When we moved out to Washington we stopped at several National Parks along the way. Husband and I are nerds and we carry around a National Park passport, stamping it at each park we stop at. En route to Washington we stamped our passports at Chichamauga Battlefield, Lookout Mountain, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (St. Louis Gateway Arch), and Ulysses S. Grant's farm. Once we entered South Dakota there was a new kind of National Park . We stopped at the Badlands National Park where I saw my first prairie dog (I couldn't convince Husband to add one to our already large zoo), my first buffalo, and experienced "the wilderness" for the first time. The Badlands is quite an interesting place. Miles and miles and miles of ancient dirt that has been baked into jagged mountains and hills was a site that I had never seen before. I was fascinated driving through and have 500 pictures of the place to prove my excitement.
Onward to Wyoming we stopped at Devil's Tower National Momunemt which was also fascinating to me. A random rock, in the shape of a tower with lines running straight up and down it, sitting in the middle of nowhere. Where the heck did this thing come from? Perhaps I really am a nerd, but I can't understand how someone wouldn't find Devil's Tower interesting. I also saw more prairie dogs here which gives the place another point in my book :-).
We then drove into Montana and stopped at the Little Big Horn Battlefield. My battlefield knowledge lies in Civil War and Revolutionary War battlefields, so it was interesting to see one from a completely different era. Once again, I am a nerd, a history nerd to be more precise, so seeing Last Stand Hill, where Custer and his army were massacred by Indians was beyond exciting to me. I love standing in a place where history actually took place. I love trying to imagine what it would have been like at the time of the battle, and Little Big Horn is quite possibly one of the most "labeled" battlefields that I have ever seen. By this I mean that everything that happened during the battle is spelled out and placed right in front of you. Tombstones mark the areas where American soldiers and Indian warriors fell, in almost exact locations. The tombstones are so well laid out that you can actually look at them and see the path that the different armies and brigades took, and its very easy to imagine what actually happened (soldiers running/charging and falling as they ran).
Finally, our last National Park stop was Yellowstone National Park in Montana/Wyoming/Idaho. Since this was the country's first national park, dedicated by Teddy Roosevelt, my nerdiness was in full force here. The park is so large that its impossible to see the whole thing. We planned a day to visit the park and had to stretch that day into 2 days just to see the basic areas. We saw Mammouth Hot Springs, wildlife such as buffalo, deer, elk, and coyotes (Husband insisted on getting out of the car to get as close to the coyote as possible, while ignoring my cries of fear), and of course, the highlight of the trip was seeing the Old Faithful geyser. Seeing something that I had only ever learned about and seen in pictures or TV was amazing. We walked up to Old Faithful just in time to witness one of it eruptions and then stuck around to watch another one 72 minutes later (its amazing how they can time the eruptions within 5 minutes). Here is a picture of the second eruption we saw: (I'm posting this for no other reason, other than the fact that I love the picture [Husband took it] and am still amazed that I saw this in person.)
So after my brief synopsis of our National Park excursion across the country, we are now in Washington, surrounded by several state parks and a few National Parks. Which brings me back to the trip we took to the North Cascades National Park. And here is where I become confused. Perhaps its my East Coast upbringing, or perhaps its just stupidity, but when I think of a National Park, I think of SOMETHING. As in ANYTHING. A monument, a battlefield, a geyser, etc... What did I see at this particular park? Trees. Lots and lots of trees. Pine trees to be exact, and since this is the Evergreen State I wouldn't expect anything less, but I did expect more. After all, its a National Park, there has to be SOMETHING to see, right? Well, I also saw snow covered mountains. Lots and lots of snow covered mountains. And a river (at least I think it was a river, it may have been a large lake). And...that's it.
Husband was beyond excited because he also adds "Nature Nerd" to his qualifications. He wanted to hike every single trail and every single mountain. He wanted to camp in an area that requires you to get a backcountry permit. For those of you who don't know (I didn't), a backcountry permit is issued to you when you camp "off the beaten path". This way,if you don't come home, the park service knows you are out there somewhere and they will go look for you and send in rescue teams. Am I the only one who finds that prospect terrifying?
Before leaving for this trip I informed Husband that I would be ok hiking on short trails that were easy. He didn't like that so I even agreed to short trails that were a tiny bit hard. I camped back in the day and spent several nights on the Delaware River. I've also hiked pieces of the Appalacian Trail. Well surprise to me! Apparently "real" camping and "real" hiking is not what I did. Husband informed me that he wanted to hike on a trail that would take 6 hours to hike, and it would lead us.....nowhere (although he claims it takes us to a valley between the mountains, I was perfectly happy driving in the valley between the mountains). When I said no, he pouted, even though I had already said no prior to this trip.
So fast forward to this past weekend. Husband informed me that I need to get hiking boots and he was quite excited about a sale on boots this weekend. I am happy to inform you all that there were no hiking boots in my size! I did, however, find "hiking boots" (at least that's how they were labeled) that resemble regular sneakers with much better tread. The have pink laces, and are very cute. I bought them, much to the despair of Husband, who told me that I still needed hiking boots. I told him that my cute sneaker/boots with pink laces were considered hiking boots. He told me that we can't hike these hard trails that he wants to hike unless I get a sturdier, waterproof, "real" pair. This is the shoe that I picked out. The only difference is the blue in this picture is replaced by pink on the shoes I now own :-). I think its much nicer than a hiking boot.
For now, I think I'm going to stick with my love of National Parks where I can see something other than trees and mountains. I will drive through parks that have nothing but trees and mountains, but I just can't get myself as excited as Husband. Hiking in an area that is full of grizzly bears and freezing temperatures is not my cup of tea. Give me the East Coast, the Delaware River and the Appalachian Trail and I will be a happy camper once again.
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