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Small Falls, Big Falls
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Despite the polar vortex that swept through Illinois, we decided to visit Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio, driving from our home in Champaign. Along the way, we got to meet some friends in Cincinnati and Akron. In fact, we didn’t stop only at Cuyahoga Valley; we also continued on to see a much bigger set of falls in upstate New York—Niagara Falls. Everything was freezing cold, but the fresh snow somehow gave the entire trip a magical atmosphere.
A Journey to America’s North End
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At the end of Summer 2025, we embarked on a grand tour of the northern United States. Our goal was to explore a mix of popular national parks and hidden gems across Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, and Washington. The journey took us through breathtaking mountain ranges and bountiful wilderness teeming with wildlife. Thanks to booking our flights more than six months in advance, we were lucky enough to fly directly out of Champaign, a perfect start to our adventure!
California’s underrated national parks
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This past July, we embarked on a whirlwind three-day trip to visit some of California’s national parks that were still on our list, namely, Channel Islands, Pinnacles, and Kings Canyon. While they may be less famous than their neighbors, we found them to be refreshing, full of fun, and wonderfully family-friendly. The trip was a showcase of California’s diverse wildlife, giving us our first-ever sightings of whales, island foxes, scrub jays, and California quails, and that’s not even counting the school of dolphins that raced our ferry to and from the Channel Islands!
Colorado & South Dakota Redemption
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This trip was a triumphant redemption for our failed attempt last year, exactly one year prior, when Frontier Airlines unexpectedly canceled our flight just eight hours before departure, derailing our Fourth of July plans. This year’s adventure, thankfully, proved to be the best redemption ever! We successfully visited all the national parks in Colorado and even managed to include Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, which we’d missed last summer.