2025 parks and museums

In the previous post I covered the National Parks we visited in 2025, but we also visited many National Monuments and other National Park Service units, plus state parks, museums, and such. So this post summarizes those.

Again, you can also see the attractions from 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021. And you can see all of the attraction-related blog posts via the exploring category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top, or more specifically the park category (with earliest or latest posts at the top), and the museum category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).

Florida’s Forgotten Coast:

St Marks Lighthouse

Seeing hundreds of manatees at Three Sisters Springs in Florida:

Manatees

Rainbow Springs State Park headsprings:

Waterfall long exposure

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park:

Mermaid show

Crooked River State Park trails:

Tortoise

Driftwood Beach:

Driftwood Beach

Fort Frederica National Monument:

Reenactor

Fort Sumter National Historical Park:

Fort Sumter selfie

Fort Moultrie National Historical Park:

Fort

Colonial Williamsburg:

Palace

Cape May Lighthouse:

Cape May Lighthouse

Hershey’s Chocolate World:

Hershey's Chocolate Tour

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site:

Visitor center

Independence National Historical Park:

Liberty Bell Center

Hershey Gardens:

Butterfly atrium

St Clair River and Lake Huron:

Lake Huron

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore:

Steep dune and Lake Michigan

Niagara Falls: Cave of the Winds:

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls: Maid of the Mist:

Horseshoe Falls

Niagara Falls: viewpoints:

Horseshoe Falls

Old Fort Niagara:

Fort

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park:

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Mansion

Fort Williams Park & Portland Head Light:

Portland Head Light

Salem Maritime National Historic Site:

Building

Cape Cod National Seashore:

Highland Lighthouse

Boston National Historical Park:

The Freedom Trail

USS Constitution:

USS Constitution

Keweenaw Peninsula of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan:

Eagle Harbor lighthouse

Iron Mountain and Needles drive:

More tunnels

Gordon Stockade:

Stockade

Custer Wildlife Loop drive:

Buffalo

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park:

Klondike Gold Rush

Some fascinating places.

Florida’s Forgotten Coast

While staying at Ho-Hum RV Park, we did a few drives along the Forgotten Coast, in the panhandle of Florida. Amongst other things, we saw all four of the lighthouses on the coast.

A pamphlet for the lighthouse driving tour, with information about each lighthouse:

Lighthouse driving tour pamphlet

Lighthouse driving tour pamphlet

The first drive was west of the RV park, with lunch at the Blue Parrot Ocean Front Cafe (they have a live cam you can view, too), then St George Island Lighthouse.

Here’s the route on an interactive map:

Bridge to St George Island:

Bridge to St George Island

Blue Parrot for lunch:

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

St George Island Lighthouse; unfortunately the museum was closed when we visited:

St George Island Lighthouse

St George Island Lighthouse

St George Island beach:

St George Island beach

Further west, the Cape San Blas Lighthouse in Port St Joe:

Cape San Blas Lighthouse


The second drive was east of the RV park, to St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, St Mark’s Lighthouse, and Publix groceries on the way back.

Here’s the route on an interactive map:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

The refuge visitor center, with info about the lighthouse too:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge visitor center

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge visitor center

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge visitor center

The wildlife refuge:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St Marks Lighthouse:

St Marks Lighthouse

St Marks Lighthouse

St Marks Lighthouse

St Marks Lighthouse

St Marks Lighthouse

St Marks Lighthouse


The third drive was to have lunch at The Fisherman’s Wife restaurant in Carrabelle, then visit the nearby Crooked River Lighthouse.

Here’s the route on an interactive map:

The Fisherman’s Wife; we wanted to eat here last year, but they were closed for the holidays. They were closed again most of the time we were at Ho-Hum this time too, but opened a few days before our departure:

The Fisherman's Wife

The Fisherman's Wife

The Fisherman's Wife

The Fisherman's Wife

The Fisherman's Wife

Crooked River Lighthouse, the tallest of the four:

Crooked River Lighthouse

The old lighthouse keeper’s house, now a small free museum:

Crooked River Lighthouse

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Fascinating stuff. We really enjoy this area of Florida; much more laid-back than the more touristy and populated parts.

2024 parks and museums

In the previous post I covered the National Parks we visited in 2024, but we also visited many National Monuments and other National Park Service units, plus state parks, museums, and such. So this post summarizes those.

