{"id":2525,"date":"2015-06-28T16:32:30","date_gmt":"2015-06-28T23:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/?p=2525"},"modified":"2016-04-22T13:22:10","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T20:22:10","slug":"preparing-for-our-epic-southwest-national-park-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/2015\/06\/28\/preparing-for-our-epic-southwest-national-park-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing for our Epic Southwest National Park Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ng family has now visited 31 National Parks and Monuments as a family towards our goal of 100 National Parks visited by 2020<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This friday, we will embark on an epic tour of the Southwest part of the United States and visit 9 National Parks and 2 Navajo Parks in 9 Days! Here is our itinerary:
\n\"gray_horizontal_breaker\"
\nFriday July 3rd<\/em><\/p>\n

Petrified National Forest<\/h1>\n

\"petrified\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"gray_horizontal_breaker\"
\nSaturday July 4th \u2013 Sunday 5th<\/em><\/p>\n

Grand Canyon National Park<\/h1>\n

\"grandcanyon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"gray_horizontal_breaker\"
\nMonday July 6th<\/em><\/p>\n

Antelope Canyon<\/h1>\n

\"antelopecanyon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Four Corners Navajo Monument<\/h1>\n

\"fourcorners\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"gray_horizontal_breaker\"
\nTuesday July 7th<\/em><\/p>\n

Mesa Verde National Park<\/h1>\n

\"mesaverde\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"gray_horizontal_breaker\"
\nWednesday July 8th<\/em><\/p>\n

Arches National Park<\/h1>\n

\"arches\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"gray_horizontal_breaker\"
\nThursday July 9th<\/em><\/p>\n

Canyonlands National Park<\/h1>\n

\"canyonlands\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Capitol Reef National Park<\/h1>\n

\"capitolreef\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"gray_horizontal_breaker\"
\nFriday July 10th<\/em><\/p>\n

Bryce Canyon National Park<\/h1>\n

\"brycecanyon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"gray_horizontal_breaker\"
\nSaturday July 11th<\/em><\/p>\n

Zion National Park<\/h1>\n

\"zion\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lake Mead National Recreation Area\/Hoover Dam<\/h1>\n

\"lakemead\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"gray_horizontal_breaker\"
\n\"arches_flex\"<\/p>\n

A National Park Tour Revisited<\/h1>\n

In 1991, when I was 16, my parents took my sister and I on a similar trip. A trip that started in Phoenix and ended up at Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park Colorado. On that trip, my family was joined by my grandma. Next week, my father<\/a> (my children’s grandfather) will be joining us on a similar trip. The symmetry of our planned trip is not lost on me.<\/p>\n

While experiencing so many National Parks in a short time was impressive at age 16, the things I remember most about our trip was the time in the car together as a family and small details of the trip.<\/p>\n

\"ellieburks\"
\nLike the fact that our first meal in Phoenix after we landed and picked up our rental car was at Denny’s where I got a Limited Edition Ellis Burks hologram baseball card. (I’ve been a Red Sox fan all my life)<\/p>\n

\"youcouldbeminecassingle\"
\nAfter lunch, we went to a Walmart where my grandma bought herself a cowboy hat\u2014a hat she wore the entire trip. I ended up buying the cassingle for Guns N Roses’ “You Could Be Mine” single. After all, Use Your Illusion wasn’t out yet and Terminator 2 was coming out in theaters soon!<\/p>\n

\"balls\"
\nI remember stopping at a tiny town called Hooper, Colorado<\/a> (population 100) and in the single store that was also a gas station, restaurant, and Post Office was Rocky Mountain Oysters. Yes, bull testicles.<\/p>\n

\"Lisa+Simpson\"
\nI remember my sister accidentally forgetting her prized Lisa Simpson nightgown at a motel near Mexican Hat, Utah<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"mosquitopass\"
\nAnd I remember the treacherous drive that our family mistakenly took called Mosquito Pass<\/a> where we were confronted with a bull in the middle of the dirt road.<\/p>\n

\"gray_horizontal_breaker\"<\/p>\n

Stamps on our Passports and our Memories<\/h1>\n

\"pp\"
\nAs usual, my kids will be bringing their National Park Passports<\/a> and will be excited to add 9 more stamps in their books.<\/p>\n

But like the small details I have remembered from my last trip 25 years ago, it is the stamp in their brains that I am most excited about. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the kids will be awe struck by the natural wonders of our country. But, it is the time together that I hope makes the biggest impression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ng family has now visited 31 National Parks and Monuments as a family towards our goal of 100 National Parks visited by 2020. This friday, we will embark on an epic tour of the Southwest part of the United States and visit 9 National Parks and 2 Navajo Parks in 9 Days! Here is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,48,82],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2525"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2560,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525\/revisions\/2560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}