We left Wyoming a bit early. The rain kept the campers away. Our next destination was Arkansas and when I received a call telling me that my grandparents needed some help, we didn't hesitate, we packed up and headed South.
Jon and I took a mini vacation while we were still in Wyoming. We spent a weekend in Colorado. We got in and out just prior to the rain and flooding.
It was a great weekend. We stayed in a really nice hotel (the suite was bigger than the 5th wheel). The main reason we went was to go into the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Following is the list of National Parks:
Acadia National Park - Maine
American Samoa NP - Samoa Territory -This will be difficult to see in the 5th Wheel ;)
Arches NP - Utah
Badlands NP - South Dakota
Big Bend NP - Texas
Biscayne NP - Florida
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP - Colorado
Bryce Canyon NP - Utah
Canyonlands NP - Utah
Capitol Reef NP - Utah
Carlsbad Caverns NP - New Mexico
Channel Islands NP - California
Congaree NP - South Carolina
Crater Lake NP - Oregon
Cuyahoga Valley NP - Ohio
Death Valley NP - California & Nevada
Denali NP - Alaska
Dry Tortugas NP - Florida
Everglades NP - Florida
Gates of the Arctic NP - Alaska
Glacier NP - Alaska
Glacier Bay NP - Alaska
Grand Canyon NP - Arizona
Grand Teton NP - Wyoming
Great Basin NP - Nevada
Great Sand Dunes NP - Colorado
Great Smoky Mountains NP - North Carolina & Tennessee
Guadalupe Mountains NP - Texas
Haleakala NP - Hawaii (Another one that we will need to see using an alternate mode of transportation)
Hawaii Volcanoes NP - Hawaii
Hot Springs NP - Arkansas
Isle Royale NP - Michigan
Joshua Tree NP - California
Katmai NP - Alaska
Kenai Fjords NP - Alaska
Kings Canyon NP - California
Kobuk Valley NP - Alaska
Lake Clark NP - Alaska
Lassen Volcanic NP - California
Mammoth Cave NP - Kentucky
Mesa Verde NP - Colorado
Mount Rainier NP - Washington
North Cascades NP - Washington
Olympic NP - Washington
Petrified Forest NP - Arizona
Redwood NP - California
Rocky Mountain NP - Colorado
Saguaro NP - Arizona
Sequoia NP - California
Shenandoah NP - Virginia
Theodore Roosevelt NP - North Dakota
Virgin Islands NP - US Virgin Islands (We will save this one for when we really need a vacation from our vacation)
Voyageurs NP - Minnesota
Wind Cave NP - South Dakota
Wrangell-St. Elias NP - Alaska
Yellowstone NP - Wyoming, Idaho & Montana
Yosemite NP - California
Zion NP - Utah
* - The ones in Blue are the parks that Jon and I have seen together. We have visited some of the others separately, but our goal is to see them all together. I hope that we can continue to travel until we have seen them all. We have only seen 8 - 50 more to go. Can't wait!
I was shocked to discover the most visited NP is the Great Smoky Mountain NP in North Carolina & Tennessee. I would have thought Yellowstone, Yosemite or the Grand Canyon would be #1.
The Grand Canyon is #2, followed by Yosemite and then Yellowstone. An interesting fact is that the Great Smoky Mountains NP receives over 9 million visitors annually that is more than twice as the #2 NP of the Grand Canyon receives. The NP with the least visitors is the Kobuk Valley NP in Alaska. This park averages just 3,000 visitors annually.
Back to Colorado and our mini vacation.
Rocky Mountain Park is beautiful and is the 9th most visited NP in the US. The Park is located in the North Central Region of Colorado and it features varied climates and environments from wooded forests to mountain tundra.
We entered the Park through the small town of Estes Park. It was really a quaint town. When we arrived a scottish festival was going on. We would have liked to have spent more time in the area and the park and had every intention of doing that, but the floods happened and we weren't able to go back into Colorado. I hope we are able to return a some future point in our travels.
Colorado is a beautiful. In our travels we stopped for pictures of these spots.
On Sunday we spent a portion of our day in Greeley at the Greeley Freight Station Museum. This is a one-of-a-kind facility that features over 600 railroad related artifacts ranging from a Virginia and Truckee Railroad Switch Key to a full sized Colorado and Southern wooden Caboose. But the main attraction has to be it's 5,500 sq. ft. operating miniature railroad.
It was fascinating. I wouldn't have thought that I would find it interesting, but it really was. The Museum operates with volunteers and the admission is nominal. The miniature railroad scenes were of Oregon. I told Jon as we were leaving the museum, it made me want to go to Oregon on a train. Maybe that will be our next Mini Vacation.
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