2016 Road Trip Recap

Follow the whole road trip chronologically using the 2016 Road Trip tag or check out a few select posts along the way:

• Start on departure day and…
• Drive through Appalachia starting in Shenandoah National Park, traversing the Blue Ridge Parkway, and ending in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
• Take in the sights and sounds of Asheville and Chattanooga.
• Cover 444 miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway through Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
• Explore the naughty and nice of New Orleans and see the ‘gators and armadillos of the Louisiana bayou.
• Cross Texas whilst learning about space exploration at Space Center Houston, presidential history at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum and military history at The Alamo.
• Before exiting Texas, get dusty and dirty in Big Bend National Park, brush up on contemporary art in Marfa and take in Guadalupe National Park.
• Continue on to enjoy the variety of the southwest. Appreciate the complex formations at Carlsbad Caverns National Park; aliens, UFOs and modern art in Roswell; and gypsum sand dunes at White Sands National Monument.
• Walk amongst pinnacles at Chiricahua National Monument, saguaro cacti in Saguaro National Park, airplanes at Pima Air & Space Museum, red rock in Sedona, volcanos, pueblos, cliff dwellings and a meteor crater near Flagstaff, and a colorful landscape in Petrified Forest National Park.
• Learn about Navajo culture at Canyon de Chelly National Monument, ancient cultures at Chaco Culture National Historic Park, and current community life at Taos Pueblo.
• Wander Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos to find historic landmarks, fine cuisine, and immersive multimedia experiences before covering ground in nature outside the city limits.
• Entering Colorado, climb the dunes at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, experience an International Dark Sky Park at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and hike in Rocky Mountains National Park.
• Immerse yourself in the wilderness at Grand Teton National Park and marvel at the geothermal features of Yellowstone National Park.
• Explore more of magnificent Montana, including Glacier National Park, before stopping by Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.
• Investigate the mysteries of the Dakotas from Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Custer State Park to the caves of The Black Hills to Badlands National Park.
• Wrap up the 2016 adventure with a few more brewery stops in Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio before concluding, fittingly, with a National Park photography exhibit at the George Eastman House.