Date of Visit: September 11, 2026
As we have visited Pullman National Historical Park previously, this was mostly just a quick stop to get the America 250 stamp. We also visited the Pullman Coffee Club, which is in the building that used to be the Pullman Club and was not open on our last visit. I also did a sketch while we ate our picnic lunch.
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| Inside Pullman Club |
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| Inside Pullman Club |
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| Inside Pullman Club |
See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.
Previous Visits to this Unit:
Date of Visit: September 11, 2026
Location: Pullman Coffee Club, Chicago, IL
Rating: 👍
The Pullman National Historical Site and the Pullman Coffee Club was originally something we planned to visit on our June road trip to North Dakota (and Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore), but since that trip did not work out as planned and I had not finalized our plan for getting to Chicago to start Route 66, I added it to our Route 66 itinerary.
The Pullman Coffee Club is located in the building that was once the Pullman Club, which was a club for managers at the Pullman factory. There are some exhibits about Pullman and a video about the house. As part of Pullman National Historical Park, there is also a park passport stamp here.
I got a latte.
Dad got a Turmeric Ginger Chai.
See full list of Our Koffee Trail stops here and Our Koffee Trail Google Maps list here.
We stopped at the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center to get the America 250 stamp.
As there was not much to see here and I wanted to do a sketch on the Blue Ridge Parkway page in my National Park coloring book, we ended up also going to the Folk Art Center.
Only ended up with some flowers to sketch, but got another America 250 stamp and there was a wide variety of interesting arts and crafts to see there.
See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.
Previous Visits to this Unit:
Date of Visit: September 10, 2026
Our first stop on our way to Chicago to start our Route 66 trip was at Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site.
To get to the Carl Sandburg Home, it is a short, but STEEP hike.
We got there a little before the first tour of the home at 11am.
My favorite part of the house were the books. They have like 10,000 books.
After the tour, I did a sketch of the house in my sketchbook that I am collecting the America 250 stamps.
We skipped checking out the goats and more of the property as it was lunch time and we had to hike back to the car for our sandwiches. Definitely a place we need to come back to see more of it.
On the way back to the car, we stopped to take photos in the chair on the rocky outcrop.
See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.
Date of Visit: June 26, 2026
We visited the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center to get the America 250 stamp for the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. We enjoyed the exhibits, especially learning about the Wright Brothers printing press business.
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| Wright Flyer |
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| Helicopter Toy |
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| Frank B. Hale Groceries |
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| Frank B. Hale Groceries |
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| Wright Brothers Gliders |
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| Aviation Trail Parachute Museum |
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| Aviation Trail Parachute Museum |
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| Aviation Trail Parachute Museum |
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| Bench from Wright family home |
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| Composing Room |
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| Printing Press |
See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.
Date of Visit: June 26, 2026
Because it was raining, Mik did not want to get out of the truck when we visited Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument. Thus, Dad and I just quickly went through the exhibits inside the house and got the stamps.
See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.
Date of Visit: June 25, 2026
As this was our first visit to Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, we planned to spend time really exploring it. However, we found the visitor center rather lacking with no real exhibit and the sidewalk to the mounds did not even get to the first info sign. We were not surprised that it was not accessible for Mik (Wheelchair Travel Adventures post) to go through the mound side, but we had expected there to at least be some sort of exhibit about the site in the visitor center. Mik did at least let me quickly walk through the mound area to the various signs and take some Ranger Dan photos.
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| Visitor Center |
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| Shawnee Tribe Flag |
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| Mound 7 |
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| Elliptical Mound |
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| My Sketch |
See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.
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| Canyon Rim Visitor Center |
Date of Visit: June 24-25, 2026
The New River Gorge was one of the places we visited on the trip we got Ranger Dan. Back then, it was designated a National River, so this was our first visit to it as a National Park. That visit we only went to the Canyon Rim Visitor Center. This trip we also visited the Sandstone Visitor Center and Sandstone Falls.
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| Batteau |
As we got to the visitor center near closing time, Dad went in and got the stamps while I took some Ranger Dan photos and did a sketch of the batteau.
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| Batteau Sketch |
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| Sandstone Falls |
At the Visitor Center, Dad learned that the Sandstone Falls could be seen from a short accessible trail, so we drove over and saw that before going to the hotel.
The next morning we went to the Canyon Rim Visitor Center for more 250 stamps and for Mik to see the New River Gorge Bridge.
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| New River Gorge Bridge |
Previous Visits to this Unit:
See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.
