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# Traveling around the US National Parks
- URL: https://cutelittlepaperblog.com/traveling-around-the-us-national-parks/
- Published: 2018-07-13T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:16:35.000Z
- Author: Katherine Leung
- Tags: US & Canada

When I was in college and already feeling the wanderlust, I joined my grandpa and fifty other retirees from China on to a Chinese tour bus and visited many of the national parks in the US.

Yes. One of *those* tour buses.

The ones filled with obnoxious, throwin’ up their peace signs for terribly staged photos, tour guide waiving around a flag. Yes. That was *us*.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8e/7d/8e7d83ab-d11b-49b6-a585-40ad598fb79f/content/images/2026/10/data-src-image-6b127d84-ff73-4784-b37c-834f532b8c39.jpeg)

I visited all the states you never probably thought of visiting – the Dakotas, Utah, Wyoming. The tour was entirely in Mandarin, a language I barely know. That tour included stops at every Chinese buffet in towns that don’t have any Asian population. You know those untouched crab rangoons at a sad little pan-Asian buffet on the outskirts Salt Lake City? Well, I’ve tried them. And I’ve been there. And not only have I been there, I was there with fifty other retirees.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8e/7d/8e7d83ab-d11b-49b6-a585-40ad598fb79f/content/images/2026/10/data-src-image-6310b7ae-7d9e-48af-aa1a-6b95fb516cba.jpeg)

Despite the sarcasm, I had a great time connecting with my grandpa. He is my absolute favorite relative. I didn’t mind being with all the old people because it meant I could hang out with him. We ate buffalo burgers at a monument that failed to bring prominence and tourism to Sotuh Dakota. We saw baby bears running through a sketchy safari park.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8e/7d/8e7d83ab-d11b-49b6-a585-40ad598fb79f/content/images/2026/10/data-src-image-e8b6ed81-0be8-4c46-9192-3daa20685494.jpeg)

We visited Badlands National Park in South Dakota, Devil’s Tower and Grand Tetons in Wyoming, and also Yellowstone National Park.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8e/7d/8e7d83ab-d11b-49b6-a585-40ad598fb79f/content/images/2026/10/data-src-image-8bf6643f-c0b0-43e0-8a33-dabecec431ad.jpeg)