Looking back, the true meaning of travel often doesn’t lie solely in the spectacular landscapes you witness, but in the people by your side and your state of mind at that very moment.

From my first visit to Yosemite in 2014 to returning to Mount Rainier in 2026 with my two-year-old son and my parents-in-law, these past twelve years of visiting US National Parks serve as milestones. They document my journey from a PhD student anxious about the future, to meeting my lifelong partner, to finally settling down in the Pacific Northwest and becoming a father.

Here are some notes from those national park travels.

🏕️ PhD Days: Confusion and Finding My Rhythm (2014-2015)

Summer 2014 | Yosemite National Park This was my first year in the US. Over the July 4th holiday, I went to Yosemite with a group of grad school friends who were interning together in the Bay Area. To be honest, I went because the trip was organized by someone I was hoping to get to know better at the time. As it turned out, it wasn’t meant to be—our personalities and vibes just didn’t click.

It was my very first time visiting a US National Park. Over three days and two nights, we hiked trails, watched the sunset, and saw the waterfalls. The pace consisted mostly of driving all day and occasionally stopping for photos. But I still vividly remember looking up at a sky full of stars outside our hotel that night. I stood there thinking about how this was my first year in America, completely unsure of where my future lay or what my path would be.

Summer 2015 | Crater Lake National Park Another summer, another internship. This time, I caught a ride with two friends—one Greek, one Indian. We drove three hours south of Portland and stumbled upon this dazzling lake hidden deep in the rugged mountains. Some people were brave enough to cliff-jump; I didn’t dare.

This was the second year of my PhD, and I was struggling with whether I should quit. Thankfully, I pushed through. Looking back, one lesson that stuck with me was to find your own rhythm—play when it’s time to play, and intern when it’s time to intern. Every retreat or offsite was a chance to step outside my usual bubble and look at my problems from a new angle. If I hadn’t stepped away, I never would have seen this alpine lake—even though the lake itself is completely enclosed by the mountains.

🚗 Meeting Offline, Merging Lives, and Wild Road Trips (2017-2018)

2017 | Everglades National Park This trip witnessed the transition of my wife and me from an online relationship to meeting in real life. When I returned to China in late 2016, we met a few times in Beijing and Shanghai and officially became a couple. Later, when she came to the US, our first rendezvous was in Florida, right when I was attending an academic conference.

After the conference, we drove all the way south to Key West and back, stopping at the Everglades National Park along the way. Honestly, the park wasn’t exceptionally fun—mostly just looking at alligators. We took an airboat deep into the swamp, but it was through this travel fatigue that we truly got to know each other. We had our disagreements and conflicts, but overall, we felt like a great match with aligned values.

2017 | Grand Canyon National Park Right after returning to Austin from Florida, my wife and I headed straight for the Grand Canyon. The reason was simple: she said there were only two places in the US she desperately wanted to see—the Grand Canyon and Hawaii. Hawaii was too far and too expensive, but the Grand Canyon was a national park I could easily take her to.

We flew a budget airline from Austin to Las Vegas and rented a compact car for a massive road trip. Just as we hit the road, our car’s bumper was smashed by debris flying off a pickup truck in the distance. She was terrified and wanted to turn back immediately, but I insisted we finish the trip. We finally reached a small town near the South Rim that night, rushed in just in time to catch the glowing sunset, and froze in the cold. The next morning, we took the park bus and took in the layered, rift-like canyon landscapes. By 2 or 3 PM, we hit the road again to see Horseshoe Bend, took a photo, and began rushing back to Vegas via the north route. We got delayed and spent the drive dodging semi-trucks in our tiny rental car. We were young and a little reckless; looking back now, it makes me nervous. We finally arrived at our Vegas hotel at 1 or 2 AM, with our flight scheduled for 6 or 7 AM. Ironically, the hotel upgraded us to their top-floor presidential suite, but we had absolutely zero time (or interest) to experience any of the Vegas activities.

