I’ve Been To 14 of 50 ~> You? June 11, 2018
Posted by nrhatch in Exercise & Fitness, Nature, Travel & Leisure.trackback
MONEY magazine put together a list of the Best Parks in Every State in the U.S.
Curious, I checked out the list and checked off 14 parks (or the immediate vicinity) that I’ve visited at least once:
Arizona ~ Grand Canyon National Park
California ~ Carmel (& its Coastline)
Colorado ~ Rocky Mountain National Park (and Poudre Canyon)
Maine ~ Acadia National Park
Minnesota ~ Lake Harriet in Minneapolis
New Jersey ~ Cape May County Park & Zoo
New Mexico ~ Carlsbad Canyons
New York ~ Central Park & Tavern on the Green
North Carolina ~ Blue Ridge Parkway
South Dakota ~ Custer State Park (to see the Friendly Burros)
Tennessee ~ Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Utah ~ Zion National Park (and Bryce Canyon)
Vermont ~ Quechee Gorge
Wyoming ~ Grand Teton National Park
In case you’re wondering, NONE of the Disney Parks made the list.
Sorry Mickey!
How about you? What are some of your favorite parks ~ in the U.S. or elsewhere? Have you visited any of MONEY’s Park Picks? Any fun adventures to share?
Aah . . . that’s better!
Related: 10 Best National Parks (Money)
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Spirit Lights The Way 
I’ve visited four parks on Money’s list. My favorite isn’t listed, it’s Shenandoah National Park. Have a great day, Nancy!
Shenandoah National Park is fantastic. Hard to believe that Money preferred Maymont to Shenandoah.
BFF & I had an ethereal experience while camping in the Shenandoah Valley:
Wow! That’s amazing, Nancy. You need to go back and talk about winning the lottery. 🙂
Yes, I was surprised SNP didn’t make the list.
There’s an idea! Maybe it was a magic campfire. 😀
That said, here’s my “winning the lottery” post ~ also surreal:
Not surprisingly, zero in USA. However, we have done Skukuza and Drakensberg, Kruger, Gorongosa (Mozambique), Namib and Sperregebied (Namibia) and parks in Zimbabwe Eastern Hignlands. And, of course, Victoria Falls.
Africa’s parks and Savannahs are legendary! I’ve enjoyed your posts about your travels around S.Africa . . . including the cat that adopted you!
That was one of the best holidays ever!
I bet. We all enjoyed learning about the cat who adopted Col.
I have a lot of catching up to do! My favorite park is the John Muir Way in Scotland. Its next to where my family live and we had some great dog walks there!
Scotland’s charms (and pipers) feature in the link I left for Jill. 😀
My brother’s actually made them all – it was on his bucket list. I’m still working on them (We got a good start from camping as kids – parks were cheap vacations – and so much fun!)
Wow! That’s impressive. Camping as a kid is what got me started too. We spent many nights sitting around the campfire admiring the stars.
I have some friends touring the US at the moment. I am enjoying some fabulous photo on Facebook.I’m afraid my tally is 0 🙂
Quite understandable, Rainee. My tally in Australia and New Zealand is also “0” . . .
My parents visited a few parks “down under” and loved the Koalas, the Kangaroos, and the Kookaburras.
I’m more of a beach person than a park person so I’ve done very few. I have seen a lot of beaches though.
Beaches = Me Too!
Acadia National Park abuts the Atlantic ~ we loved strolling its beaches, hiking its trails, and sitting on a cliff overlooking the pounding surf. Bliss!
The parks I’ve least enjoyed are the ones where the cops wouldn’t let me sleep on the benches.
We’ve been to a few on your list. Of all the parks, I guess my favorite is Zion. It’s very beautiful, in my view.
Good pick, TG. Zion has some stunning crags and crevices.
Next time you want to sleep on a park bench, cover yourself with newspaper so you’ll be incognito. 😀
We went to the Grand Canyon National Park on our 10th wedding anniversary. Beautiful!!
That’s a GRAND park! Great place to celebrate “longevity.”
Yes it is! 🙂
We’re celebrating 34 years this week ~> probably with a visit to Tarpon Springs for Greek food. OPA!
Such an interesting list, Nancy. I have been to several of the ones listed but many of them years and years ago. For instance, the Grand Canyon shouldn’t be that hard for us to visit, but it’s been years, and I’ve been wanting to prioritize. There are so many beautiful places to visit and I find we sometimes go back to favorites, like Yosemite, and then we don’t have the time to explore new possibilities. We may need to think about that. 🙂 It’s a wonderful list. Thanks for sharing it.
Yosemite was a big hit with me the two times I’ve been there. I’d love to return and spend more time hiking about. I also enjoyed seeing the giant Sequoias & Redwoods in CA.
Money shouldn’t have been such a “cheapskate” ~> it should have listed the top 3 parks in each state. 😀
The parks on that list are certainly varied, aren’t they?
I’ve been to 8 of these parks:
Grand Canyon
Piedmont Park
Waimea Canyon
Lake Harriet
Central Park
Blue Ridge Parkway
Washington Park
Great Smoky Mts National Park
I’m going to bookmark the article because it’d make a wonderful retirement bucket list project. Thanks.
Lists like this are fun ~> not because Money necessarily picked the “best” park in each state (I’m sure parks are more subjective than that) but because it reminds us to look backwards and forwards at where we’ve been . . . and where we might head next.
I didn’t see the one I went to in Georgia on the list, which was Stone Mountain. We had a great time there.
My sister went to school in Atlanta and enjoyed visiting Stone Mountain.
I’ve been to lots of nice parks, but not many of these. They’re very specific. For example, I’ve been to Great Falls Park in Maryland but not the Billy Goat Trail. It’s hard to choose a favorite. Muir Woods north of San Francisco was certainly memorable.
Some of the list is very specific . . . so I included their pick if I’d visited the immediate vicinity or adjacent area.
I loved the name of the Billy Goat Trail. It made me wish we’d visited Great Falls Park when we lived in Maryland.
California has so many terrific spots. Yosemite, Sequoias, Carmel, and . . . Muir Woods.
Shoot! While you were working off the National Parks list, I was working off states. Sigh. I’m not doing so well lately with those, either.
Whether we focus on parks or states ~> the US has a lot of very cool places to visit!