Wanderlust for One

The world on your own terms

national parks

Highs and Lows of Hiking Half Dome

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Hiking Half Dome has been on my life list for a while now, so I was thrilled to have an opportunity to finally visit Yosemite National Park this summer. Looking up at the famous mountain from the Curry Village parking lot in Yosemite Valley, I couldn't believe how awe-inspiring it was to see it in person. The iconic granite peak that symbolizes the rugged beauty of the Sierra … [Read more...] about Highs and Lows of Hiking Half Dome

Channeling My Inner Explorer on Santa Cruz Island

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Grand Canyon. Yosemite. Yellowstone. Rocky Mountain. Olympic. Zion. Grand Teton. Acadia. These are only a few of the crown jewels of the United States’ National Park Service. They are among the most well-known, well-loved, and well-visited of the parks, their names alone conjuring visions of vast unspoiled natural beauty and their splendor … [Read more...] about Channeling My Inner Explorer on Santa Cruz Island

Beyond Boundaries in Badlands National Park

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It was raining--hard--on the morning I left Rochester, Minnesota. It was the third day of my big cross-country road trip and I was headed to Custer, South Dakota for the night. Being an early riser, I was already on the road a little before five in the morning, driving west under steel gray skies and dodging muscular semis while the rain fell so hard I could hardly hear the … [Read more...] about Beyond Boundaries in Badlands National Park

Feeling Presidential: One for Mount Rushmore

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  My fist was curled firmly around the handbrake, my feet orchestrating a game of reverse musical chairs on the clutch, accelerator, and brake pedal as I attempted to maneuver the stick shift car up the incline through parking concessions and up to the drab, concrete parking deck of Mount Rushmore National Memorial. After paying the $10 parking fee, rolling backwards a … [Read more...] about Feeling Presidential: One for Mount Rushmore