September 2018 | Yellowstone National Park This was our honeymoon. My wife flew all the way from China to get married (we got our license at San Francisco City Hall), right as I was moving to California to start a new chapter in my career.

We flew into Salt Lake City and drove nearly six hours to reach our cabin in Yellowstone. She was absolutely freezing the first night and complained that I hadn’t booked a better hotel. We didn’t dare light a charcoal fire inside for fear of carbon monoxide poisoning. We spent that first night just holding each other for warmth, and there wasn’t even a place to shower. I was pretty inexperienced back then and rarely thought through the logistics of a trip. Now that I have a family to look after, I try to plan a bit more carefully.

We drove the massive figure-eight loop around Yellowstone, seeing almost all the major sights. We ate bison burgers, watched Old Faithful erupt, and took in all the natural wonders. We ended up arguing about something silly, but eventually drove up a hill where we suddenly got cell reception. Reconnecting with the outside world instantly lifted our moods, and we made up. For a long time after, we would joke about that exact moment.

🌲 Settling in Seattle: The Pacific Northwest & The Last Frontier (2021-2022)

After settling down in Seattle, we took advantage of our new location to explore the nearby national parks.

On Labor Day 2021, with the pandemic winding down, we went to hike the Skyline Trail at Mount Rainier in September. At first, I was completely out of breath and couldn’t climb—likely due to poor sleep the night before. Once I found my rhythm, I pushed hard and we completed the left loop. Sadly, we were a bit too late in the season to see the hills covered in wildflowers near the waterfalls.

That same year, we did a one-day trip to Olympic National Park. I went with my wife and another colleague who acted as our guide, taking the ferry across the strait to Port Angeles. My biggest regret is that we didn’t make it to Hurricane Ridge. It was an eventful afternoon; we spent part of it driving around looking for Wi-Fi so my colleague could check for an important email. We visited the rainforest (which felt less beautiful than the ones right outside Seattle) and a beach, but it was raining so we stayed in the car. We eventually drove down to Olympia, ate some Korean food, and headed home.

We also squeezed in a quick day trip to North Cascades National Park in 2021, where we saw towering mountains and a lake so calm it looked like emerald glass, dotted with people out boating.

Over Labor Day 2022, we ventured to Denali National Park in Alaska. We flew to Anchorage and drove north to Denali, stayed in a cabin just outside the park, and the next day took the official park bus deep into the wilderness to spot animals. We rode all the way until we reached a broken bridge—the road ahead had completely collapsed, forcing our bus to turn around. We spent a solid 7 to 8 hours just sitting on that bus.

👶 Traveling with a Two-Year-Old (2026)

2026 | Mount Rainier (Returns) Since our son was born, we haven’t really done any proper traveling. This time, my parents-in-law were visiting and wanted to see the sights, so we decided to tackle Mount Rainier again.

Expectation: A breezy one-and-a-half-hour drive. Reality: It took us four solid hours just to reach the Skyline Trailhead.

Because we had a toddler with us, we only managed a 15-minute walk to see the nearest waterfall. Our son recognized the scenery from old photos on his mom’s phone, but he definitely didn’t anticipate being stuck in a car for that long. When it was time to leave, he threw a massive tantrum over something he wanted and couldn’t have, and we still had a three-hour drive ahead of us.

My father-in-law, sitting in the very back of the large car, forgot his seat could recline and ended up with a terrible backache. My mother-in-law happily remarked that the mountain was far more beautiful than Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in China, but by the ride home, even she was complaining about the dizzying, endless driving and the lack of tourist facilities on the mountain.

Despite the complaints, the exhaustion, and the absolute chaos, this day trip was our very first collective outing as a big family in the US. The fact that our two-year-old managed to power through it without too much of a meltdown was entirely beyond our expectations.

Twelve years, nine national parks. From freezing in a car during a night drive, to fumbling through the logistics of traveling with a toddler and grandparents; from the young man full of uncertainties looking up at the Yosemite stars, to the father driving home with nursery rhymes playing in the back seat. The mountains in these parks stay the same, but the person looking at them has quietly moved into a new chapter of life.