Best National Parks in the USA to Visit (Our Favorites)

we know this summer is gonna be all about the US national parks so in this video we wanted to tell you our five top favorite US national parks and what we love about them stay tuned [Music] for those of you who don't know us I'm Josh this is Liz we're peanuts of pretzels travel blog and our mission is to make trip planning fun and easy for people just like you this time more than ever is the best time to go out and go visit the national parks yeah with everyone wanting to you know get outside and be active but also maintain a social distance you know it's a really great time to experience the u.s. national parks and we've been fortunate enough to visit a number of them ourselves so we wanted to tell you in this video from our experience our favorite parks and what we love about them so it'll give you some ideas for planning your next trip so let's get started number one Grand Teton National Park near Jackson Hole Wyoming stunning that's all yeah stunning the mountains are so breathtaking it's so detailed and looking back out I mean it is breathtaking you should look up in its walls like these are mountains up into the sky and they're nestled along a few different lakes and we were lucky enough to go camping at Signal Mountain Campground which is nestled along Jackson Lake and so just a few feet from our campsite we could just hang out all day and play in the lake and look like is so fresh it's freezing but it's crystal clear it's beautiful and I mean the reflection of the mountains off the lake is just amazing I was one of our favorite things to do of course there's a typical hiking biking you know there's a lot of trails there's kayaking canoeing and stuff but just hanging out on the lake and looking up at the mountains was well and it has the cool city of Jackson Hole that's right there too so I mean like dinner likes great cuisine so I mean it's it's really cool so location the mountains are just beautiful the lakes are amazing and the fact that Jackson holes right next door is makes it pretty awesome to go to see and check out so number 2 on our list of favorite u.s. national parks are the red this is one of my favorites popcorn just majestic is the only word that comes to mind it feels like when you're when you're in the forest the redwood forest it does feel like you're you're walking through a book or you're walking yeah it doesn't seem real that there's actually something that's this big on earth Ennis it's amazing it's really cool they're just so tranquil and and so the area of the redwoods in Northern California it's actually scattered among a big area where there's a number of visitor centers and different parks and it's also split between national parks and state parks so we actually went to some of the more popular national park areas and visitor centers places like the Avenue of the Giants remember we drove on that road and there's all these cool groves that you could stop off and go exploring and we also we actually camped at Richardson Grove State Park I mean something just better like the pancakes taste better the coffee tastes better when you're like waking up and cooking and you're surrounded in a forest of massive I don't know everything alongside the most incredible redwood pour historic and like we just walked out our door or even through the window they were just right there and I remember opening the windows at night and the like the smell that would waft in the RV of the redwoods was I will never forget it number three on our list is Mesa Verde National Park yeah really cool southwestern Colorado it's pretty remote yeah it's not like that easy I mean it's easy to get to I guess but it's it's out there along the main interstate and I think a lot of people overlook this park but I have to tell it was one of the most fascinating it was it was really things it was mind-blowing that people lived this way and it's like still there and you can still like walk and see it and touch it and this is a cool spot to go to and check it out only the cliff dwellings are just amazing it's it's amazing to see how preserved they are and just how many of them there are so you can actually go on some of the trails and driving and you can see some of the cliff dwellings from across the way and there's a lot of them there's not just like one main one there's there's a lot of them to kind of check out but if you really want to get up close and see them for yourselves you'll need to take a guided tour from one of the Rangers which are really cool but you have to make sure you reserve it well in advance so that you can you can go on it but it takes you down into some of the like the cliff palace was the one that we went to and it was amazing to get to go down in there and actually walk through it and you could touch it and stick your head through the windows and all those things I just couldn't believe how long it had been there yeah and we camped here too so we were able to camp here so we made getting up early to go on the tour a lot easier and it was super peaceful super quiet out there just really cool and there's a lot of really great visitor centers and museums there where you learn a lot more about the the ancient culture of the Pueblo people who lived there and settled on that land it's fascinating it's really cool Mesa Verde don't miss it yeah number four is one of my favorites and I think it was one that we weren't expecting it to be as cool as it actually was was Great Sand Dunes National Park it's also in Colorado and it was amazing we got lucky to actually go when there with the glacier was melted down so we had like the water come through the National Park through the sand in the late spring to early summer the glaciers are melting and they actually carve a river Medano Creek I believe what it's called and so it's a seasonal Creek gets only flowing in the spring to early summer and so we were there during that time and it was still flowing so you actually have to cross that stream in order to get to the dunes which is a lot of fun because people will go there and they'll go tubing and they'll play annex it's really fresh water and what was great it's one of the most dog-friendly national parks that we've seen so Hana had a blast she got to run around on the sand dunes it was the first time I think was our first time together to actually hang out on sand dunes like that I mean literally as far as you can see you can see a little bitty person up there walking along the dunes and yeah you