This week we’re celebrating a huge milestone: 30 years of traveling together as a family! Back in 1995, we set off to do what they said couldn’t be done (you don’t just cross the continent with kids ages 7, 5, 3, and 1.5, all still in car seats)… and we loved it. In fact, we loved it so much, we did it again before the year was out! And again, 2 years later! And again, and again, and again…

In fact, we’ve traveled out of state every year since then as a family, and we’ve gone west of the Mississippi every year except two (1996 and 2000 both found us in Florida, among other adventures). Exactly who goes on the adventures now changes from year to year due to work, schedules, desires, etc., but the fact that I can still travel with various family members is more than just a dream come true, it’s an honest-to-goodness miracle.

Here are a few stats for you from the last 30 years:

48 states (Alaska and Hawaii are still holdouts)

7 Canadian provinces

1 Mexican province (if you count driving in and driving back out… and there was that second province when we rock-hopped more than halfway across the Rio Grande back on New Year’s 2008)

5 European countries (only 3 for me)

1 Asian country (0 for me)

1 African country (0 for me again)

1 South American country (0 for me… again)

54 trips west of the Mississippi (plus three trips to Florida and thirteen trips to New England and the Atlantic seaboard)

3,400 miles hiked (approximately… that’s like walking from Seattle to the Florida Keys)

282,000 miles driven on adventure trips alone (a low-ball estimate that’s equivalent to driving around the equator 11.3 times)

328 parks (a low-ball estimate) in the US alone

42 out of the 49 national parks in the contiguous US (we’re missing Congaree, Indiana Dunes, and Pinnacles, plus the boat-required Biscayne, Channel Islands, Dry Tortugas, and Isle Royale)

59-ish out of the 128 national monuments in the US

I also made a (not very good) map of the routes we’ve driven. As you can see, I-70 is a favorite!

I asked most of my family members to give me their #1, absolutely-the-best, can’t-miss, must-do-before-you-die, favorite hike from the last 30 years (and since it was hard to choose one, we broadened it to one mountain hike and one desert hike). It was great dinnertime conversation, and here’s what they told me. (Note that I’m using their names from my newsletters; if you like travel stories and pictures from our early adventures, I highly recommend subscribing using the form in the right sidebar on desktop or at the bottom of the post on mobile… you will need to confirm your subscription in your email in order to get the newsletters, but I promise, I won’t spam you!)

20 of Our Favorite Hikes!

Daddy: Cooper Spur on Mount Hood, Oregon and Neon Canyon in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah

Mum: Cloud’s Rest in Yosemite National Park, California and Honan Point on the north rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona

Ed: The meadows of Paradise in the fog on the side of Mount Rainier, Washington; Hidden Valley above Moab, Utah

Anne: Sahale Arm in North Cascades National Park, Washington and Chesler Park in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, Utah (you knew I’d get Canyonlands in there somewhere!)

Zane: Teton Shelf Trail in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness Area behind Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming and Golden Cathedral in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah

Josie: Kearsarge Pass (post coming soon!) in the High Sierra of Inyo National Forest, California and Peek-a-boo Trail in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, Utah (see, I’m not the only one who loves Canyonlands!)

Isaiah: Paradise Park on the slopes of Mount Hood, Oregon and Panamint Dunes (post coming soon!) in the wilds of Death Valley National Park, California

Grace-Marie: Cirque of Towers in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming and South Kaibab Trail rim to river to rim in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Andrew: Possibly Coyote Gulch in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah (he’s on an anti-hiking kick right now, so I didn’t ask)

James: Well, he didn’t show up to dinner, but I know he enjoyed the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Here’s to another 30 years of family adventure trips!

More about our family…

For a little bit more of my family’s story, feel free to read this book. I wrote it a number of years ago about how we (sort of unintentionally) bucked the traditional church expectations and found Jesus in our home. You can buy it here for approximately $12.99 for paperback, or only $3.99 for Kindle!