Tuesday Quiz: U.S. City Skylines
We are visiting Charleston, South Carolina this week, and the Tuesday Quiz is all about U.S. cities. Can you correctly identify the city by a picture of its skyline?
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Exploring Below and Above: Mammoth Cave National Park
With over 400 miles of surveyed passages, Mammoth Cave National Park is famous as the longest known cave system in the world. We not only ventured into the cave on two occasions while visiting, but also had the opportunity to explore some of Mammoth’s 52,830 acres above the ground by completing hikes on both sides of the Green River, the park’s major waterway.
Small but Historic: Hot Springs National Park
Hot Springs National Park, in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, has the distinction of being America’s smallest national park at just 5,500 acres. Its protected status predates Yellowstone, commonly considered to be the world’s first national park created in 1872. In 1832, Congress, under President Andrew Jackson, designated a Hot Springs Reservation to protect the thermal springs, which were growing in popularity by those seeking its supposed therapeutic properties.
Tuesday Quiz: Fact Monster National Parks
This week’s Tuesday Quiz comes from Fact Monster. The ten questions will test your national parks knowledge from Hawaii to Maine.
Of Desert, Mountain and River: Big Bend National Park
We were in the state of Texas for 17 days, and most of our time was spent in one place: Big Bend National Park. Big Bend, established in 1944, is the 15th largest national park by area (801,000 acres). We spent six days exploring its desert, mountain, and river ecosystems. There was plenty to do in a park of this size, so in addition to hiking in each area, we opted for several other activities.
Tuesday Quiz: U.S. Geography Bunker
This week’s quiz is a tough one – you must answer a series of 15 questions about the United States in four minutes. One wrong answer ends the quiz.
The Top of Texas: Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Over 200 million years ago, the Guadalupe Mountains were a marine reef under a tropical sea. When the sea evaporated, the Capitan Reef was buried in sediments and mineral salts. Later, an uplift created the mountains that today tower above the Chihuahuan Desert. These mountains include Guadalupe Peak, which at 8,751 feet tall is the “top” or highest point in Texas. We spent five days exploring this remote place.
Tuesday Quiz: Travel and Leisure National Parks Test
We are arriving in Hot Springs National Park, and here’s another U.S. National Parks quiz to determine how well you know our parks.
An Underground Journey: Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Carlsbad Caverns, located in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico’s Guadalupe Mountains, is the first of three “cave” national parks we plan to visit on our TTP NPS journey (the other two parks are Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and Wind Cave in South Dakota). Those two parks require tours to enter their caves. But Carlsbad is unique because we could journey underground to parts of the cave on our own.
Of Sand and Snow: Great Sand Dunes National Park
When we researched national parks to include on our Trekking the Planet NPS journey, we were surprised to discover sand dunes in the middle of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Great Sand Dunes contains the highest dune in North America, Star Dune (at 755 feet). The park lies at an elevation of 8,000 feet, so we were concerned that visiting in late March could be tricky. But little did we know that we would not only be seeing sand dunes, but experiencing snow.
Tuesday Quiz: Rivers of the United States
We are now in Big Bend National Park, viewing the Rio Grande River from several places throughout the park. This week’s Tuesday Quiz is all about the Rio Grande and other rivers of the United States.
National Park Panoramic Photos – Series 1
Here are some panoramic photos that we took of the first five parks we visited. Click on any of the pictures for a larger view. Enjoy!