Reading my history.com "This Day in History" told me that today is the anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt declaring the Grand Canyon a national monument in 1908. What a beautiful place it is!

What national parks or monuments have you visited and which are your favorites? What is on your wish list to visit still?

There are soooo many beautiful and inspiring places in our great country!

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Great thread!

We have been to many of the National Parks throughout the US with our boys when they were little. I am going to have to really think about this one before I answer, because each and every one of them have their own way of being unbelieveable, which is why they are a part of the National Park System! It is hard to pick just one..so.. I will have to name my top five.. haha

If I had to pick a number 1, as a parent at the time of young boys, it would have to be, hands down, Dinosaur National Park (Colorado and Utah).
2. Gettysburg!!!
3. Painted Desert
4. Kings Canyon
5. Bryce Canyon (Zion I bet was beautiful, but we went through it at night the last year that you were able to drive through!!!)

You really touched a cord with me when you asked about National Parks and monuments. I haven't been to one yet that isn't beautiful and interesting.
I'm such a dork I even have the little passport book to collect the stamps as we visit them. And of course living in Arizona there are many within easy driving distance. One of my favorite parks is Death Valley and monument would be Walnut Canyon just outside Flagstaff. At least so far.

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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Grand Canyon. I lived there one summer while in college. Awesome summer job working as a "Harvey Girl" in one of the lodges. I worked evening shift and so during the day and on days off, I hiked into places that 'tourists' do not even know exist. MAGNIFICENT.

Been to Yellowstone and Glacier....

Glacier (and the "Going to the Sun Road") is phenomenal. Everyone should visit. Thus far, it doesn't seem as commercialized as other parks. West Yellowstone, MT is a tourist town.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I have been to Mt. Rushmore but have still not seen it. When I was around 13 we drove on a two week vacation from San Diego CA to North Dakota to visit my grandma. I begged my dad to take a couple hour detour to see Mt. Rushmore. He said yes and I was very excited. The mountains of So Dakota were beautiful but when we got there it was fogged in. We couldn't see anything. We waited as long as we could but had to leave without seeing anything but the parking lot. Has anyone else ever been there?

I have been to Carlsbad Caverns. I don't know if that is a national park ( I think it is.) I live in Maryland not far from the Mall area of DC so I have seen all of those monuments. I like the Vietnam Memorial and the WWII memorial. Gettysburg is cool too. We also visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island which were great. I only flew over the Grand Canyon.

Visited Yellowstone last year on a whim. I wasn't expecting the volume of snow and we just arrived the weekend before they closed for the spring road snow removal. I don't like the cold, but it was a gorgeous place. We would love to take the kids back when it is warm outside.

My hubby is a National Parks nut - every vacation we take involves one. We have been to many.

My favorite so far is Zion. There is a lovely motel right outside of it called the Desert Pearl Inn.

I would have to recommend seeing Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor. I think most of us Mainers tend to take the beauty of the park for granted. It is really breathtaking. I remember when I graduated from High School (29 years ago), a bunch of us went down and drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain and watched the sunrise. It was amazing. The carriage trails are very enjoyable to walk and there are many trails to hike. For those more interested in relaxing, Bar Harbor is a very laid back, fun town to spend some time exploring.
We try to make a trip down to the park at least once a year. The summers tend to be really busy, so we usually try to go down on the off season.

I believe that Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park is the "most visited" National Park. I have always found that hard to believe....it's nice and all, but the most visited.

Couple of co-workers and I went to Rocky Mountain National Park/Estes Park one spring.....and the elk and rocky mountain bighorn sheep all over the roads and road sides were simply amazing.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

this post got me to thinking, so I started researching.....I have actually been to more National Parks than I realized! Hot Springs National Park (AR)--is pretty, and of course I love it because it's my home state; Mesa Verde and Gunnison (CO)--Mesa Verde is awesome, all the cliff dwellings are so neat. I never gave "National Park" status much thought until now....

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I've been to Mt. Rushmore. It's very pretty. We went in Aug and it was hot but it was so worth it. We went at night and watched them light it up then went back the next day. We stayed in Hill City and rode the train through the mountains. I've also been to Gettysburg.

I haven't been to very many National Parks. But of the ones I've been to, Yosemite has to be my favorite.

I'm going to be giving away my age here, but I can remember going there years ago when they had the firefalls which were visible from Camp Curry. You could also go up to the top of the mountain to watch them drop the ash. I have done both.

I was lucky enough to have been there for the very last night of the firefalls.

I had to go to the National Parks site because my list is pretty lengthy. I've included National Historic Places I've been as well as parks.

Badlands
Bandelier
Cumberland Gap
Delaware Water Gap (15 minutes from home)
Edgar Allen Poe house
Ellis Island
Gateway Arch
Grand Teton
Indiana Dunes
Washington National Monuments
Mamouth Cave
NJ Pinelands
Oil Region (Pennsylvania)
Petrified Forest
Redwood Forest
Rocky Mountain National Park
Sleeping Bear Dunes
Statue of Liberty
Steamtown
Yellowstone
Yosemite

I know there are a few others that I don't remember

__________________
Cecilia

"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas

I`ve been to quite a few.

