What is See 63?
I don’t know yet! A way to spend time with our family, a way to reconnect to our hobbies, a way to try something new, maybe even if I wax poetic a way to improve ourselves. I think at the end of the day See 63 is for you the reader, a semi-public diary of Erica and my trips to see every National Park in America, and for me the author to reminisce and learn from our trips and record them here to anyone unfortunate enough to be reading it, through obligation or otherwise.
Erica and I decided very soon after AJ joined us that we needed a new long term goal. We were largely inspired by a somewhat gimmicky but very endearing water bottle, which is not unlike those 50 state collectible quarter maps from the turn of the century. We were also inspired partly by Ken Burns’ documentary. We very quickly landed on seeing the National Parks of America. Numbering 63 in total and ranging from grandiose to questionable at best, we’ve got quite the hike.
Rules and Motivations
Some general notes behind what counts as seeing a national park, and what we want to achieve:
- We’ve gotta see the sights. I mean like, the sights, you know. Things like Yosemite’s Half-Dome, Yellowstone’s Old Faithful, Rainer’s Rainer, Arches… you get the idea. This feels subjective and largely it is. We define it as we go.
- No drive in, drive outs. Gotta see what we can and take our time with it. Preferably take a hike on a trail or two if possible, or a guided tour if not. We want to respect each one.
- On a personal level, I want to work on my photography and get back to nature. I spent way too much of my childhood in nature to leave it behind, and I want to share this hobby with Erica.
- So why the blog? Half because I long for early 00’s internet. The other half because it’s honestly just still a good medium. It serves as an easily shareable diary for friends and family. It’s also a fairly permanent record for myself and Erica to reminisce with.
I don’t know if this will grow outside of national park trips to small mini-vacations or trips, or other lifestyle bits, but I can say for every NP trip we make I intend to post again here.
You will see my photography throughout my posts. I want to try and photograph these national parks to the best of my ability, and woe to the earlier parks as I am sure I will improve on our journey through all 63. Maybe if they are lucky, they will get a revisit when I’ve improved. Maybe they will be even more lucky, and I improve at all. That being said, a mixture of phone snapshots and photos with more effort will be involved here, so try and enjoy them both!
Please feel free to share this blog with anyone. If people can find joy and entertainment through my musings then I’ll take that as making the world a better place. If I just end up shouting into the matrix, then all the better. Feel free to explore my travel posts here.
See 63 