Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado, was authorized to become a National Park in 2000 to protect the highest sand dunes in North America. It took a few years for the National Park Service to purchase all the additional land covering the areas water sources, but the Dunes finally became a Park on September […]
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Author: Dan Bourque
Old Spanish Trail
Old Spanish National Historic Trail runs through six states, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah. The National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management jointly protect sites of the Old Spanish Trail, a multi-branched trail which joined New Mexico and California via pack mule trains in the mid-1800s. Visitor Rating (write your own […]
Harpers Ferry
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, at the corner of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, protects an area full of rich US history. George Washington chose this area as the location for a major US arsenal, Thomas Jefferson marveled at the beauty of the mountains rising from the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, Meriwether Lewis […]
Dayton Aviation Heritage
Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP, Ohio, consists of several units around Dayton which are significant to three of Dayton’s most famous past residents, Orville and Wilbur Wright, inventors of the airplane, and Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the first widely acclaimed African American authors. Visitor Rating (write your own review below) ILNP Rating ILNP Park Review […]
Richmond
Richmond National Battlefield Park, Virginia, consists of several units in and around Richmond, Virginia which protect the locations of key Civil War battles and defensive positions which protected the Confederate capitol of Richmond in two campaigns in 1862 and 1864. The park is also home to the historic Tredegar Iron Works, a civil war-era hospital […]
Lake Mead
Lake Mead is the largest man-made lake in the US. The National Recreation Area is home to not only the lake but also thousands of acres to explore and the massive Hoover Dam, once the largest concrete dam in the world. Visitor Rating (write your own review below) ILNP Rating ILNP Park Review Our Visit. […]
Pearl Harbor National Memorial
Pearl Harbor National Memorial was established March 12th, 2019 from the former World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, Hawaii. It’s one of the newer National Park units, though its most famous memorial, the USS Arizona, has been protected as a National Memorial for decades and seen millions of visitors. The larger monument […]
Organ Pipe Cactus
Organ Pipe Cactus NM in southwest Arizona protects the only area of the US where this unique species of cactus grows. Visitor Rating (write your own review below) ILNP Rating ILNP Park Review Our Visit. I visited Organ Pipe Cactus NM, Arizona during October when I had an afternoon free during a trip to Tucson. […]
Glacier
Glacier National Park, Montana, was established in 1910, has been called the “Crown of the Continent.” It is home to some of the last remaining glaciers along the continental divide in the lower 48 states and a spectacular arrangement of glacier-carved peaks, turquoise lakes and diverse wildlife. Glacier is paired with Waterton Lakes National Park, […]
Florissant Fossil Beds
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument’s claim to fame is its large collection of plant and insect fossils and gigantic petrified redwood stumps in central Colorado. In addition to the petrified inhabitants, the monument is also home to a wide variety of wildflowers and a Colorado homestead preserved from the 1870s. The monument is located off […]
War in the Pacific
War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Guam, protects portions of important and bloody battlefields where the US Marines landed and retook Guam from the Japanese during WWII. Beyond the Guam campaign, the park was established to “commemorate the bravery and sacrifice of those participating in the campaigns of the Pacific Theater of World War […]
Review – The National Parks, America’s B
The National Parks – America’s Best Idea book is every bit as good as the documentary The National Parks – America’s Best Idea was written by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns who produced the acclaimed PBS documentary of the same name (for a review of the documentary, click here). It follows the documentary closely, so […]