The eastern two-thirds of the country has some lovely scenery. But it’s not until you get out west that the really stunning scenery comes into view. And I mean hit-over-the-head-with-an-iron-skillet stunning. The scale of the mountains and canyons out west…
On the drive to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, darkening clouds threatened overhead and furious winds blew our little car around mercilessly. Each time a tractor trailer passed us, it felt like being slapped by an invisible giant’s…
Jewel Cave is even longer than Wind Cave, its perhaps more famous sister located about 35 miles to the west. In fact, it is the third-longest cave after Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and the Sac Actun/Dos Ojos system in Mexico.…
As you drive along the rolling prairie in western South Dakota, unless you have the expert eye of a trained geologist, you’d never guess that two spectacular cave systems lie beneath the earth. We spent a few days exploring both…
Driving west through southern South Dakota on our way to Badlands National Park, we passed field after field of bright yellow sunflowers that seemed to go on for miles. It’s a stunning sight, but more stunning scenery awaited us as…
Quick — what’s the longest river in North America? Nope, it’s not the Mississippi. It’s the Missouri. Like fur trappers and Native Americans before them, explorers Lewis and Clark braved this great American riverway in search of adventure and nature’s…
On day three, we packed up and hit the trail early for the return trip to the Three-Mile Campground on Isle Royale’s southern coast. Refreshed for the steep ascent out of Lane Cove, we soon reached the trail junction and…
For anyone wanting to really get away from it all, it’s hard to beat the remote Isle Royale National Park in northern Lake Superior. Isle Royale takes a bit of advance planning and logistical decision-making, but it is well worth…
Heading northeast from Wisconsin to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, we drove along the lovely shore of Lake Michigan before turning inland. At Munising, the town at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore’s western gateway, Lake Superior came into view. We had hoped to…
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 55 miles east of Chicago and connected to it via the South Shore train, covers several parcels along the otherwise industrialized southern coast of Lake Michigan. We pulled into the Dunewood Campground across the road from…