We left Bellingham with a plan to take a windy, spontaneous route back home. There was ONE National Park on our list that we could hit by driving, Hot Springs, which was the only “must do”.
From there, we decided to revisit places on the route we wanted to see again and check out some new ones we missed. And get some steps!
We ended up in southern Idaho, MOAB and Arches National Park, Cadillac Ranch, a quick stop to see the house I grew up in while living in Muskogee OK (and spend some time with by bestie Stephanie’s dad), Hot Springs, and then Memphis.
Hot Springs was not what we expected, but glad we stopped. Believe it or not, it has been a national park since 1912. Known for therapeutic 140-degree springs with healing properties, it became famous before modern medicine. After the downturn of interest; many of the buildings on Bathhouse Row laid vacant and were subsequently converted into bars, bookstores, or national park buildings. Amazing to see the 4,000-year-old water coming up from the ground naturally, and there are water stations all over for people to take some home to drink (water has been cooled to 90 degrees for transporting). We brought some water back!
And that makes 60 National Parks – we can’t get to anymore in the Adventure Van. All that we have left are Volcanoes in Hawaii, Virgin Islands, and Samoa (close to New Zealand).
There is beauty everywhere. And there are so many cool places all over the United States. Truly everywhere. I had no idea before we started out on this journey. After two years on the road, we have seen many places.
So that’s a wrap on national parks until we have a plan for the last 3!
We love traveling; but need to evaluate what we want out of future adventuring – keep the van, get a different one, domestic or international travel, live somewhere for a while?
And we are going to take a pause. I start plant based culinary school in November, we have some home and work projects to finish, and we miss our family and friends. It’s time to be home for a while.
Thank you so for following our national park adventures!
And we will share new adventures soon!
