The Great American Road Trip Review - Timothy Park

 Notch Trail, Badlands National Park

Credit: Tim Park

    This past summer, I was able to visit several well-known landmarks in the American West with my family. We visited the Badlands, Yellowstone, and The Grand Teton national parks. I had  high expectations for each of the landmarks and expected them not to disappoint. Some exceeded expectations while others underperformed. However, they each delivered a unique experience whether it was good or not.  

    Badlands National Park was the one of the first sites I visited. I have always wanted to visit this national park, so I had high expectations. Orginally, I thought this would be the best park I would visit during the road trip. However, it was slightly different than my expectations, but it still did not disappoint. However, I noticed the whole park seemed repetitive and I not have much to offer. Compared to Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons, it did not have the variety the others. Otherwise, I think it did a great job at creating a enjoyable experience for the what the park had to offer.

Artist Point at Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Credit: Tim Park

    After driving through South Dakota and Wyoming, we arrived at Yellowstone National Park. Similar to the Badlands, I had high expectations for this park. I mean, who doesn't. I expected to see abundant wildlife and astonishing views. However, we did not see a lot of wildlife which was disappointing. There was also not much wildlife at Badlands too, so I was already disappointed I did not see as many animals as desired. Nevertheless, like all of the sites mentioned, the views were amazing. Unlike the Badlands, Yellowstone had a variety of places to explore, like geysers and mountains. Originally, I did not think Yellowstone had much to offer, but the vast amount of unique sites made me appreciate the park even more. 

Grand Teton Range

Credit: Tim Park

      The Grand Teton National Park reminds me of an end credit scene of a movie. It was the last major site on our trip and it managed to be exciting in a small area (like small amount of time for end credit scenes). Similar to the Badlands, I thought Grand Teton did not have much variety compared to Yellowstone. After all, the national park is named after a single mountain peak. Unlike the other two national parks, I did not have high expectations for this one, but it ended up surpassing my expectations. This was the most compact national park out of the three, so it was easier to do many things is a short amount of time. I also saw a lot more wildlife compared to Badlands and Yellowstone. It was quite a surprise because I did not expect Grand Teton to have bison, moose, etc roaming around because it is a "mountain" national park. Overall, this was the "shocker" out of the national parks I visited. To conclude many of my expectations were either met or surpassed and some were total shockers, but they all ended up giving me unique experiences.