Many years ago, we visited Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA, and Winterthur Museum and Gardens in nearby Delaware. We wanted to return so we could see the spring-blooming flowers, and Longwood did not disappoint.

Years ago, we had visited Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA, and Winterthur in nearby Delaware, but we wanted to revisit in the spring, and also wanted to see Nemours Estate. All of these sites were owned by members of the large du Pont family. We went to Nemours first, and found this estate to be the most interesting because the guides stationed in different rooms were all so friendly and knowledgeable, telling great stories about Alfred du Pont and his family.

New River Gorge National Park, Coopers Rock State Forest, Harpers Ferry, and a side trip to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Pennsylvania

James Madison’s Montpelier, the University of Virginia, Shenandoah Natl. Park, Shenandoah River State Park, Natural Bridge State Park

In April, we explored historic Jamestown and Yorktown, walked the Virginia Beach boardwalk, and enjoyed the spring blooms at Norfolk Botanical Gardens.

We began our first trip to the Outer Banks by visiting the Wright Brothers Natl. Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, the site of the first machine-powered flight on Dec. 17, 1903.

Biltmore Estate, Mt. Mitchell, Grandfather Mtn., plus a side trip to Chimney Rock

Gibbs Gardens and Amicalola Falls, Georgia, and Congaree N.P., South Carolina

There are so many historic sites in the eastern states. We are going to be seeing a lot of forts and historic homes this year!

At the end of February, we began heading east, staying as far south as possible to keep warm. Our plan was to stop along the Alabama Gulf Coast, and then head to the coastal islands of southern Georgia.

We’ve been to a lot of state parks, but City of Rocks in New Mexico has to be one of the coolest! If we had had a smaller rig and chosen to boondock, or had camped in a tent, we could have been parked right among the rocks. Our site still had a good view of the rocks, though.

At the beginning of February, we started traveling again. First, we headed to Big Bend Natl. Park. We didn’t realize how large this park is, until we started driving around it over a 3-day period. It’s the 14th largest U.S. National Park (7th largest in the lower 48).

We tried to escape the cold temps of winter by staying in Texas for almost 3 months, traveling from Guadalupe Natl. Park in west Texas, to Fredericksburg in the Hill Country, and from there to Dallas for Christmas, then down to the southern tip of the state at Brownsville for the month of January.

From April through December 2021, we travelled over 12,000 miles, visited 17 states, 19 National Parks (14 of which we had never been to before), 19 other National Park units, 33 state parks, and several BLM lands, public gardens, and city and county parks.

We stopped in eastern Arizona to visit Canyon de Chelly. We booked a jeep tour with a Navajo guide, which is the only way one can explore the bottom of the canyon, as it is within Navajo land. The canyon was much larger than I had realized.

We visited White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, and Guadalupe Natl. Parks all in the same week. White Sands and Carlsbad are popular parks. Guadalupe was much quieter in comparison.

El Morro, meaning “The Headland” is a small, very interesting park site, with great trails and lots of scenery and history. We then visited a small part of El Malpais, which means “The Badlands”, because so much of it is covered in a lava field, with jagged black rocks.

We decided to return to Zion National Park because there was still a lot of fall color in the area, and we thought the yellows would be really pretty against the red rocks of Zion, and they were.

November was a great time of year to visit Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire in Nevada. The weather was warm but not hot, and the rocks were so beautiful! We enjoyed several hikes in each park.

Death Valley surprised us: we had expected a flat, dull desert and instead got great scenic drives and trails full of color. By going at the beginning of November, we avoided the unbearable heat, and enjoyed pleasantly warm days, instead.