My wife Missy and I have been married for over 35 years. A marriage that began with mules to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and an overnight stay at Phantom Ranch on our honeymoon. This site summarizes a journey that began for us in October, 1989. Although we didn’t know it was a journey then – nor did we have a goal to reach all 63 of the national parks. (Back then there were only 50 national parks.) Had we had a goal to reach the US National Parks we probably would have travelled to American Samoa in 1990 when we spent a year in New Zealand. American Samoa is closer to New Zealand then it is to the mainland US – it is a 5-6 hour flight from Honolulu which currently is the only US location with flights to American Samoa.
The goal of exploring the national parks hit us sometime after 2006 when I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. That diagnosis allowed us to spend 7 weeks and travel 14,000 miles in a Honda Odyssey minivan with our three sons travelling the US and Canada. We covered 30 plus states and many US parks. Following that trip, we set a goal to visit all 50 states as a family – a goal we completed with a visit to Alaska in 2011.
Once we completed that objective, Missy and I added visiting the US national parks as the next goal. We reached our goal by visiting American Samoa National Park in 2024. This blog is inspired by that journey and by many questions regarding what is your favorite. I have to admit my rankings change regularly based upon memories and new experiences.
Over time, this site will have a post for each park — some will be more detailed than others — some will have pictures – some will not. That will depend on my memory and how long ago we visited. In fairness to Alaska, almost every park is spectacular — and probably every park should be in the Top 10. But, this isn’t a ranking on beauty — it is a ranking on experience, memories and how much that park still lives with me. Please reach out and share any thoughts — I know we won’t agree but that’s why we each must find our own national parks that mean the most to us.
Lake Clark, Alaska
We Visited All 63 U.S. National Parks 