Tag Archives: bucket lists

four NEW national park visits

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Happy Monday! I’ve finally updated my National Parks Bucket List. In the last few weeks, we’ve visited 4 more parks. We’re up to 33 with only 30 more parks to go. The photo above is the New River Bridge in New River National Park in West Virginia.

This is Mammoth Cave National Park. We visited during the government shutdown, so we were unable to take a cave tour, but we were able to go down into the historic entrance to the cave, and we also enjoyed bike riding through the park – so I’m counting it, haha! If we’re ever in the area again, we’ll be sure to take a cave tour.

This is, of course, is Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Even though the government was still shut down, they were still allowing people to take the tram to the top of the arch. It was a clear day, so we were able to see quite far.

Lastly, this is Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. We drove the Skyline Drive. Beautiful! It was a bit nippy for hiking (in the 30’s), so if we come this way again, we’ll try to make it in warmer weather!

Our travels next spring will include the next batch of parks. Little by little, we’re crossing them off our bucket list!

Have a terrific day. I hope you do or learn something NEW today!

another NEW update to my waterfalls bucket list

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Happy Monday! Boy oh boy, if you want to visit waterfalls, the Finger Lakes Region of New York is where to go! We hiked to different waterfalls nearly every day last week! I’ve added 12 NEW waterfalls to my 100 Waterfalls Bucket List! Only 20 to go until 100!

To be clear, I’m not counting some we attempted to see. Some were duds – hardly any water at all (it is August, after all. Namely Aunt Sarah’s Falls, Hector Falls, and Shequaga Falls were the duds :o). But most were fantastic! Here are a few photos.

The top photo is Rainbow Falls at Watkins Glen State Park in New York. The best part of that hike is that you can see many little falls on your hike (something like 19 in a span of 2 miles), like these little ones:

Ithaca Falls near Cornell University was a good one:

A favorite is the Middle Falls at Letchwork State Park in New York:

Although the Upper Falls at Letchworth were great too!

The hike up Stony Brook Creek in Stony Brook State Park was a nice (and a good workout!). It is a well-maintained trail with rock or wooden steps placed at the steep areas. I Googled how many steps there were. Here’s what my friend Google told me: “Stony Brook State Park has approximately 800 stairs, though a specific count is difficult as trails are a mix of stone, wooden, and dirt steps. The trails, particularly the Gorge Trail and West Rim Trail, are known for their many steps, with the West Rim Trail’s section sometimes called the “thousand steps”. We hiked up the gorge trail and came back on the West Rim trail. Here’s a photo from one of the Stony Brook trail waterfalls:

I hope you have a great week and get to do or learn something NEW!

more NEW bucket list updates

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Happy Monday! In my book, it’s a pretty great week when I can mark off items from two different bucket lists. Today I’m updating my National Parks bucket list and my 100 Waterfalls bucket list! Woohoo!

Recently, we visited Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. What a unique national park! It’s basically in the middle of some towns and very close to a large city – Cleveland, Ohio. It was made a national park because the beauty of the area was being threatened by development. We rode our bikes on the Erie-Ohio tow path, then made our way to this awesome waterfall. I’ve wanted to go here ever since Nancy at Two Trails One Road recommended it! It did not disappoint! Thanks, Nancy! We rode further on the tow path and saw this awesome bridge. I believe it’s called Station Road Bridge:

After lunch, we hiked to Blue Hen Falls. However, after visiting Brandywine Falls, these falls were a bit underwhelming (especially after a semi-difficult hike), but hey, any waterfall is worth it in my opinion! I’m thinking perhaps there might be more water in the spring rather than the hot days of August!

On the drive back to our campground, we stopped in the cute little town of Chagrin Falls. We bought an ice cream cone and enjoyed their falls right in their downtown.

Toward the end of the week, we hiked the short distance to Minnehaha Falls and Cascade Falls in Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park. The Minnehaha Falls has a glass bridge that you can walk over the large gorge that the waterfall flows through. Again, I’m thinking there would likely be more water in the springtime than there was in August. But I’m counting them both toward my 100 waterfalls!

So, the bucket list stats are at 29 out of 63 national parks and 68 out of 100 waterfalls. We’re getting there. Being retired will likely speed up the progress!

Have a great day! I hope you learn or do something NEW today!

a NEW National Parks Bucket List

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I’ve organized my National Parks list and added links for the parks where I’ve posted photos. Here’s the updated list of parks we’ve visited:

LIST OF US NATIONAL PARKS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (63 total)

a few NEW photos of another national park

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Happy Wednesday!

