Women Who Travel Podcast: How to Choose a National Park

La: Yes, I was leaving, okay, I have to noodle on the mine and I will not reveal them immediately, but Akadia is there for me.

MS: Yes, it is just I think it’s growing up in California, going to New York, and then given that if you keep driving towards Canada, it is a dramatic beach that still feels the same and different from northern California, which is very indifferent to me, but like a rocky outflow, like the sea beach, like the forest beach. I think Acadia is grand that way.

La: Well, I really looked at Big Sur, before I saw the main, and when I first went to the main and went to Akadia and driving along the coast to reach there, I was so for me, oh, this is the big tone of the East Coast. It is equally rugged and dramatic and beautiful and still seems quite untouched and peaceful, even though it is a very, very well smuggling national park and a stir tourist city is next to the city, Bar Harbor, which is a destination in itself.

MS: Definitely. And the third national park I like is Redwood. My early childhood memories are being drawn on camp or park trips, where I think my parents really wanted to show us the beautiful nature that was California. And I think by looking at these huge trees that your car can drive through some of them, they are just so big-

La: And so old.

MS: They are so old, they are so long. And I think there is a small child and look up and just that, I have to bend my neck till now, I am going to try to see this, it’s amazing.

La: This is fun because I think I am relatively self-deprived, but I am going to say this in a narrow-minded manner, but perhaps many ways, many Americans say, “Okay, we have nothing old really here.” And you have some of the most ancient trees in the world.

MS: Some redwoods may live at the age of 4,000 years. They are one of the oldest things in the country, which is amazing.

La: Beautiful.

As I said, I need a minute to think about myself, but we will come back to which parks and my parks are, I promise. How do you choose? Obviously everyone is different and looking for different experiences. If you are choosing a park and planning a trip to ask yourself, what are some basic criteria, like you are doing these decisions, things to remember people?

MS: So I will think of the group with which you are traveling, if you are not going alone. Everyone has different fitness levels, needs dynamics, and when we are talking about summer, some of these parks are very hot, which can not only be physically difficult for some people, but not always enjoyable. So just wondering what you are really doing.