Arizona couple visits all 431 national parks in the United States
Longtime Arizona residents Darryl and Kathleen Toumpkin reached a milestone by visiting all 431 units of the U.S. national park.
PHOENIX – Longtime Arizona residents Darryl and Kathleen Toumpkin reached a milestone by visiting all 431 units of the U.S. national park.
It’s a journey that began in the 1980s.
“We took a camping trip out west with our dogs and went to Nevada and California for a seven-week trip, and we started visiting the national parks when we went to the Redwoods,” said Darryl said.
They started traveling with their pups and a tent trailer in 2004 and that's when the ball really started.
Travels have taken them all over the world WEPuerto Rico and even the Virgin Islands.
(Photo provided by Darryl and Kathleen Toupkin)
(Photo courtesy of Darryl and Kathleen Toupkin)
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“I always say once we looked at a few, and we started doing a few more, we made the mistake of making a list. And I will say never give a list to my husband, because once you have a list, you I have to address everything on the list,” Kathleen said.
Taking the couple over 20 years to complete, you may be wondering: why do this?
It is said to be a great way to explore the country and discover places you might never have considered visiting.
“I have my favorites, but honestly, it's really the next park you go to in my book that's my favorite, because you never know what you're going to run into,” Darryl said.
More than 100,000 miles of driving, flying, even helicopters and tiny seaplanes later, the husband and wife say it's been the adventure of a lifetime that began nearly 37 years ago.
“People think of Yellowstone, Yosemite, forests, woodlands and Acadia, but actually if you look at all the national park units, there are many that are national battlefields, there are wild and scenic rivers, there are national coastlines,” Kathleen said. .
And once and for all, they can check off the to-do list.
