7) Glen Canyon Dam

Visited: Sunday, July 19, 2009

Perhaps my greatest regret during our trip last year was spending more time at Hoover Dam than at Glen Canyon Dam. Because even the most commercial of the national parks isn't as commercial as Hoover Dam.

So getting back to Glen Canyon Dam is high on my list of things to do. What little time we spent there was quite enticing - but we were on our way elsewhere...

6) Grand Canyon

Visited: Saturday, July 18, 2009 -> Sunday, July 19, 2009

You know, I really doubt there's anything useful I can say about the Grand Canyon that's not been said. Well, except that the time we were there there were a _lot_ of bees around, and that the good was disgusting. (Well, the soft serve ice cream was OK. Everything else was inedible.) Of course, one doesn't visit the Grand Canyon for the food or the insects, but for the views - which are incredible. I'd definitely recommend staying at the Grand Canyon; you avoid the bad traffic, and the bus service isn't bad within the park.

But the Grand Canyon was also where I started to realize two things:

1) I prefer the parks focused on people or things to those which present nature. It's not a black and white preference. I like them all, really. It's just that I'm more taken by history than by nature.

2) I prefer smaller parks to larger ones. Really, this is a consequence of the smaller parks being less commercial. As much as I'm looking forward to visiting Acadia in a couple of weeks, I'm even more looking forward to visiting St. Croix Island. In the West, there's a fairly easy way to discover if a park is popular - look at the Western National Parks patches. If there's a patch - it's a _small_ park.