North Carolina is spectacular. It is full of incredible landscapes from the mountains to the beach. There is so much to see and do. We recently went to all of the units in the North Carolina National Parks. These park units have different designations – National Parks, National Military Parks, National Seashores, and many others. Though they have different designations, they are all National Park units, run by the Parks System. It is really interesting to learn how these different units get their designations, you can read about that here. North Carolina has some really interesting park units ..read more

Everyone should have a travel bucket list. That list of places you just have to get to at some point in your life. And everyone’s bucket list should have Dry Tortugas National Park near the top. We have been all over the world and close to 100 National Park units and there are very few places we have been to that are more spectacular than this special place. If you ever have a chance to go, take it. If you are looking for a fun place to explore, plan a trip here. Dry Tortugas is one of the least visited parks in the whole system. Over the last five years it is averaging around 66,000 visitors ..read more

Badlands National Park is one of the most spectacular places we have ever had the joy to visit. This rugged National Park is known for its beautiful landscapes, amazing sunrises and sunsets, exhilarating hikes, and abundant wildlife. The Badlands took our breath away and should definitely be on any National Park bucket list. We loved our time here and are planning to come back again and again. Recently we had a conversation with someone about visiting National Parks. The conversation revolved around how much time people spend in the parks. Do you need a week to visit a particular park? How muc ..read more

North Carolina has some incredible beaches. There are tons of discussions about which ones are the best. In our minds, the best beaches in North Carolina are found along the Outer Banks. We have been coming to the Outer Banks for 20 years and we absolutely love it. What we love about the Outer Banks is there is plenty to do for whatever kind of trip you want to have. There are some places in the Outer Banks where you can be all by yourself. If you want to just relax in a quiet place the Outer Banks has that in towns like Duck, Corolla, Rodanthe, and Ocracoke. If you want a more fast paced beac ..read more

North Carolina has one of the best State Park Systems in the entire country. Altogether, there are 41 State Parks from the mountains to the coast. They are diverse and full of beauty. You can go hunting for waterfalls in the mountain parks, play on the water at one of the Piedmont parks, or stick your feet in the sand at one of the beach parks. We are blessed to be from a state where there is so much beauty in the State Parks, and, most of them are free! There are so many great North Carolina State Park Hikes. We have visited all of the parks that North Carolina has to offer and hiked most of ..read more

We recently completed the most epic road trip of our lives. We went 6,200 miles from our home in the Triangle area of North Carolina to Yellowstone National Park and back again in 13 days. Now, a lot of people think we are crazy – and we might be – but we LOVE a road trip vacation more than anything else. And this Yellowstone road trip was one we will remember the rest of our lives. When you are planning a road trip you have to ask yourself the question – “Do you want to see a lot of a little or a little of a lot?” There is no wrong answer to this question. Depending on where we are going we c ..read more

About Grand Teton National Park Out of all of the places we have had the privilege to travel to, few if any compare to the majesty of Grand Teton National Park. The Tetons are a magnificent mountain range south of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. It is a short 31-mile drive between the parks on the Rockefeller Memorial Parkway (which happens to be a National Park unit itself). This is a beautiful drive between he parks, so try and come in this way if possible. The Tetons are one of the many mountain ranges that make up the Rocky Mountains. Grand Teton National Park is named after the tal ..read more

The United States is blessed with so many amazing National Parks. People flock to them by the millions every year and, every year the park that ends up having the most visitors is Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It isn’t really even close. In 2019 the Grand Canyon came in second place with just under 6 million visitors. The Smokies were first at over 12 million, over twice that of the second place park. There are a lot of factors that are at play with those numbers. It is on the east coast where there isn’t as much competition for other parks. It is located by a couple of really big tour ..read more

One thing we don’t have living on the east coast is the amount of National Parks that our friends out west have. Out of the 62 National Parks, there are only 11 east of the Mississippi. Now, there are a ton of National Park units, but very few Parks. One of the reasons for this is the National Park System didn’t come to be until the late 1800’s after much of the east coast had been developed. Of course, another reason is because there are just so many awesome places out west! One of the few National Parks on the east is found in central South Carolina – Congaree National Park. We recently went ..read more

The Triangle area of North Carolina is an awesome place to live. There are plenty of ways to play, tons of great food options, and awesome parks to visit. However, sometimes you still want to get away from it all. If you are looking for some quick day trips from Raleigh (and the Triangle) this is the place for you. This edition focuses on State Parks. There are 41 State Parks in North Carolina and we recommend visiting all of them, you will learn a lot! There is not a State Park you could not visit in one day from Raleigh, but you might be in the car for hours upon hours! For instance, we have ..read more