Yellowstone
grand Tetons
Mt Saint Helens
smokey Mountains
Mt Rushmore (stayed in Keystone)
Statue of Liberty
Rockie Mountains
Empire State Building
Alot of Light Houses
everything to do with History in Boston
bad lands
Columbia river gorge
My goal is to try to see as much as I can before I die.

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When you don`t know what to do-Walk fast and look worried.

We LOVE our National park System...so far we've seen:
Badlands
Grand Portage National Monument
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (the Gateway Arch)
Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Home
Mammoth Cave
Mount Rushmore
Natchez Trace parkway
National Mall
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Pipestone National Monument
Rocky Mountain National Park
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Voyageurs National Park

(As you can tell, I checked my memory against the ALPHABETIZED list at nps.gov! )

Well! It wasn't asked which parks we had been too, just our favorites! lol So, now I want to join in again and list where we have been.
I have to agree about Walnut Canyon in Arizona. It was originally my number 5, but I added Gettysburg which knocked it out. That is a phenomenal place.

We don't have any parks near us (closest is Indiana Dunes), but we traveled quite a but with our kids and still do to some point.

I have been to:
1. Jefferson National Expansion (Arch in St Louis)
2.Ozark National Scenic Riverways
3. Buffalo National River (we canoe!)
4. San Antonio Missions
5. Grand Canyon
6. Walnut Canyon
7. Petrified Forest
8. Sunset Crater Volcano
9. Sequoia and Kings Canyon
10. Driven through Mojave, Death Valley and near Joshua Tree (you see these trees all over the place near there, but never been to the official "parks".
11. Bryce Canyon (driven through Zion, but doesn't count since at night)
12. Dinosaur National Monument (WONDEFUL!!)
13. Arches
14. Colorado National Monument
15. Mount Rushmore
16. Jewel Cave
17. (drove by the Badlands) didn't go inside the park
18. Wind Cave
19. Effigy Mounds
20. Hot Springs
21. Harpers Ferry
22. Gettysburg
23. Appalachian Trail (we camped for the week on one of the trails in PA)
24. Constitution Gardens
25. Korean War Vetererans Memorial
26. Lincoln Memorial
27.Vietnam Veterans Memorial **** I am not going to list all of the individual places from Washington DC we attended, because it would fill up the page! LOL!! so let's just say we went to Washington DC.. lol
28. Antietam National Battlefield

I think that about does it. Our next trip I am planning is going to be a visit back out East to Washington DC. We didn't spend enough time there when we went, and I want to do it again..the same way we did the last time.. camping in PA and visiting the sites all around. It was such a blast the last time we went, I can't wait to do it again.

Great thread! I never really thought much about it...I haven't been to many...I need to do some traveling! These are my favorites out of the ones I've been to:

National parks:
Redwood National and State Parks, Grand Canyon, and Haleakala National Park

National monuments:
Muir Woods, Statue of Liberty, and The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument.

~Lisa

If you need any info the next time you come to DC, I live in the area. I am going with my class to Arlington Cemetary and the Native American Museum in about 1 1/2 weeks.

The National Parks we have been to..............
Badlands ..... amazing!
Death Valley......much more than we had expected!
Glacier Bay.........beautiful, even in the rain and cold!
Grand Canyon.........HUGE!
Great Smoky Mountains.............Quiet, relaxing, scenic, beautiful!
Joshua Tree.........Very interesting!
Mammoth Cave........Fun!
Petrified Forrest (and Painted Desert) Educational and very pretty!
Rocky Mountain.........beautiful!
Saguaro..........Love those cacti!
Yosemite..........definitley gloing back!

If our summer vacation plans work out, we will visit parks in Utah, California,
and Yellowstone.

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Awesome! Thank you!

What I really want to do is tour the Holocaust museum. When we went there, I was able to go inside and see the Hall of Remembrance (If I am remembering right it had a single candle lit in this big hall, all I know is it was so moving!) and tour through the story of the little boy (Daniel's Story), but we could not go into the museum. They said that you have to get tickets months ahead of time. I had no clue. So, next time we go I would have to make sure to get those tickets.

We got lucky with the Washington Monument. We got there and again didn't know we had to get tickets ahead of time. It was all 7 of us, and it was July 4th Weekend. It was soooo hot. I think the guy took pitty on us, because we had walked all the way there and were so disappointed. He told us to hurry on the elevator and he wouldn't say a thing! We got very lucky to be able to go up inside this National Treasure!

I have only gone in the Holocaust Museum once several years ago. My dd had to do it for her history class. We went doing Spring break.

I remember when the Washington Monument was just in the open and you could walk right up to it and get in line.

Things are rolling forward with the Inauguration. They are closing streets etc. I will be at home with my granddaughter. My son and his family are coming from Chicago. My son and his wife are going down to see the swearing in and the other activities while we babysit (she is 6 months).