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Author: Liana Safian

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve: Four Million Acres of Solitude

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve: Four Million Acres of Solitude

Lake Clark National Park isn’t an easy place to get to. Without any access roads or ferry service, a bush plane flight or boat ride is required to get here. However, we found it well worth the effort. In fact, traveling to and from Lake Clark was one of our favorite experiences on our entire Alaska road trip. The rugged beauty and wildness here are astounding. Lake Clark National Park is home to active volcanoes, craggy jade mountains, glacial rivers,…

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Carlsbad Caverns National Park: Our Favorite Things and Our Biggest Regrets

Carlsbad Caverns National Park: Our Favorite Things and Our Biggest Regrets

How’s that for a dramatic click-bait title? Don’t worry this isn’t click-bait—I wouldn’t do that do you. I fully intend to share (and likely over-share) just that: our favorite things to do in Carlsbad Caverns National Park and our biggest regrets from our time there earlier this year. How Was Carlsbad Caverns National Park Formed? Let’s start with a little history about how the cave was formed—or as I like to call it, “Liana’s geology geek-out time.” If you’ve read…

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Backpacking Denali National Park: What You Need to Know

Backpacking Denali National Park: What You Need to Know

Backpacking Denali National Park is a bucket list item for many outdoor enthusiasts. It’s also a great way to see the park beyond the established roads and trails. In fact, there aren’t any trails in much of Denali’s 6 million acres, so backpacking here is a true wilderness experience. Upon arrival in Denali National Park, we didn’t have any plans to spend a night in the great outdoors. However, after a few days of witnessing the vast landscape of rolling…

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Dawson City, Yukon: The Heart of the Klondike Gold Rush

Dawson City, Yukon: The Heart of the Klondike Gold Rush

Dawson City, a small town in the northern reaches of Canada, celebrates its history perhaps more than any other place we’ve been. In fact, many aspects of the Klondike Gold Rush era are still alive and well today—dirt roads edged by wooden plank walkways, vaudeville shows, sultry saloons, a bath house in lieu of showers, and even rowdy gold miners. As irony goes, my favorite town so far on our “Alaska” road trip isn’t in Alaska (or even the US)…

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Exploring Glacier Bay National Park by Land (and Sea Kayak)

Exploring Glacier Bay National Park by Land (and Sea Kayak)

Where are the glaciers? That was our first question when we arrived at Glacier Bay National Park. As it turns out we didn’t have the typical experience here. In fact, we’re part of the 10% of park visitors that set foot on land in Glacier Bay National Park. The other 90% see the park from the deck of an Alaska cruise ship and spend just 8-10 hours in the park. Glacier Bay National Park is the first official national park…

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Sitka Tribal Tours: An Introduction to Alaskan Culture

Sitka Tribal Tours: An Introduction to Alaskan Culture

The first few weeks of travel in Alaska and Canada have been a wild ride both figuratively and literally. We’ve taken Stan the Tan Van on 6 boat voyages, kayaked with sea lions (not intentionally, mind you), camped across from a glacier, celebrated Canada Day with a sour-toe cocktail (complete with a mummified human toe) in an old mining town, and US Independence Day at the crossroads of Tok, Alaska. Needless to say, we have a lot to share already…

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Guadalupe Mountains National Park: Hiking on an Ancient Sea Reef in the Sky

Guadalupe Mountains National Park: Hiking on an Ancient Sea Reef in the Sky

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is one of those parks that doesn’t get a lot of limelight. In fact, a few years ago, before we started our quest to visit all the US national parks, I hadn’t even heard of Guadalupe Mountains. It’s neighbor in New Mexico—Carlsbad Caverns—gets a lot more attention and when you think of a national park in Texas, it’s usually Big Bend that comes to mind. It may be due to its modest nature, but Guadalupe Mountains…

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24 Hours in Petrified Forest National Park

24 Hours in Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Forest National Park is a place where you can travel through time and literally see layers of earth’s geological and human history. The petrified wood of the park’s namesake are actually fossils from the Triassic Period—225 million years ago. Traces of human habitation here can be dated back over 13,000 years. And within the last hundred years there’s a rich history of our modern society’s interest in the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. Before I get into the details…

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Day Trip to Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico from Big Bend National Park

Day Trip to Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico from Big Bend National Park

A Day in the Border Town of Boquillas del Carmen We’ve already established that Big Bend National Park in Texas is one of the most diverse, beautiful, and all-around kick-ass awesome parks we’ve been to yet. As I mentioned in my last post, a highlight of our time in Big Bend was taking a day trip across the border to the town of Boquillas del Carmen (often referred to as just Boquillas) in Mexico. The trip included a rowboat ride,…

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What to do in Big Bend National Park in a Week

What to do in Big Bend National Park in a Week

I’m not sure if it’s the honeymoon period of the first couple weeks back on the road, but it’s safe to say I’m obsessed with Big Bend National Park. In fact, it quickly earned a spot on my list of top 5 favorite national parks. I’m sure the folks at Big Bend will be thrilled—after all, it’s a very prestigious list 😉 Pin this post for later > “Big Bend” refers to the 90 degree turn that the Rio Grande…

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