2016
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Rocky Mountain High – Banff National Park, Alberta (part I)
After departing Waterton Lakes, we stopped for the afternoon in Calgary to catch up on the real world. The next installment of the Harry Potter movies had just been released and a little vacation wasn’t going to get in our way of seeing it. We’d purchased tickets in advance for a theatre at a mall… Continue reading
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Bad Land – Makoshika State Park, Montana
Destination: Makoshika State Park, also known as the Montana badlands. The name Makoshika (muh-KO-shih-kuh) hails from the Lakota phrase “maco sica,” which roughly translates to “bad land.” Makoshika State Park is located off of I-94 in eastern Montana, just outside the town of Glendive. The contrast between eastern Montana and the western part of the… Continue reading
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Beyond the Moonscape – Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho (part III)
Today is an exciting day for me on Handstands Around the World. Today features my very first guest post! The guest author: my mom. She’s been reading my posts since I started this blog and she’s always been there to help me remember the details of our trips, proofread, and remind me of my propensity… Continue reading
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Lava Tubes – Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho (part II)
One of my favorite adventure activities is exploring caves. I’ve never truly gone spelunking (it’s on my to-do list), but if we’re somewhere with a cave, we always sign up for the tours. As it happens, formation of caves in lava flows is fairly common, meaning there are a few caves at Craters of the Moon… Continue reading
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“I Walked on the Moon” – Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho (part I)
First things first: if you don’t understand the reference in the title of this post, drop everything and go look up Brian Regan on YouTube (well, okay, read the rest of the post first and then go look him up!). He’s my absolute favorite comedian for two reasons: (1) his humor is clean, and (2)… Continue reading
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Spectacular Speleothems – Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Utah
(The posts about our previous stops on this summer roadtrip have been updated to reflect my more recent visits to these parks.) Because the drive home would have been a very long day, we broke it into two days with a stop just south of Salt Lake City at American Fork Canyon in the Wasatch… Continue reading
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The place where 4 states don’t quite meet
(The posts about our previous stops on this summer roadtrip have been updated to reflect my more recent visits to these parks.) After Canyonlands National Park, our next destination was Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. The two parks are only about 3 hours apart by car, but we drove at least an hour out of… Continue reading
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Happy Birthday to the National Park Service!
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, I’ve put together a list of my favorite National Park Service sites: National Parks #1: Glacier National Park, Montana How can you top big blue skies, crystal clear waters, rugged mountains, and powerful glaciers? Not to mention the thousands of wildflowers, hundreds of miles of… Continue reading
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Above – Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah
Since we’d had so much fun in southern Utah before, we decided to head back to the area the following summer. My mom had visited Arches National Park many years ago, but none of us had ever been to Canyonlands or Mesa Verde. So we pulled out a map and plotted out our journey! It… Continue reading
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An Unexpected Surprise – Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah
It took a bit of convincing for me to get my family on board with adding Cedar Breaks National Monument to our itinerary. It’s tiny and was somewhat out of our way, located about 30 minutes east of Cedar City. Getting to Cedar Breaks is an adventure of its own. From the Grand Canyon, we… Continue reading
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Interrupting Deer and White-tailed Squirrels – Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (part IV)
The next morning, we headed off to explore the north rim of the Grand Canyon. There’s only one campground inside this section of the park, located near the visitor center at Bright Angel Point. From the visitor center, a 0.5 mile (0.8 km) round-trip paved trail leads out to Bright Angel Point, which was where… Continue reading
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From Rim to Rim – Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (part III)
After two wonderful days exploring the south rim of the Grand Canyon, it was time to pack up and head to the north rim. From Mather Campground, we followed Desert View Road east out of the park, stopping at the viewpoints we’d skipped on the way in. Continue reading
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Ooh, Ahh, and Ugh – Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (part II)
The names of most of the viewpoints in Grand Canyon National Park are of Native American origin. Hopi Point, Yavapai Overlook, and Mohave Point, to name a few. Whoever named the rest was apparently not feeling very creative. Case in point: when we hiked down into the canyon, we found ourselves at Ooh Ahh Point.… Continue reading
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A Vast Expanse – Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (part I)
It’s difficult to describe the Grand Canyon without using the words enormous and spectacular. And while both adjectives are correct, I couldn’t really fully appreciate the immensity of the canyon until I saw it for myself. Our visit began on the south rim of the canyon, which is the most popular half. The canyon itself… Continue reading
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Glimpses of the Sun – Olympic National Park, Washington (part IV)
The final leg of our trip led us back out to the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula on Highway 101. Just south of the Hoh Indian Reservation is Ruby Beach. It’s a 5-minute walk to the beach and many sea stacks, the most famous of which is Abbey Island. I’m still at a bit… Continue reading
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Onward, Hoh! – Olympic National Park, Washington (part III)
The next morning found us heading inland to the Hoh Rainforest, located at the end of Upper Hoh Road off Highway 101. The road follows the Hoh River and also passes a big Sitka spruce tree. Though not the largest, it’s one of many giant nearly 1000-year-old trees in the park! From the Hoh Visitor Center,… Continue reading
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Sand and Solitude – Olympic National Park, Washington (part II)
When we planned a vacation to Washington in June, we expected lots of rain and minimal sunshine, so we were fortunate to only have a couple gloomy days the entire vacation. The unfortunate part is that they fell on the days we were out at the beach. On the plus side, though, the drizzle scared… Continue reading
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The Remnants of Winter – Olympic National Park, Washington (part I)
This summer was different. It was the start of something new, something better, something wonderful. Following my parents’ divorce, my mom, sister, and I were now facing a challenge: planning and executing our annual summer vacation with just the three of us. It’s been years now, and despite all the great places I’d been before,… Continue reading
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Vancouver Island, British Columbia (part 2)
(If you missed part 1 of this post, you can find it here) After spending the first half of our trip on the inland side of Vancouver Island, we headed out to the western coast! The coastline is dotted with provincial parks and preserves but we spent all of our time at Juan de Fuca… Continue reading
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Vancouver Island, British Columbia (part I)
August meant only one thing…time for our annual family summer vacation! This year’s destination was guided by the fact that we were considering a move to the west coast and wanted to check out some locations. None of them were in Canada, so I’m not sure how we ended up choosing Vancouver Island. But I’m… Continue reading
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