In my continuing quest to visit all 423 (as of 2021) National Park sites, Tom and I headed north to visit the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in Minneapolis and St. Paul. This 72 mile stretch of the Mississippi River is surrounded by local, state, and the National Parks. We started by heading toward …
SPAM Town, USA: Austin, Minnesota
On our way back to Ohio, Tom and I spent several days in and around SPAM Town, USA, also known as Austin, Minnesota. We loved Austin, which is a small city of 24,000 people with a quirky sense of humor. Not every city would enjoy being called SPAM Town, but Austin takes pride in the …
Pikes Peak State Park: Grand Canyon of Iowa
The Grand Canyon of Iowa is Pikes Peak State Park, just a little south of Effigy Mounds National Monument. Located on the high bluffs above the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers, Pikes Peak has wonderful hiking and great views of the beautiful river valley. After spending the morning at Effigy Mounds, Tom and …
Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa
One of the National Park sites we visited on our way back to Ohio was Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa. Tom and I have seen most of the Native American mounds in Ohio, but we have also seen them in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana. When I was a kid, I thought the mounds were …
Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota
As Tom and I continued our trip back to Ohio, we stopped at Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota. We went to Pipestone once before, in 1990 when John was 2. I’m glad to say it hasn’t changed much, although it was interesting how little we remembered about our previous visit. Pipestone National Monument is notable …
Missouri National Recreational River
After Tom and I left Rapid City, we headed southeast to the Missouri National Recreational River. We thought it was a little odd that we had to drive 650 miles to the Missouri National Recreational River Headquarters when we had spent the summer on the Missouri River. The Missouri River is 2,300 miles long but …
Jewel Cave National Monument
After Tom and I visited Wind Cave National Park, we headed for Jewel Cave National Monument. Jewel Cave is 17 miles from Wind Cave and is the same kind of dense cave formation with the same air pressure atmosphere. The two caves may be connected, but no one has found the connection so far. Jewel …
Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota
The reason Tom and I went to the Black Hills was to visit two National Park Sites that we had missed on previous visits. We started with Wind Cave National Park. For some reason, Wind Cave National Park had never been on our radar. But it was the seventh national park, designated by Congress and …
Black Hills of South Dakota
We had a great summer at Fort Union Trading Post, but all good things must come to an end. Over the next few weeks I will be writing about our trip back to Ohio. One of our first stops was in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I wanted to take the month of October …
Fort Union Trading Post Questions and Answers
Every park we work at has common questions unique to that park. The Fort Union Trading Post questions (and answers) were also unique to the park. So I thought I would wrap up my posts about Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site by talking about the unique questions and their answers. One of the …