This Memorial Day weekend, we continue our National Park Adventure as Emily and I are loading up the boys and heading out on our first official Brucks Party of 4 road trip. We are so excited. These are the moments I’ve looked forward to for years. Back when Emily and I first talked about starting a family, this is exactly the kind of thing I imagined—packing up the car, heading somewhere new, and sharing experiences we love with our kids.
For us, that experience is visiting National Park Sites. What started as something Emily and I enjoyed together has slowly grown into something bigger: a family tradition. Sure, life is busier now. Travel is less simple than when it was just the two of us. There are snacks, schedules, extra stops, and significantly less quiet time. But somehow, that makes it even better.
This weekend, we’re heading to Colorado and collecting a few National Park Sites along the way. But before I get into where we’re going, I want to share how this tradition started—and why it matters so much to us.
How We Plan Our Trips to National Parks
Emily and I have a pretty ambitious goal: Visit all 433 National Park Service sites. Yes, all of them. We’ve been intentionally working toward this goal since around 2016, and nearly every road trip we take revolves around National Park Sites.
Our process is simple: I pick a hub city where we’ll stay, then map out sites within driving distance. If it’s within about three hours one way, it’s fair game. Early on, I approached trips like a competition. The more stamps we could collect in a day, the better.
Then Emily pointed something out: “We aren’t really seeing these places.” She was right. We were rushing through—walking around quickly, getting our passport stamp, and moving on before really experiencing anything. So we changed our approach. Now, we usually do one site in the morning and one in the afternoon. It slows us down enough to actually enjoy where we are instead of simply checking boxes. And to be honest, the trips are much better because of it.
Where It All Started
Depending on how technical you want to be, our National Park story started in one of two places. The unofficial beginning happened while Emily and I were dating. She surprised me with a trip to Boston—completely planned without me knowing.
We visited places like Fenway Park, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, and Harvard University. One smaller stop was the Freedom Trail, which took us through historic sites like the Granary Burying Ground and Old North Church. What we didn’t realize at the time was that the Freedom Trail is also part of Boston National Historical Park. Had we known, that technically would’ve been our first National Park stamp.
So we count it as the unofficial first visit. Our first official visit came in 2017 at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois. That’s where I bought my National Park passport. And that’s where the obsession officially started.
Since then, we’ve road-tripped all over the country collecting stamps—from Minnesota to South Dakota, West Virginia to Georgia—and plenty of places in between.
Why This National Park Trip Feels Different
This Memorial Day trip feels especially meaningful. Two years ago, we took our first major road trip with MJ to Colorado. We planned shorter drives, stopped in Topeka to visit the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, and eventually made our way to Great Sand Dunes National Park.
MJ loved it. Running through the water at the base of the dunes quickly became one of those family memories you know you’ll hold onto. More importantly, it was his first visit to a National Park. After we left, Emily simply said, “If we have another kiddo, I want this to be their first National Park too.”
So this weekend, we’re making that happen for Macklin. Same trip. Same park. Same first stamp. But this time feels different.
Because this will be our last first trip. The last time we experience a child’s first National Park visit. The last first stamp. The last time we get to introduce one of our kids to something that has become such a meaningful part of our lives.
And while there’s something bittersweet about that, it also feels like the beginning of something even better: Our National Park adventure as the Brucks family. Stay tuned for updates from the trip—and for stories from some of our favorite National Park visits so far.
To read more about our family, click HERE.
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