The Petrified Forest is not a forest, as Kati was disappointed to discover. In fact, there are practically no trees in the park.

Our big stop of the day was at Mesa Verde National Park to see the Pueblo cliff dwellings.

Canyonlands is the last of the Big Five National Parks in Utah and it was our destination for the day. It was also my least favorite park…

Arches National Park has more than 2000 arches. It’s the largest collection of naturally formed arches in the world.

Capitol Reef, in the words of G3, “is pretty, but not stunning.”

Next, we dipped into Arizona for a tour of Antelope Canyon. G3 has wanted to see Antelope Canyon ever since we first flew into Arizona…

The last half a mile was the fun part. Pure rock scramble. So precarious that a metal chain was embedded into the mountain…

G3, however, never wavered in his confidence as to which way we needed to go. I’ve done enough hiking with him to trust his sense…

Bryce Canyon is gorgeous. It is so much prettier than the Grand Canyon,

Great Basin National Park is also the only place in the world the flower holmgren buckwheat grows.

However, when we arrived and stopped into the visitors center, we learned that a twenty year drought has left the lake relatively empty.

Running my fingers over the bones of an animal that lived more than one hundred million years ago was pretty awesome.

Stars, a fire, a nearby river, and cicadas—it’s almost like I stumbled into heaven.

I stepped out of my tent this morning and, as the scent of pine engulfed me, I was momentarily thrust back in time to when I was 21.

And our campsite is amazing. I’m not sure how I got so lucky unless Dad was looking out for us from above.

Thousands of pioneers pushing west—on the Mormon Trail and the Oregon Trail—traveled through the shadow of Scotts Bluff.

Reagan was one of Dad’s favorite modern presidents. He’s the first president I remember running for office.

Day 1 As expected, today was exhilarating. Philmont is beautiful. I did not sleep well last night. No surprise. I went to bed early and...

The drive was about three and a half hours which got us to Philmont a little after 10:00.

I went to bed early last night—nine-ish—and planned to sleep as late as possible. But sleep often eludes me and last night was no...