bring your boards up there and just have a blast and you hang out there all day you go stand boarding or stand sledding and I mean it's quite a hike to get up this yeah it's really exhausting so if you're gonna go definitely be prepared it gets hot make sure you bring water snacks that type of stuff because I mean you're you can get way out there in the distance and yell and not even hear anybody so but you can still see them you know it's pretty it's pretty cool it's pretty well to see it's a really fun National Park and it really surprised us how much we enjoyed it and again of course there's camping and and hiking and there's some 4x4 trails you can take your cars on your jeeps and things but we just loved walking and hanging on the sand with the dog and just the fact that they're sand dunes in this part of the country is the whole scientific thing within itself so I mean if you're a science fan or if you have science fans in the family this is a cool place to go because there's not many places like this even really around the world number five of our top favorite national parks you're number five the iconic Grand Canyon it's one of the only national parks I've ever gone to and literally cried I know it's it truly is amazing and breathtaking pictures and videos just don't do it justice so we didn't see it there in person it doesn't do it justice you if you're going through a national park checklist and you don't have the Grand Canyon on there you're not doing your checklist right you have to go to the Grand Canyon it is it is truly it is truly amazing it's special to us it was actually one of the first national parks we went to together with our RV after we got it years ago and so it was a fun tour we're able to barbies the parking lots are full of RVs just keep in mind some of the parking lots are a little dip get into so if you have a tow car that makes it a little easier to get around but we explored the South Rim and that whole area there was a lot of visitor centers and areas that you could go and look out and there's some trails along the top of the rim there which we loved because the top part on the paved trails you could bring your dog yeah so Hana was actually up there looking out into the Grand Canyon and it was so cute every there were so many travelers there that just thought it was cute wanted to take a picture with her and she was just up there laying and just chillin like she was enjoying the view like everyone said it was written it was really cool that we could actually bring her and walk her around and be a part of it and see it together and really just we set there the three of us as a family looking out into the Grand Canyon and of course if you have more time than we did when we were there cuz we would love to be able to go down in the canyon go on some hikes definitely be prepared it looks easy but you're going down the first one and you have to come back up when you're tired so make sure to bring provisions and I think one of the dream hikes we'd love to do is the hike to Havasu Falls one day but that's going to we need to have a lot more time for that so we need to prepare all the trails are not dog friendly so make sure to check out the links below about friendly national parks and regulations and stuff like that before you go yeah but for bringing your dog definitely that's our list of top five national parks but let's be honest you can't just do five so here really hard dinero yeah we definitely have honorable mentions so a couple of honorable mentions would be Mountain National Park it is the most popular park of the United States for a reason great hiking trails it's really cool skyline burgers the fun little city it's peaceful it's great for drives another one I'd say oh yes ion Zion Bryce Canyon that whole arches as well National Park you could do it all like it's a little loop so you can definitely have an awesome road trip by including those in there yeah we I'll never forget the contrast as I read in this book yeah I've never seen like such red I don't know brick mountains before like it was really cool arches was awesome because you can actually hike up to that famous delicate arch you know the one that you always see in the pictures and the one on the license plates you can actually see it and you can actually touch it it's crazy so that was our favorite one to a great height there and we can't be talking about national parks without giving a shout out to two possibly the most famous Yosemite and Yellowstone I mean you have to you got to see Old Faithful right that's on the bucket let's go check that all their iconic parks they're stunning of course we loved them we could talk a lot about them but we wanted to share some of the other parks that we're big fans of that don't get so much love so if you're like us and you're wanting to check off your list like we are of all the national parks that we've seen we actually created an awesome download that is a printable US National Park checklist that you can print out hang up in your RV or your house or anywhere like that and actually keep track of all the National Park track of it share it with friends and family that way you can't forget I mean there's a lot of national parks that's for me I have to remember some organized by state so what makes it easy so definitely check that out in the links below and download your copy and if you have a favorite national park please feel free to share that in the comments below we would love to hear from you and what you love about it or if you have just any other questions or comments put them and in the comments below as well and so thanks again for watching everyone we hope this has helped you make sure to give a thumbs up to this video and subscribe to the channel for more awesome content and we will see you on the next video be on the next one keep watching say bye Hana check you on the next video

Channel: Peanuts or Pretzels Travel

Views: 2,086

Keywords: best national parks in usa, national parks, national park, yosemite national park, grand canyon, yellowstone national park, zion national park, grand canyon national park, us national parks, arches national park, best national parks in america, great smoky mountains, bryce canyon national park, national parks in the us, top national parks, bryce canyon, grand teton national park, best us national parks, great sand dunes national park, best national parks, rv, rv living

Id: Oax6_OvMfdQ

Length: 11min 54sec (714 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 16 2020