A List of our Favorite Places in 2022

Every year we try to determine a list of our favorite places and experiences. This is our eighth year of making our list and checking it twice. We are so blessed to get to hike, bike, and kayak around this beautiful country! Instead of trying to put them in order of preference, this year they are just in the order that we experienced them. This long list is proof that there are plenty of God's wonders left to explore. We enjoyed everything on these lists, and would do all of them again!

Favorite Experiences
Visiting Spacex and Boca Chica Beach in South Texas
Shopping for fresh produce and bakery goods in Amish Country
Taking tours on the Bourbon Trail near Bardstown, Kentucky

Touring state capitols in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire Vermont, and Indiana
Visiting National and State Historic Sites all over New England
Seeing the wild ponies on Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland

Meeting some of the most generous hosts through Boondockers Welcome
Boating down the Hudson River to find River Lighthouses in New York

Visiting university campuses like Princeton and Yale
Clamming in Cape Cod and helping our host cook a clam dinner in Massachusetts
Boating to pristine Crane Beach with hosts near Essex, Massachusetts

Watching the whales from our Cape Ann Whale Watch Tour in Massachusetts

Visiting 37 beaches, finding 52 lighthouses, and walking through 32 covered bridges

Hiking all day on Monhegan Island, Maine

Exploring the Roosevelt's Campobello Island, Canada

Taste testing the local produce like wild blueberries in Maine, and Apples in Vermont and New York

Walking where the athletes walked at the Olympic venues in Lake Placid, New York

Spending the day at the free sites in St. Louis, Missouri

Favorite Hikes

Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center Nature Trail - Port Aransas, Texas

Cave-in-the-Rock and Garden of the Gods - Southern Illinois

Mammoth Cave National Park Loop Trail - Cave City, Kentucky

Double Arch Trail - Red River Gorge, Kentucky

Natural Bridge Trail - Natural Bridge State Park, Kentucky

Endless Wall Trail - New River Gorge National Park, West Virginia

Humpback Rocks/Appalachian Trail Loop - Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

Doyles River Falls Trail - Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Mount Tammany - Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, New Jersey

Cliff Walk - Newport, Rhode Island

Shore Walk - Beavertail State Park, Rhode Island

Coolidge Point Trustee Land - Essex, Massachusetts

Cliff Walk - Monhegan Island, Maine

Bee Hive Trail - Acadia National Park, Maine

Shoreline Trail - Great Wass Island Preserve, Maine

Head Harbor Light Trail - Campobello Island, Canada

Mount Coe Hike - Baxter State Park, Maine

Mount Kineo Trail - Moosehead Lake, Maine

Borestone Mountain - Maine Audubon Sanctuary

Cascade Stream Gorge - Rangeley Lakes, Maine

Step Falls - Sunday River, Maine

Table Rock Hike - Grafton Notch State Park, Maine

Square ledge Trail - Pinkerton Notch, New Hampshire

Sterling Pond - Smuggler's Notch, Vermont

Panther Mountain - Adirondack Park, New York

Gorge Trail - Buttermilk State Park, New York

Ledges Trail - Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio

Favorite Kayak Trips

75 Acre Lake - Choke Canyon State Park, Texas

Eleven Point Wild and Scenic National River - Greer, Missouri

Jackson River - Covington, Virginia

Orange Kayak Trail - Blackwater National Refuge, Maryland

Trap Pond - Trap Pond State Park, Delaware

Mystic River and Harbor - Mystic, Connecticut

Tidal River --  Scarborough Audubon, Maine

Echo Pond - Acadia National Park, Maine

Daicey Pond - Baxter State Park, Maine

Lake Onawa - Maine Audubon Sanctuary

Grafton Pond - New Hampshire

Arrowhead Mountain Lake - Vermont

Bog River at Lows Lower Dam - Adirondack Park, New York

Strickland Boat Launch - Shelbyville Lake, Illinois

Favorite Bike Rides

Thompson Wildlife Loop - Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

Legacy Trail - Lexington, Kentucky

Woodland Trail/Wildlife Loop - Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia

Gordon's Pond Trail - Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware

Barnegat Branch Trail - Barnegat, New Jersey

Walkway Over the Hudson - Ulster Park, New York

Airline Trail - East Hampton, Connecticut

Block Island Loop - Rhode Island

Carriage Roads - Acadia National Park, Maine

Penobscot River Trail - Maine

Cotton Valley Rail Trail - Wolfeboro, New Hampshire

Colchester Bike/Hike Trail - Burlington, Vermont

Stowe Bike/Hike Trail - Stowe, Vermont

Heart of Ohio Trail - Mount Vernon, Ohio

Jones National Heritage Trail - Terra Haute, Indiana

Seven Loops Trail - Edwardsville, Illinois