We crossed another national park off our bucket list last weekend. We visited Petrified Forest National Park in northeastern Arizona. You may think the photo above is of a big, big log. Well, it used to be, but now it’s solid rock! This giant log was named Old Faithful by the wife of a park superintendent. She said the log was to Petrified Forest what the Old Faithful geyser is to Yellowstone National Park, and the name stuck. The amount of petrified wood in the area was incredible!

Millions of years ago, the area had a climate similar to Costa Rica has today. There was a large river. Trees fell into the river and there was a log jam in a bend where these trees got stuck and were buried by sediment over time. Millions of years later, we have rocks that look like logs! So cool!

We saw petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock.

On the way to Arizona, we passed through Monument Valley and just HAD to take a photo from iconic Forrest Gump Point:

And on the way home, we stopped at Horseshoe Bend:

Here’s the updated list as of 4/12/2025. 27 down, 36 to go!

LIST OF US NATIONAL PARKS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (63 total)

  • Acadia National Park {done}
  • Arches National Park {done}
  • Badlands National Park
  • Big Bend National Park
  • Biscayne National Park {done}
  • Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park {done}
  • Bryce Canyon National Park {done}
  • Canyonlands National Park {done}
  • Capitol Reef National Park {done}
  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park
  • Channel Islands National Park
  • Congaree National Park
  • Crater Lake National Park
  • Cuyahoga Valley National Park
  • Death Valley National Park {done}
  • Denali National Park and Preserve
  • Dry Tortugas National Park
  • Everglades National Park {done}
  • Gates of the Arctic National Park
  • Gateway Arch National Park 
  • Glacier National Park {done}
  • Glacier Bay National Park
  • Grand Canyon National Park {done}
  • Grand Teton National Park {done}
  • Great Basin National Park {done}
  • Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
  • Great Smoky Mountains National Park {done}
  • Guadalupe Mountains National Park
  • Haleakala National Park
  • Hawaii Volcanoes National Park {done}
  • Hot Springs National Park
  • Indiana Dunes National Park
  • Isle Royale National Park
  • Joshua Tree National Park {done}
  • Katmai National Park and Preserve
  • Kenai Fjords National Park
  • Kings Canyon National Park {done}
  • Kobuk Valley National Park
  • Lake Clark National Park
  • Lassen Volcanic National Park {done}
  • Mammoth Cave National Park
  • Mesa Verde National Park {done}
  • Mount Rainier National Park
  • National Park of American Samoa
  • New River Gorge National Park 
  • North Cascades National Park
  • Olympic National Park
  • Petrified Forest National Park {done}
  • Pinnacles National Park
  • Redwood National Park {done}
  • Rocky Mountain National Park {done}
  • Saguaro National Park {done}
  • Sequoia National Park {done}
  • Shenandoah National Park
  • Theodore Roosevelt National Park
  • Virgin Islands National Park
  • Voyageurs National Park
  • White Sands National Park 
  • Wind Cave National Park
  • Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
  • Yellowstone National Park {done}
  • Yosemite National Park {done}
  • Zion National Park {done}

Have a great day and I hope you get to do or learn something NEW today!

NEW photos of Iguazu Falls

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Happy Wednesday!

My bucket list dream of visiting Iguazu Falls has been successfully checked off! Woot Woot!

Therefore, I’m updating my 100 Waterfalls Bucket Lists. We recently flew to Santiago, Chile and boarded a cruise ship in San Antonio, Chile. The itinerary was Puerto Montt, scenic cruising near Amalia Glacier, Punta Arenas, Chile, Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina, scenic cruising around Cape Horn, Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, Puerto Madryn, Argentina, Montevideo, Uruguay, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was an awesome trip! Here are some NEW photos:

We saw more than just Iguazu Falls, so I’ll try to post again very soon.

Have a great day and I hope you learn or do something NEW today!

Updated Bucket Lists (Waterfalls & National Parks)

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Happy Monday!

It’s update time! I get to cross Glacier National Park off our National Parks bucket list and add multiple waterfalls to my 100 Waterfalls Bucket List.

We visited Glacier National Park last week. We were thrilled to see the northern lights while we were there! We had a terrific time hiking and biking, eating huckleberry pie, huckleberry ice cream and huckleberry bear claw pastries! The weather in the 60s was perfect hiking weather. It was an excellent week!

I officially added 3 waterfalls to my waterfall bucket list, but we saw multiple random waterfalls. For instance, while driving on Going to the Sun Road, we saw water pouring over rocks several times.