Again, you can also see the attractions from 2023, from 2022, and from 2021. And you can see all of the attraction-related blog posts via the exploring category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top, or more specifically the park category (with earliest or latest posts at the top), and the museum category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).

Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida:

Alligator

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Florida:

Cannon beach

Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center in Florida:

Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park in Florida:

Tents

Island ‘Ting with Sebago Watersports in Florida:

Boat

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida:

Pond and bridge

World of Coca‑Cola museum in Atlanta, Georgia:

Gift store

Myrtle Beach State Park beach in South Carolina:

Beach

Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina:

Visitor Center

Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina:

Bodie Island Light Station

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site in North Carolina:

Visitor center

The Birthplace of Pepsi in New Bern, North Carolina:

The Birthplace of Pepsi

Colonial National Historical Park: Yorktown in Virginia:

Yorktown

Colonial National Historical Park: Jamestown in Virginia:

Smith

Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia:

Street

Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and Virginia:

Horses

Blue Ridge Parkway north end in Virginia:

Visitor center

Manassas National Battlefield Park in Manassas, Virginia:

Henry Hill Loop Trail

Gettysburg National Military Park: museum and visitor center in Pennsylvania:

Cyclorama

Gettysburg National Military Park: memorials and cemetery in Pennsylvania:

Battlefield monument

DC monuments by night tour in Washington, DC:

Lincoln Memorial

Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, DC:

Smithsonian Natural History Museum

Smithsonian American History Museum in Washington, DC:

Exterior

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia:

Harpers Ferry

Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland:

Cannons

Blue Ridge Parkway south end in North Carolina:

View

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Kentucky:

The symbolic cabin inside the memorial

Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois:

Lincoln's home

Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village National Historic Landmark in Mitchell, South Dakota:

Archeodome

Legion Lake in Custer State Park, South Dakota:

Lake

Iron Mountain Road, Needles Highway, Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, South Dakota:

Narrow and short tunnel

Mount Coolidge, Wind Cave National Park, Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, South Dakota:

Bison

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana:

Custer National Cemetery

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park in Santa Clarita, California:

Vasquez Rocks

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, California:

Animals

Museum of History in Granite in California:

Looking from the pyramid to the church on the hill

Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas:

Sign

Galveston Island State Park beach in Galveston, Texas:

Beach

River Bottomland Hardwood Trail hike in Springfield, Louisiana:

Bridge

Some fascinating places.

Museum of History in Granite

On the other side of the I-8 freeway from the Encore Pilot Knob RV Resort was the Museum of History in Granite, along with the Center of the World, the Maze of Honor, and the Church on the Hill.

One could consider this a kitschy roadside attraction, and it is that, but it’s also a lasting testament to the passions of one man, wanting to record history in stone that’ll last for centuries. Reading about his history is interesting: born in France in 1929, moved to the US at age 11, became an investment banker, bought a war-surplus plane and learned to fly, then invented the sport of skydiving (or “sport parachuting”), and finally created the “town” of Felicity in 1985, establishing it (via a fairy tale he wrote) as the Center of the World, and created the History of Humanity in Granite. Read that history page for details.

An interactive map:

Sign

Sundial, using a sculpture of Michelangelo’s Arm of God from the Sistine Chapel:

Sundial

The official center of the world:

The official center of the world

Selfie in front of the pyramid that encloses the Official Center of the World:

Selfie in front of pyramid

Jenn standing astride the Center of the World:

Jenn standing astride the Center of the World

Looking from the pyramid past the Museum in Granite to the Church on the Hill:

Looking from the pyramid to the church on the hill

Museum of History in Granite:

Museum of History in Granite

Museum of History in Granite

Museum of History in Granite

Replica half-scale Liberty Bell:

Replica Liberty Bell

Museum of History in Granite

Museum of History in Granite

Museum of History in Granite

Museum of History in Granite

Museum of History in Granite

Museum of History in Granite

Museum of History in Granite

The Church on the Hill:

Church on the Hill

Church on the Hill

Museum of History in Granite

The Maze of Honor, where people can pay to have granite memorials (it’s mostly empty):

The Maze of Honor

The Maze of Honor

The Maze of Honor

The Maze of Honor

The Maze of Honor

Stairs from the Eiffel Tower:

Stairs from Eiffel Tower

Stairs from Eiffel Tower

Certificates for visiting the Center of the World:

Certificates for visiting the Center of the World