US National Parks Bucket List

Driving through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks with Caroline in 2014, it dawned on me that I had missed a calling. I almost called it "my calling", but that would infer that in life we are only called once. But surely, at least on some level, the National Parks Service called me. As I do what I do for a trip, I'm in the process of researching a trip to Utah to visit the Magnificent Five National Parks: Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches. This morning, I got to thinking, which parks have I been to, and which have I not? So here's the list:

 Parks I haven’t been to: 40 total

Acadia NP MN
Shenandoah NP VA
Cuyahoga Valley NP OH
Indiana Dunes NP IN
Isle Royale NP MI
Voyageurs NP MN
Guadalupe Mountains NP TX
Big Bend NP TX
Arches NP UT
Canyonlands NP UT
Capital Reef NP UT
White Sands NP NM
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP CO
Great Sand Dunes NP CO
Theodore Roosevelt NP ND
Wind Cave NP ND
Olympic NP WA
North Cascades NP WA
Mt Ranier NP WA
Lassen Volcanic NP CA
Channel Islands NP CA
Death Valley NP CA
Joshua Tree NP CA
Pinnacles NP CA
Saguaro NP AZ
Great Basin NP NV
Kobuk Valley NP AK
Lake Clark NP AK
Kenai Fjords NP AK
Wrangell - St Elias NP AK
Katmai NP AK
Gates of the Arctic NP AK
Haleakala NP HI
Biscayne NP FL
Dry Tortugas NP FL
Congaree NP SC
Hot Springs NP AR
Gateway Arch NP MO
American Samoa NP
Virgin Islands NP

Parks I have been to: 21

Great Smokey Mountains NP TN
Everglades NP FL
Mammoth Cave NP KY
Badlands NP SD
Carlsbad Caverns NP NM
Petrified Forest NP AZ
Grand Canyon NP AZ
Rocky Mountain NP CO
Mesa Verde NP CO
Bryce Canyon NP UT
Zion NP UT
Yellowstone NP WY
Grand Teton NP WY
Glacier NP MT
Crater Lake NP OR
Yosemite NP CA
Redwood NP CA
Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP CA
Denali NP AK
Glacier Bay NP AK
Hawaii Volcanoes NP HI

I've been to only 21/61, which is a lot, yes, but leaves a lot yet to see. Life is short. Gotta go!