And the award for the tallest State welcome sign goes to South Dakota! Wind Cave National Park is the 8th oldest national park. It is also one of the biggest maze cave systems in the world. It also contains rare boxwork formations that are not found hardly anywhere else. But as you know, I am claustrophobic and caves are not my favorite, so it was a long hike for me up top, above the good people crawling along the cave below my feet. As you may surmise from the pictures fr

L-R Sierra Gilman, Teddy, Schyeler Gilman The Castillo is another very special place for our family. Anna was 8 the first time we went to St. Augustine, FL. It was Halloween and she was dressed in her pretty princess dress. She was Trick or Treating on St. George Street, the oldest street in America, across the street from the Castillo. We walked around the Castillo after St. George and admired it in the moonlight and uplights. It was beautiful! Funny aside story, we liv

L-R Sierra Gilman, Teddy, & Schyeler Gilman Fort Mantanzas is located 14 miles south of St. Augustine, FL. In order to understand Fort Mantanzas it is helpful to understand The Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, because Mantanzas was built (1740) to protect St. Augustine from sneaky attacks by the British and French from the inlet to the south on the south end of Anastasia Island. So now, you will have to read the next blog post on Castillo de San Marcos, won't you? B

Well, there was a LOT of snow at Lassen Volcanic National Park! Poor Teddy without his coat and gloves! I have to tell you a funny story. The night before I was driving to Lassen and noticed in the distance that it looked like a lot of snow up there. One of the phone calls made was to a lodge that supposedly was listed as open on the web...it wasn't. The man who answered made me wonder if I had awakened a bear from hibernation. "What are you doing up here?!?" "You've got

Once again, I was treated to great hospitality and a wonderful meal on my way from Yosemite to Redwoods. I stopped in to see my dear friend Bee, her kind husband Steve, and sweet daughter Nicole. I have known Bee 30 years and she is like a little sister to me. We haven't gotten to see each other in many years and it was so great to exchange hugs again! Bee has the kindest, sweetest soul and I am blessed to have her in my life. Thanks for putting me up for the night! Ador

I think Yosemite wins the prettiest National Park sign! After King's Canyon, I picked up Cindy Lovelace, CEO of The Healing NET Foundation in Fresno, CA at the airport. We had been invited to stay with her cousin & his wife, John & Christine Reynolds. John is the Postmaster General of Yosemite Village and Christina helps notify families of accident victims and works at the school and numerous other things for her National Park community. Such warm and caring people! They

What?!? Why is there a state park in here with National Parks and Monuments? Well, it was such a pretty hike that I felt it was worth putting in the blog. I had some spare time for hiking and decided to go look at Canada. Have they really built a hedge to keep us pesky Americans out? Nah... it's a forest. Shouldn't there be a moose in this picture? There's Canada! I can almost touch it! Beautiful Pigeon Falls If you find yourself in Grand Portage, MN I highly recommend

I have to say, that I thoroughly enjoyed this National Monument. The visitor center was beautiful and the grounds and buildings of this historic fort were so educational. The fort was built on the shores of Lake Superior by the North West Trading Company. Europe was consuming beaver pelts at a extraordinary rate for hats and numerous other things. British & French fur trappers worked side by side with the Ojibwe people. ajskdljf;asdjf The Voyageurs developed these huge can

My Dad always said, "Nothing so bad, but what there is something good about it". Not grammatically correct Dad, but message received. Running in downpours isn't my favorite thing, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw this plant. There was this beautiful drop of pure rain sitting in the center of the bract and it was mesmerizing. I thought of Dan Fogelberg's song, "Magic Every Moment". The excerpt from that song fits this picture perfectly. "You can see forever in a single d

It was a chilly sunny afternoon when I arrived in Acadia National Park. After setting up camp I took a little hike and went to Bar Harbor for more walking and dinner. Bar Harbor (say Bah Hah-bah) is technically not part of the park but is completely surrounded by the park. It's a darling little harbor town! No, I didn't get fresh lobster as I was there too early in the season. Sad day! But I did see gorgeous flowers and have fun looking around. Here are some of the sights o