When I started writing this list about a month ago, I thought the three of us agreed with the ratings of our first five National Parks visited. But as we continued to talk about it I noticed some cracks. That said, here is the original first five in order of most favorite. Included is also why we chose this order. And then finally the discrepancy.
#1 The Badlands: best for exploration, unique and incredible personal enjoyment
#2 Biscayne: under water exploration and immense personal enjoyment, unique plant-life and animals.
#3 The Everglades: Plant and wildlife novelties, curiosity friendliness based upon tour-guide, which we were fortunate to have a great boat captain.
#4 Acadia: Very family friendly with plenty of trailed/off-trail exploration on Cadillac Mountain, specifically on the bedrock area. Very East coast scenery. Not a lot of options that were available for family adventure that didn’t involve hiking.
#5 Wind Cave: Very strict rules for exploration. No 0ff-path exploration. A cave is a cave. Low personal enjoyment for children.
The Boys Criteria, Non-Weighted (except in their minds)
Curiosity Friendly: Kids and Adults alike want to be curious and explore the outdoors especially our National Parks. Did the park welcome exploration? Were you free to Wander Through Wonder?
Unique Surroundings: A landscape that draws you in and forces you to watch it to see what comes next.
Personal Enjoyment: Available activities
The kids absolutely loved The Badlands. Berin enjoyed looking for and discovering fossils along the trails and off-trail. He shares the discovery with every Ranger he meets at every new Park.
Benjamin struggled a bit in footing, but found the challenge of discovery and the idea of breaking the rules going off trail, thrilling (which was of course, NOT against the rules, but still somehow felt like it was).
Additionally, the night program for all of us was phenominal. We saw, together, the Milky Way for the first time, away from light pollution. Benjamin shared his knowledge of the night sky and stars to a level the Rangers were not prepared for. I was so proud of him and his willingness to speak intelligently about what he knows and the stretching of the Rangers’ concepts of what an 11-year old has already been introduced to.
Coming in at a close second is Biscayne. (This is also where the cracks started to be seen in later talks). Originally we argued between Biscayne and The Badlands, so I’m unsurprised that after further thought the crack had widened.
For Berin finding the fossil at The Badlands will be impossibility to surpass. Benjamin loved snorkeling in Biscayne to the point that I couldn’t pull him from the water even though there was a storm brewing.
Biscayne introduced us to plant and animal life that we had only seen before in movies. We saw things in the under-water environment that reminded us of the plants in Avatar. Personally, I did know they were real, yet my own eyes and theirs witnessed them.
Learning more and more about my kids, I noticed that they both are drawn to water centric parks. Coming in third is another water park. The Everglades was not only our first Park filling us with hope and a dream, but also our boat was carried into the Park on the wake of Bottle nosed Dolphins and a tail swish of an alligator. What’s not to love about the Everglades, lest we not forget the mosquitos! I did NOT love the mosquitos in the Everglades.
#4 Acadia brought us back to the night sky on the heels of play in the north Atlantic (water). Munja was along for the ride as well and its always nice to have us all together. I’ll be curious to see where Acadia stacks up as the list grows longer. I also wonder if it doesn’t deserve another visit to honor all that it has to offer versus the stress of finding a rental car.
#5 is Wind Cave. In the words of Berin, “it was just a cave”, it didn’t even have the water going through it like the sticker”. I’m sorry for Wind Cave. I found myself really drawn into the story of the indigenous peoples and the Bison we saw, as well as the South Dakota landscape surrounding us on the drive to the cave. But, I do understand the point he was trying to make.
So there you have it Dear Reader. From the perspective of a nine and an eleven year old. Our first five parks visited in order of preference: (Let’s call it tied for first;) Biscayne and The Badlands, #3 The Everglades, #4 Acadia, and #5 Wind Cave.
Mixing into the next five are: Bryce Canyon, Zion, Capital Reef, and Death Valley. #10 remains to be determined. The government needs to open back up or we may not get to see Carlsbad Caverns. As a side note, I suspect I’ll be told again its just a Cave…we shall see…
At the time of posting we are at Day 27, and 14 Hours, 9 minutes and 10 Seconds of the Government Shutdown…
Post in the comments your opinion of our order of preference or if you disagree and why, I’d love to hear from you.
MaMaLiRZ 
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