Here’s my official three:

Baring Falls:

St Mary Falls (someone needs to remove that random log that obstructs the view, right! :o):

And here’s Virginia Falls:

I’ll post more photos of the beautiful scenery of Glacier National Park in the next few days.

Here’s the updated NP list. 26 down, 37 to go!

LIST OF US NATIONAL PARKS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (63 total)

  • Acadia National Park {done}
  • Arches National Park {done}
  • Badlands National Park
  • Big Bend National Park
  • Biscayne National Park {done}
  • Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park {done}
  • Bryce Canyon National Park {done}
  • Canyonlands National Park {done}
  • Capitol Reef National Park {done}
  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park
  • Channel Islands National Park
  • Congaree National Park
  • Crater Lake National Park
  • Cuyahoga Valley National Park
  • Death Valley National Park {done}
  • Denali National Park and Preserve
  • Dry Tortugas National Park
  • Everglades National Park {done}
  • Gates of the Arctic National Park
  • Gateway Arch National Park 
  • Glacier National Park {done}
  • Glacier Bay National Park
  • Grand Canyon National Park {done}
  • Grand Teton National Park {done}
  • Great Basin National Park {done}
  • Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
  • Great Smoky Mountains National Park {done}
  • Guadalupe Mountains National Park
  • Haleakala National Park
  • Hawaii Volcanoes National Park {done}
  • Hot Springs National Park
  • Indiana Dunes National Park
  • Isle Royale National Park
  • Joshua Tree National Park {done}
  • Katmai National Park and Preserve
  • Kenai Fjords National Park
  • Kings Canyon National Park {done}
  • Kobuk Valley National Park
  • Lake Clark National Park
  • Lassen Volcanic National Park {done}
  • Mammoth Cave National Park
  • Mesa Verde National Park {done}
  • Mount Rainier National Park
  • National Park of American Samoa
  • New River Gorge National Park 
  • North Cascades National Park
  • Olympic National Park
  • Petrified Forest National Park
  • Pinnacles National Park
  • Redwood National Park {done}
  • Rocky Mountain National Park {done}
  • Saguaro National Park {done}
  • Sequoia National Park {done}
  • Shenandoah National Park
  • Theodore Roosevelt National Park
  • Virgin Islands National Park
  • Voyageurs National Park
  • White Sands National Park 
  • Wind Cave National Park
  • Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
  • Yellowstone National Park {done}
  • Yosemite National Park {done}
  • Zion National Park {done}

Have a great day! I hope you do or learn something NEW today!

a NEW update to my waterfall bucket list

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Happy Friday!

A few weeks ago, we traveled to Colorado and hiked to a few waterfalls. So, I’m updating my 100 Waterfall Bucket List. I’m up to 58. Lesson learned though: Don’t go in May if you want to hike to more waterfalls, because there’s still too much snow. Many of the trails were closed. Bummer!

The photo above is Cascade Falls in Ouray, Colorado. Below is Box Cañon Falls, in Ouray.

Over the mountain from Ouray is Telluride, Colorado. That’s where we planned to do more hiking, but at least we could see Bridal Veil Falls from afar.

We enjoyed these dramatic clouds while we traveled to our son and DIL’s graduation.

That’s it for today’s photo dump. :o)

I hope you have a terrific day and do or learn something NEW!

another NEW update to our National Parks bucket list

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Happy Monday! Well, we’ve crossed two more national parks off our bucket list: Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley National Park. Death Valley was the biggest surprise because the temporary lake is still there! In August 2023, Hurricane Hilary hit California and dumped 2 inches (about a year’s worth of rain) in Death Valley, in just one day. The park rangers are amazed that the temporary lake is still there! People can walk out on the salt flats and into the water.

Just as surprising were these amazing large fields of wildflowers. They are just outside the park. The name Death Valley just doesn’t quite fit with the lake and wildflower vibes. But I’m sure the region will be back to “normal” eventually.

In Joshua Tree National Park, we did a couple of hikes but mostly drove around and saw all the Joshua Trees.

I learned something NEW about how the Joshua Tree got its name (according to legend). In the mid-19th century, pioneers named the tree after the biblical figure, Joshua, seeing the limbs of the trees as outstretched in supplication, guiding the travelers westward. My sister, who lives near Las Vegas, Nevada always wondered why her husband would put his arms above his head when he’d say anything about Joshua Trees (which are plentiful in the Las Vegas area, but not so concentrated as in Joshua Tree National Park). My brother-in-law just thought the connection between Joshua Trees and the biblical Joshua was common knowledge. Apparently not! Haha!

