National Parks 

Home

Good Thing CD

Bio

Schedule

What's Goin' On?

Travels

  - National Parks

  - World Travel

Links

Contact Dwight

Since I've moved to Colorado, I've visited 35 National Parks.  Here's a list of many I have visited and links to some photos.

Colorado

  • Rocky Mountains I try to visit the Rockies a few times each year, although that doesn't always happen.  Of course, that's supposed to be the whole reason I moved here, right? 

    • November 2001 - to see photos are from a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park to capture some photos of my instruments in the National Park.

    • July 2002 - Photos on a family visit to the Rockies

    • August 2002 - A couple photos from my camping trip

 

 

     

  • Mesa Verde  This was a trip with my sister and nephew.  We had quite a 4-wheelin' adventure and the best meal in Ouray.

 

 

  • Black Canyon  July 2001 - A trip to our Country's newest National Park.  I also stayed with friends in Mt. Crested Butte. 

   

  • The Great Sand Dunes I visited when this was a National Monument.  It was recently honored with National Park status.

 

Wyoming/Montana

  • Grand Tetons  My sister flew out the family to Colorado and we drove in separate cars to the Tetons and Yellowstone.

 

  • Yellowstone  In addition to the trip to Yellowstone with my sister's family, I celebrated the new millennium snowmobiling the entire loop of the park.  

 

 

Arizona

  • Grand Canyon  We did a Chevy Chase "Vacation" stop at the Grand Canyon on the way to Sedona during a visit with Jimmy and Mary in Las Vegas.

  • Painted Desert  On another visit to my brother, Jimmy, we returned to Sedona and drove through the Painted Desert. 

  • Saguaro  While had moved to California for a project, I decided to skip flying back to Denver for Easter and flew to Phoenix.  I spent the day driving through several national monuments, visited the Sonora Desert Museum and Saguaro and then on the fly decided to drive all the way back up to Sedona for the night.  I woke up and went horseback riding and got back on a plane.  I think I spent about 24 hours in Phoenix and still made it to Malibu beach at Gladstones for an Easter King Crab Dinner.

  

 

Utah

  • Zion  During a visit to my brother in Las Vegas, we drove to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Park.  After moving to Colorado, I pulled a spontaneous-after work-on-Friday drive all the way to Bryce Canyon and also managed to squeeze in Zion and Capitol Reef that weekend.  I was back home on Sunday night and back to work on Monday.

   

  • Bryce Canyon During a visit to my brother in Las Vegas, we drove to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Park.  After moving to Colorado, I pulled a spontaneous-after work-on-Friday drive all the way to Bryce Canyon and also managed to squeeze in Zion and Capitol Reef that weekend.  I was back home on Sunday night and back to work on Monday.  Both trips to Bryce Canyon included a horseback ride along the spires.

  

  • Escalante Driving between Bryce and Capitol Reef is scenic a byway.  I can see why the President deemed this part of the National Park System - it was breathtaking.  I was alone on a cliff overlooking these huge colorful canyons or rock at sundown.  I remember telling myself that I want to shoot my music video there.

  • Capitol Reef  After moving to Colorado, I pulled a spontaneous-after work-on-Friday drive all the way to Bryce Canyon and also managed to squeeze in Zion and Capitol Reef that weekend.  I spent the afternoon hiking through the reef with a sack of food, a guitar and two cameras.  I spent most of the hike doing macro-photography with the flowers, cactus and bugs.

   

  • Arches  Within a month after moving to Colorado, I took a spontaneous-after work-on-Friday drive to Moab.  I recall the excitement of seeing that National Park sign in the dark in front of all those strange silhouettes of the rock formations against a blanket of stars.  That sign was a symbol of change and accomplishment, justifying my move to Colorado.  I returned again in 1999.

   

  • Canyonlands  This is located at Moab's doorway and I drove through the canyons of rock goblins on both visits to Arches.

California

  • Kings Canyon  I finished up business in Los Angeles around noon on a Friday and headed up to Yosemite.  I drove through Kings Canyon along the way and danced around the huge Redwoods like a Lilliputian in the Safety Dance video.  

     

  • Sequoia  I finished up business in Los Angeles around noon on a Friday and headed up to Yosemite.  I saw a baby black bear.

      

  • Yosemite  I finished up business in Los Angeles around noon on a Friday and headed up to Yosemite.  I arrived after dark and slept in the car at a pullout.  I recall the moment I realized that the car was rented on a business plan that was restricted to 100 miles a day - I had driven over 400 miles and still had to return back to L.A.

    

 

  • Channel Islands I visited the Channel Islands on two different business trips to the Thousand Oaks area.  You have to get up early to catch the boat.  The first visit was to the Santa Cruz island and I saw gray whales.  On the second trip to Anacapa island, we were graced with migrating sperm whales.  My friend, Winnie, walked through these plants that looked like a forest of trees - so we took the shot to look like a giant walking through the forest.

   

  • Joshua Tree I had basically moved to California on a project.  One day I drove out to Joshua Tree.  I recall the eerie felling driving through there and the coyotes circling the rental van.  I also remember calling into a conference call from a pit stop.

  • Muir Woods I've visited Muir Woods twice.  Once by myself during a weekend wedding and the second time I was visiting my cousin.

 

Hawaii

  • Haleakala  While I was on Maui, I stayed a cottage close to Haleakala.  The morning I left the island, I got up early and watched the sunrise up on the crater.

  • Volcanoes  I spent my last 24 hours on Hawaii.  I was fortunate enough to see a lava flow in the distance, play with sea turtles and meet BJ and Bill Hardin from Bear Creek Guitars in those last moments in paradise.

 

Tennessee & North Carolina

  • Smoky Mountains I have visited the Great Smokies in 1992, 1994 and 2000. 

Virginia

  • Shenandoah  Along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I visited while on a business trip to Richmond, Virginia.  I had no plans to go there.  I had booked a hotel in Washington D.C. for the weekend, but my car just kinda steered its way over.

 

Florida

  • The Everglades This was another long weekend excursion at the tail-end of a business trip.

  

  • Biscayne Since this was a short distance from the Everglades, I had to go see America's underwater National Park.  I paid dearly for the visit with some terrible sunburn the morning after I arrived back home.

 

Pennsylvania

  • Valley Forge This is the fort where our troops would hideout while the British were storming Philadelphia.  The fort area is part of the National Park System as a Historic National Park.

  • Philadelphia  The Independence Hall area is part of the National Park System as a Historic National Park