Closed

There are 401 national park units in the United States, from Civil War battlefields to redwood forests to vast remote mountain ranges. Last year, 287 million people visited them. Ed and I were two of those people. We visited 12 sites.  Today, they are all closed, thanks to the government shutdown. I'm so glad we took our southwest trip last month.  

I received a text today from my friend, Patrice, who had travelled with some friends to the Smoky Mountains. The park, and all the roads through it, were closed. How disappointing and frustrating it must be for those who planned autumn trips to their National Parks, only to find them closed.

I wanted to remember each of the 11 sites that we visited in the past twelve months. Here's my walk down that memory lane hiking path.

Andersonville National Historic Site

Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Big Bend National Park, Texas

Glacier National Park, Montana

Theodore Roosevelt National Park,  North Dakota

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Zion National Park, Utah

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

Grand Canyon, Arizona