Special Mom’s blog

We checked off our 8th National Park yesterday. We have been there twice before when the kids were young. Since we started the quest of visiting all 63 parks we needed to visit it again.

But this time it was more of walking a trail instead of just riding a train and of course getting our passport stamped.

If you are in the West and have seen the Yosemite or Grand Canyon this is nothing. But this was a park developed for the city people to enjoy the nature. Salvage yards were converted to marshes. Individual land owners donated their property and the canal has become a bike path. It is the 12th most visited park in the country very close to Cleveland and for us it is just a 2 hr drive.

It felt so good to be back home after a trip to a National Park and sleep in our own beds. Ha, you don’t get that advantage just needed to enjoy that.

Just a note, it was a musical chair for car parking from the visitor center to various places. Yup just needed to have the patience to wait and find the parking.

A salvage yard was completly turned into marshes/wetlands. Thanks to humans and beavers. We spent the evening in the area and couldn’t spot otters and beavers but plenty of birds and turtles. I truly and thoroughly enjoyed the place.

Pictures cannot compensate for reality and the marsh had to be experienced.

We do travel with our new friend Buccee, the beaver whom we got at Kentucky. This is Buccee’s third National Park and he did take a picture with his friends. By the way there are differences between beavers and otters.

We have done 4 National Parks in 2025 and I have no clue how many more we are going to do. Anyhow I consider all these trips as a therapy for me and my young man. We have autism meltdowns and moments but we continue chugging on.