We took a scenic drive from Phoenix to Watson Lake in Arizona.
An interactive map of our route:
Park features sign:
We had a picnic lunch with a lake view:
Interesting rocks and the lake:
Lake map:
We do enjoy interesting rocks!
park
Galleta Meadows Estate sculptures
We visited the Galleta Meadows Estate sculptures, large metal artworks of various animals (and a Jeep) around Borrego Springs, California.
Our approximate route from the campground:
We first went to the Montezuma Valley Road Lookout for a picnic lunch overlooking the valley:
Then back down the hill and explored the sculptures, which are scattered around outside town. Most you can drive right up to, but some you need to walk a short distance.
Joshua Tree Hidden Valley Nature Trail hike
We enjoyed a stroll around the Hidden Valley Nature Trail in Joshua Tree National Park.
A new entrance station from the last time we visited; further along the road to avoid blocking roads outside the park, and more capacity for busy times:
Hidden Valley Nature Trail:
We had dinner at the adjacent Hidden Valley picnic area:
NZ: Franz Josef twin glacier helicopter flight
As one of our last big excursions on our NZ trip, we booked a helicopter flight from the town of Franz Josef over Franz Josef and Fox glaciers.
The flight route:
The Helicopter Line office:
Going to the helipads:
Our helicopter coming in for a landing:
Our helicopter awaits:
Taking off:
Selfie:
River:
Snowy mountains:
A peek of Mount Cook:
Glacier:
We landed on the snow:
Taking off again:
A parking lot and river; this is the closest one can drive to the glacier (which is getting further away every year as it shrinks):
Coming in for a landing:
Our helicopter taking off again:
A fascinating experience.
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).
Seeing hundreds of manatees at Three Sisters Springs in Florida:
Rainbow Springs State Park headsprings:
Weeki Wachee Springs State Park:
Crooked River State Park trails:
Fort Frederica National Monument:
Fort Sumter National Historical Park:
Fort Moultrie National Historical Park:
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site:
Independence National Historical Park:
St Clair River and Lake Huron:
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore:
Niagara Falls: Cave of the Winds:
Niagara Falls: Maid of the Mist:
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park:
Fort Williams Park & Portland Head Light:
Salem Maritime National Historic Site:
Boston National Historical Park:
Keweenaw Peninsula of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan:
Iron Mountain and Needles drive:
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park:
Some fascinating places.
2025 National Parks
One of the main reasons for traveling the United States in a motorhome is to explore the many wonders around the country.
This is a summary of the National Parks we visited in 2025. You can also see the attractions from 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.
As with the previous summaries, I’ll include a link to the corresponding blog post, and a sample picture. Click or tap the link or picture to see more.
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 national park category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).
We visited 5 new National Parks in 2025 (plus revisited several), for a total of 52 so far of the 63 total National Parks. We have visited all of the National Parks in the contiguous states; a major milestone! Just those in Alaska, Hawaii, and American Samoa to go.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park: visitor centers:
Cuyahoga Valley National Park: Brandywine Falls:
Cuyahoga Valley National Park Scenic Railroad: Vamos Vino Grape Escape:
Acadia National Park: east loop:
Acadia National Park: west loop:
Acadia National Park: Cadillac Mountain sunrise:
Acadia National Park: Schoodic Peninsula:
Voyageurs National Park: Lake Kabetogama and Ash River:
Voyageurs National Park: Rainy Lake Grand Tour:
Yellowstone Lamar Valley area:
Yellowstone Old Faithful area:
Yellowstone Artists Paintpots area:
Joshua Tree Hidden Valley Nature Trail hike: [This link won’t work until later.]
Several nice parks.
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Video: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 329 miles from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana.
Travel from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana
We drove our coach 329 miles, about five hours of driving, from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
An interesting trailer:
Check-out box:
Crowd watching something on the hill; I couldn’t see anything:
A lone bison:
Thermal feature:
Madison River:
Leaving the park:
Welcome to West Yellowstone, Montana:
Hebgen Lake:
Madison River:
Ennis:
We had originally planned to stay at Ennis RV Park, but decided to just push on through:
Route 359 North:
Truck parking closed on I-90 West:
… because they diverted traffic through the parking area due to road works:
Continental Divide:
I-90 West:
Rest area:
Wildlife escape ramp:
Interesting rocks:
Arriving at Jim & Mary’s RV Park:
Our site:
Yellowstone Artists Paintpots area
On our last day in Yellowstone National Park we visited the Artists Paintpots area, then completed the lower loop, with a picnic dinner at a secret picnic area:
A bison swimming across Yellowstone River:
Bison:
Artusts’ Paintpots:
On the way home we had a picnic in a “secret” area that seems to have mostly fallen into Yellowstone Lake:
