Maps and more, Sept. 2023

Recently I saw a "hummingbird moth," a White-lined Sphinx, the first one I've ever seen.  Up close! This gorgeous creature is as big as a hummingbird, too, and they seem to love petunias.

And not long ago, I found a two-page map of national parks in a National Geographic magazine.  Looking at the map, I marveled that:  1) America has so many, and 2) Jimmy and I have been to a lot of them!  Out of 61 national parks in the 50 United States proper, we've been to a whopping 41, simply because we love what these natural treasures have to offer.  Lookee here where we've been:

Acadia National Park, Maine

Arches National Park, Utah
Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Big Bend National Park, Texas

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio
Death Valley National Park, California and Nevada
Denali National Park, Alaska
Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
Everglades National Park, Florida
Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Glacier National Park, Montana
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Great Basin National Park, Nevada
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas
Haleakala National Park, Hawaii
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii
Joshua Tree National Park, California
Lassen Volcanic National Park, California
Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

*New River Gorge National Park, W Va (visited before it became a national park)
Olympic National Park, Washington
Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
Pinnacles National Park, California
Redwood National Park, California
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Saguaro National Park, Arizona

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
Yellowstone National Park, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming
Yosemite National Park, California
Zion National Park, Utah

We've yet to see the 20 below.

Biscayne National Park, Florida

Channel Islands National Park: California
Congaree National Park, South Carolina
Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska
Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri

Grand Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana
Isle Royale National Park, Michigan
Katmai National Park, Alaska
Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska

Kings Canyon National Park, California
Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska
Lake Clark National Park, Alaska

North Cascades National Park, Washington
Sequoia National Park, California
Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

Two more NP's I didn't count, one in the Virgin Islands and one in Samoa.

Twenty-one states have no National Parks:  Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.  Now we all know.

Very cool fungi seen on our Cascade Canal trail walk.

Our Tergel is almost all packed up and ready to go.  On Sunday morning, we'll head off Southeast.  We'll light in Baton Rouge and Mobile for a while.  From Baton Rouge, we'll fly to Belize where we'll connect with Road Scholar's "Hike and Snorkel to Find the Mystery of the Maya in Guatemala and Belize" Program from Oct 16-25, after which we'll return to Baton Rouge, and eventually drive our Tergel home.  Lucky us to visit our sisters in those cities, see friends, and tour a bit of the country, to boot.  Maybe we'll take in a new national park!  We figure a month, or so.  Of course, weather permitting!