Here is Skull Rock. It’s conveniently located right off the road. No hiking is required.

There’s not a lot of bright colors in Joshua Tree National Park, so I’m blaming this little guy for getting us lost! We were hiking to Arch Rock and somehow got a bit lost. After we backtracked and eventually found the arch, we realized we should’ve turned left instead of right, and it was right around where this little pop of color was that we lost our way. Lesson learned: photographing color in the desert is distracting and possibly life-threatening! :o)

Here’s Arch Rock:

Here’s the updated National Parks bucket list. 24 out of 63. Have a great day! I hope you do or learn something NEW!

LIST OF US NATIONAL PARKS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (63 total)

  • Acadia National Park {done}
  • Arches National Park {done}
  • Badlands National Park
  • Big Bend National Park
  • Biscayne National Park {done}
  • Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park {done}
  • Bryce Canyon National Park {done}
  • Canyonlands National Park {done}
  • Capitol Reef National Park {done}
  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park
  • Channel Islands National Park
  • Congaree National Park
  • Crater Lake National Park
  • Cuyahoga Valley National Park
  • Death Valley National Park {done}
  • Denali National Park and Preserve
  • Dry Tortugas National Park
  • Everglades National Park {done}
  • Gates of the Arctic National Park
  • Gateway Arch National Park 
  • Glacier National Park
  • Glacier Bay National Park
  • Grand Canyon National Park {done}
  • Grand Teton National Park {done}
  • Great Basin National Park
  • Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
  • Great Smoky Mountains National Park {done}
  • Guadalupe Mountains National Park
  • Haleakala National Park
  • Hawaii Volcanoes National Park {done}
  • Hot Springs National Park
  • Indiana Dunes National Park
  • Isle Royale National Park
  • Joshua Tree National Park {done}
  • Katmai National Park and Preserve
  • Kenai Fjords National Park
  • Kings Canyon National Park {done}
  • Kobuk Valley National Park
  • Lake Clark National Park
  • Lassen Volcanic National Park {done}
  • Mammoth Cave National Park
  • Mesa Verde National Park {done}
  • Mount Rainier National Park
  • National Park of American Samoa
  • New River Gorge National Park 
  • North Cascades National Park
  • Olympic National Park
  • Petrified Forest National Park
  • Pinnacles National Park
  • Redwood National Park {done}
  • Rocky Mountain National Park {done}
  • Saguaro National Park {done}
  • Sequoia National Park {done}
  • Shenandoah National Park
  • Theodore Roosevelt National Park
  • Virgin Islands National Park
  • Voyageurs National Park
  • White Sands National Park 
  • Wind Cave National Park
  • Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
  • Yellowstone National Park {done}
  • Yosemite National Park {done}
  • Zion National Park {done}

a few NEW lists for my bucket

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Happy Tuesday and Happy January 2nd!

Many articles I’ve read lately explained how people’s New Year resolutions get abandoned by the middle of January. I don’t really make “resolutions”, but I do like a good list of things to do or experience. Yeah, yeah, I know the term bucket list refers to a list of things people want to do or accomplish before they “kick the bucket”…before they are “called home”…before they “enter into their eternal rest” but I simply have lots of different lists in my bucket because I LUV LISTS. :o)

I’ve posted about my Waterfall Bucket List and my National Parks Bucket List. I always have a reading challenge going on, but now I’m going to post about a few more bucket lists because if I announce to the blogosphere I’m going to do something, it’s like magic – those things always happen (eventually, haha!).

I want to make 50 NEW gourmet dinners or desserts. The trick will be deciding whether something is “gourmet” or not, ha! For instance, I’ve been intimidated by making French macarons, so that will be at the top of the list.

I’ve tried this one before, and I may fail {again} but this year I’m going to try a 365 Photo Project. Why? Because I always want to try to look for the beauty in life. Every.Single.Day. I also want to get better at using the different settings on my camera.

I want to cross off 100 rails-to-trails bike rides. This one might take a while, but it will be SO fun!

Lastly, I want to also cross off visits to 100 different botanical gardens or arboretums. Shall I try to count previously visited gardens, or start now? Hmmm…

I have other list ideas, but that’s all I’ll commit to (for now).

Now for my JusJoJan24 entry: The prompt is Gregorian. When I think of this word, I always think of 1752 which is the year Britain (and the British Colonies) adopted the Gregorian calendar. But, I learned something NEW today! Per Wikipedia, Saudi Arabia didn’t switch over until 2016! Wowza, who knew!?!

Have a great day! I hope you do or learn something NEW today!