in FL and visited 1 national park? See the thing is, there is only 3 national parks in FL. So.... But anyway, it was gators galore and pretty fun, although not one of my top picks.

TN/NC (twice - Nov 2012 and Jan 2013)

• Great Smoky Mountains NP - The mystic blue smoke effect, the beautiful autumn leaves set the Smoky Mountains apart from some of the other parks we have seen. We also had some beautiful hikes there too. Just a shame (no thanks to Superstorm Sandy) that some of the hikes we wanted to do was too snowed in (in November!), and by January, we were with the wrong crowd to attempt the hikes.

WY (Jan 2013)

• Devil's Tower - awesome natural formation and funny legend of the bear who scratched the lines of the tower.
• Grand Teton National Park - sort of last minute decision, but the tetons were really grand and amazing. A little too cold visiting in the dead of winter, but nonetheless great experience snowshoeing with the rangers using the old skool tennis racquet style snowshoes. 
• John D Rockerfeller, JR, Memorial Pkwy - a nice long scenic road that brings you to Yellowstone directly (during non winter months)
• Yellowstone NP - also up in the running for one of the favourite national parks of all times because of the beautiful snowy background with the random geysers going off. And just how amazing that it is a super volcano - really cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

SD (Jan 2013)

• Badlands NP - rating it and comparing it to Bryce Canyon National Park, except we did not do as many big hikes there because of our company, but nonetheless pretty amazing and yet another of the feeling you are on the moon or in Mars.
• Minuteman Missile NHS - A random find on the road - got the boys so excited being able to visit the actual missile stations and launch sites - they were what prevented a nuclear warfare with Russia. Awesome.
• Mount Rushmore - I wasn't initially impressed with 4 presidents' heads on some granite mountain, but after knowing the story behind it - how precise and accurate, and how much attention to details and changes was needed, respect!
• Windcave NP - A cave is a national park? Until you actually visit that you realised how intricate the cave system is, and how lucky we are, to be able to experience just a small percentage of its wonder.

The world is a wonderful place.

Wallace Stegner, 1983:

"National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."