On our state-by-state adventure, we love visiting quaint national park sites that allow us to enjoy magnificent locations without the crowds. While the popular national parks around the country are certainly worth visiting, there are many national park sites that fly under the radar. And although we haven’t yet explored them all, we’ve been to more than 100 NPS sites, giving us some insight into the variety and scope of what’s out there. This list offers options that appeal to nature lovers and history buffs alike. So no matter your interests, we think these are some quaint national park sites not to miss when you’re out adventuring around the states.
AZ
A Short Trip to Tucson With Kids
Sometimes, a place you visit is exactly as you expect it will be, other times, it completely surprises you. On a short trip to Tucson, you will discover that it does a little of both. Hills of Saguaro cacti greet your eye from just about any way you arrive. They can stand up to 100-feet high and live for around 100 years, maybe more.
This is one of the largest cities in Arizona and has lots of fun, family-friendly things to do. Whether you’re looking for outdoor adventure or indoor entertainment, this is a great place to take the family. The following is a small list of fun things to do for a short trip to Tucson with kids.

Petrified Forest
Before leaving Arizona we made our last stop at Petrified Forest National Park.
All of the national parks are so different and interesting. There is so much to learn from these wonderful lands and I am grateful that we have been able to visit so many. Petrified Forest National Park is a very unique place. It is not the only place that petrified wood can be found; however, it is the largest concentrated area of petrified wood in the world. We were able to stay at a gift shop just outside the entrance to the park which was great because it was so close and had power for us! We needed it because it got pretty cold at night while we were there. The days were nice for hiking though so it all worked out.
You Have To See It For Yourself
Being afraid of heights my entire life, I was a little apprehensive about visiting the Grand Canyon with three small kids. When we first arrived at the canyon we were near the main visitor center and there were guard rails up. I breathed a sigh of relief and enjoyed the half a mile of rail. Then it ended and we were on the edge of a cliff with a drop several thousand feet. Sarah of course had no fear and was perfectly at ease going up to the edge. Luckily the kids listened to their crazy daddy and made sure they were not too close to the edge. The only time one of them even came close was right after a ranger talk when we met a family from the east coast doing the same thing we are. I looked over and Trip was a little too close for comfort and the other family’s dad thanked me for having
him come stand right by me. Apparently he was also getting a little nervous about how close Trip was to the edge. Even with my fear of heights, the Grand Canyon was an amazing place to visit, pictures just can’t show how epic and majestic it is in real life.
Phoenix
We started off our Arizona visit in a KOA about an hour from the capitol city. We are not to impressed by the KOA’s and were hesitant to stay at another one (this was our second stay at one). It had a decent price for a KOA when we looked into it online, they typically have many amenities and are very family friendly; however, we quickly found out why the price was so good, they were still under construction on the pool and the playground, they also had none of the games that are usually standard at these campgrounds. It’s not that we really want these things, but we were expecting them here and had told the kids that there would be a playground. So we only stayed two nights, just long enough to go into Phoenix and tour the capitol museum. After our two nights we moved not to far away to the Lost Dutchman state park. It was a nice campground and very clean. We enjoyed our stay there, Chris even caught a lizard for Miles!