After thinking I was way behind on my travels yesterday, “they” come up with another 50 More of the Most Famous Landmarks on Earth (Part 2).  So you add the latter fifty to the first fifty from yesterday’s post, and it becomes glaringly obvious I simply don’t get out much.

In this second set of places, I’ve got 47 trips yet to happen. So combining both lists, 93 worldly landmarks still await my arrival (and photography attempts).

Now if we were to take a deep breath and consider landmarks more local (instead of global), my attendance is much better when the “have-you-been-there” conversation turns to the National Parks of the U.S.

I definitely can count visited places on the list to a higher number than the “50 x 2 Landmarks”…and I needn’t worry about keeping tabs on my Passport! (just my gas card and/or boarding pass)

Here are the 58 National Parks in the National Park System:

Name	Location	Year Established
Acadia National Park	Maine	1919
National Park of American Samoa	American Samoa	1988
Arches National Park	Utah	1971
Badlands National Park	South Dakota	1978
Big Bend National Park	Texas	1944
Biscayne National Park	Florida	1980
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park	Colorado	1999
Bryce Canyon National Park	Utah	1928
Canyonlands National Park	Utah	1964
Capitol Reef National Park	Utah	1971
Carlsbad Caverns National Park	New Mexico	1930
Channel Islands National Park	California	1980
Congaree National Park	South Carolina	2003
Crater Lake National Park	Oregon	1902
Cuyahoga Valley National Park	Ohio	2000
Death Valley National Park	California,Nevada	1994
Denali National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1917
Dry Tortugas National Park	Florida	1992
Everglades National Park	Florida	1947
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1980
Glacier National Park (part of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park)	Montana	1910
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1980
Grand Canyon National Park	Arizona	1919
Grand Teton National Park	Wyoming	1929
Great Basin National Park	Nevada	1986
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve	Colorado	2004
Great Smoky Mountains National Park	North Carolina,Tennessee	1934
Guadalupe Mountains National Park	Texas	1966
Haleakala National Park	Hawaii	1916
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park	Hawaii	1916
Hot Springs National Park	Arkansas	1921
Isle Royale National Park	Michigan	1940
Joshua Tree National Park	California	1994
Katmai National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1980
Kenai Fjords National Park	Alaska	1980
Kings Canyon National Park	California	1940
Kobuk Valley National Park	Alaska	1980
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1980
Lassen Volcanic National Park	California	1916
Mammoth Cave National Park	Kentucky	1941
Mesa Verde National Park	Colorado	1906
Mount Rainier National Park	Washington	1899
North Cascades National Park	Washington	1968
Olympic National Park	Washington	1938
Petrified Forest National Park	Arizona	1962
Redwood National and State Parks	California	1968
Rocky Mountain National Park	Colorado	1915
Saguaro National Park	Arizona	1994
Sequoia National Park	California	1890
Shenandoah National Park	Virginia	1935
Theodore Roosevelt National Park	North Dakota	1978
Virgin Islands National Park	U.S. Virgin Islands	1956
Voyageurs National Park	Minnesota	1975
Wind Cave National Park	South Dakota	1903
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1980
Yellowstone National Park	Idaho, Montana,Wyoming	1872
Yosemite National Park	California	1890
Zion National Park	Utah	1919

If you want to see other National Park information, then check out ‘List of areas in the United States National Park System” on wiki.ask.com.

I, for one, confused the National Parks with the other Park Service sites/areas. Places like National Monuments, Preserves, Historic Parks, Historic Sites, Battlefields, Recreation Areas, Military, Seashores, Lakeshores, Rivers, Parkways, Scenic Trails, Cemeteries, Heritage Areas, and Protected Areas are under the USNPS jurisdiction. They all are a part of the “National Parks”, but considered independent of those 58 Parks.

So far in life, here’s my bucket list completion in the National Park System. Places visited include:

• 18 National Parks
• 8 National Monuments
• 3 National Preserves
• 2 National Historic Parks
• 2 National Historic Sites
• 2 National Memorials
• 2 National Recreation Areas
• 1 National Seashore
• 1 National Parkway
• 1 National Historic and Scenic Trail
• 1 National Cemetery

So maybe I haven’t been a total recluse. I set a life-goal to visit the other 40 National Parks before I go off camping in the heavens. God willing, I hope to have another 20-30 years to get those travels made and places visited.

I guess I better get started now, huh?