Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky

From the World Heritage inscription for Mammoth Cave National Park: Mammoth Cave is the most extensive cave system in the world, with over 285 miles (456 km) of surveyed cave passageways within the property (and at least another 80 miles [128 km] outside the property). The park illustrates a number of stages of the Earth’s …

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Point Roberts, Washington: America’s Appendix

Point Roberts, Washington: America's Appendix

In 1846, the United States and Canada signed a treaty to finalize their border. It set the 49th north line of latitude as the border from the Lake of the Woods in Minnesota/Manitoba to Puget Sound in Washington/British Columbia. As part of the deal, the British were able to keep Vancouver Island south of the …

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Why I Love Vegas

I don’t gamble and seldom drink, yet I love Las Vegas. I know a lot of seasoned travelers who loathe visiting Vegas. I understand their apprehension, but despite all the places I’ve been I still get a rush when I drive down the strip at night. It has been two and a half years since …

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Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, also known as the Black Canyon National Park, is a national park outside Montrose, Colorado. It is managed by the US National Park Service since it was established as a national monument in 1933. It was later upgraded to national park status in 1999. The entire park spans …

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Fort Worth’s Miniature Train in Trinity Park – The Forest Park Railroad

Truly a Fort Worth tradition since it was opened in 1959, generations of families have ridden the rails along the Trinity River and through Forest and Trinity Parks on the Forest Park Miniature Railroad. I love when we head down to ride the train. One of my favorite places in Fort Worth is Trinity Park. …

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Spring in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

While on our way to the Trinity Site in New Mexico, I poured over our route.  Texas… well. Texas is big. And while I’ve been to a lot of it, I had never traveled to the West Texas area near El Paso. It is sometimes called “Big Bend Country” after our flashiest national park. But Big …

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How to Get to Alaska’s National Parks

Alaska has a lot of great National Parks – but they are ridiculously hard to get to. Most of them are accessible by bush plane and the cost can be high. Some of the parks get less a minuscule amount of visitors as a result. Not all of the parks are hard to reach. Kenai …

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Oh Dakota! Update On My Tour of the West

I’m writing this at a Taco John’s with free Wifi in Sheridan, Wyoming. The last several days since I left Minneapolis have been busy. Very busy. My days have consisted of driving, taking photos, editing photos and sleeping. Today I’ll be crossing the Big Horn Mountains and should arrive in Yellowstone in the later afternoon. …

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