On our trip in 2018, we visited Mesa Verde NP, Hovenweep NM in extreme SW Colorado. Then headed up to Capital Reef NP in Utah. As a change of pace, we spent 3 days in Salt Lake City. Needed a little down time, visit the laundry mat, plus visit Temple Square and Antelope Island State Park which is in the Great Salt Lake.
From there we went up to Craters of the Moon National Monument in Arco, ID. From there we went to Grand Teton NP, then up to Yellowstone, Cody, Wyoming, Little Big Horn National Battlefield, then Devil's Tower while headed to Custer State Park in South Dakota.
From Custer State Park, we visited Deadwood, took Iron Mountain Road to Mt Rushmore, and Needles Highway from Rushmore back to Custer. Stopped by Crazy Horse Memorial too.
From Custer State Park, we headed west and stopped at Wall Drug for an hour or two, before continuing to Badlands National Park. Drove through Badlands NP until it dumped us back I-90 where we meandered to Michigan to visit our daughter, and then back to Virginia.
I think of all the NP's we visited, Grand Tetons NP was by far my most favorite. I also found Craters of the Moon to be very interesting. Lot of volcanic craters of course, but lots of different rock formations which were, of course, of volcanic origin which made this park very different from most of the other parks. From a historical perspective, Little Big Horn was quite interesting.
