Places I've Been... By State

I used to go to the Minnesota Arrowhead (or more accurately The Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais) almost on a yearly basis for a fishing trip in one of the most peaceful areas I've been to.

I've actually driven all 443 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway, who's history goes back hundreds of years before the industrial revolution.

Once one of the most important roads in young America, today it's preserved as a monument to its past history, with dozens of historic and scenic sites along its length. If you're travelling to a destination somewhere along the Trace, it'd be worth the extra half-day or so to drive a portion of it...

I was breaking in my new car in 1996, so I did a road trip down a part of the River Road in Illinois and Missouri, and stopped in at Hannibal.

Glacier National Park is one of the premier parks in America, named after the carved valleys the glaciers in the last Ice Age dug out. It's a majestic mountain park, complete with one of the best drives in North America, the Going To The Sun Road.

It's in my list of must visit parks, but it is one of those parks far enough out of the way that you really have to want to go there. But it's worth the trip...

Pompeys Pillar National Monument holds the only physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark's trek across America. On July 25 in 1806, William Clark climbed this rock and scratched his name onto the side of the limestone formation.

I was there exactly 200 years to the day after the deed.

The area around Great Falls on the Missouri River was the first serious obstacle the Corps of Discovery had underestimated about the West. Mile after mile of un-navigable rapids and waterfalls, where they had to portage hundreds of pounds of canoes and supplies by foot.

The Missouri River's been long tamed now, even more so during the fall when I was there, months after the mountain snowpacks had melted. But even 200 years later, it was easy to see how this area of the Missouri would be hell by canoe...

Dinosaur fossils have been unearthed here, from Triceratops to Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Bighorn Canyon NRA spans both Wyoming and Montana, but I've unfortunately only seen the park as a throughway from Yellowstone to I-90.

Thus, I only have pictures through the NRA (and the Bighorn National Forest) along US-14A. (I was told at one time US-14A was the more scenic route.)

Yellowstone National Park tops my list of favorite parks. It doesn't matter if you want waterfalls, lakes, geysers, hot springs, river canyons, glacial valleys, mountain scenery, abundant wildlife, or interesting roads to drive, Yellowstone has all if it.

Its world famous icons, such as Old Faithful, the Lower Falls and Mammoth Hot Springs, all point to a very angry Earth below the surface, a super volcano which has the potential to wipe out much of America. So enjoy the park while you can!

The Beartooth Scenic Highway is one of those magnificent mountain drives, this one crossing the Beartooth Mountains. It's a spectacular way to leave (or enter) Yellowstone from the East.

I do list it as one of my must do drives.

US-89 is a remarkable road that follows some of the most scenic areas of the West from Canada to Arizona, and along the way passes through (or comes within a few miles of) over a half dozen major Western Parks. Glacier to Yellowstone to Grand Teton, Bryce, Zion, Glen Canyon and Grand Canyon.

I've actually frequented this road quite a bit, but in a disjointed, non-continuous fashion.