Hiking Sunrise to Sunset Point with nine people spanning seventy years — a first day in Bryce Canyon’s hoodoos that became a lesson in family logistics.

Zion top to bottom in a single day with five kids — the steep Canyon Overlook climb, icy river wading, chatty chipmunks, and bighorn sheep on the way out.

A one-mile hike to wind-carved sandstone caves near Kanab that went sideways — twisted ankles, a hospital trip, and the strangers who helped, with five kids.

Our fourth snowy park in a row — Capitol Reef pelted with Dippin’-Dots hail, the historic orchards, and peach pie a la mode in the desert, with five kids.

Canyonlands’ four districts in two days with five kids — Newspaper Rock’s ancient petroglyphs, the Needles, and Island in the Sky, and zero children lost.

Arches with five kids on the first day of timed entry — the steep, windblown climb to Delicate Arch, 60-mph gusts on the ledge, and hail before day’s end.

Mesa Verde with five kids at 8,000 feet — snow-dusted mesas, hundreds of ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, and a scale that dwarfs the canyons before it.

The only place in America where four states meet — the classic one-body-four-states photo at Four Corners, and why $40 for twenty minutes still felt worth it.

Sedona’s red rocks with five kids — a black-diamond slickrock trail we nearly talked ourselves out of, the valley views, and the crystal shops we skipped.

Entering the Grand Canyon by the quiet Desert View gate with five kids — wide-open rim views and no buses, a slow start before the crowds at the South Rim.

Crossing the salt flats of Badwater Basin — 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in North America — under a shimmering sky in Death Valley with five kids.

Joshua Tree with five kids — Skull Rock, Arch Rock, the 49 Palms Oasis, and an absurd number of Starbursts as the Sonoran desert gives way to the Mojave.

Towering saguaros standing sentinel around Tucson — the Desert Discovery Trail and a Junior Ranger scavenger hunt at Saguaro National Park with all five kids.

Blinding white gypsum dunes that squeak underfoot — sledding the hills at White Sands with five kids, plus the desert wildlife facts that unsettled them.

An elevator that sinks 75 stories into the earth — Carlsbad Caverns, once a 250-million-year-old reef, and its vast decorated chambers, explored with five kids.

Even the ‘small towns’ of the Texas Hill Country have grown up — exploring Dripping Springs and Wimberley with five kids, where the growth has already arrived.

Niagara Falls in winter — wind chills near -10F, mist that froze on our eyelashes, and 3,000 tons of water a second thundering over the edge, with five kids.

Mammoth Cave with five kids — which tour suits young children, how cold it gets, and what 400 miles of passage feels like.

Swimming with wild manatees in Crystal River, Florida — the warm winter springs that draw them, the rules for sharing the water, and which ages it really suits.