To buy an R.V. and travel around the U.S. for a month or two stopping at as many parks as I could along the way!

Any National Park in Alaska. I would love to see bears, calving glaciers, whales, and all the incredible beautiful scenery! However, Great Smoky Mountains and North Cascades are very high on my list as well.

I'm on it right now. Sketching in 6 national parks in 2 weeks through Utah. Colorado, and Arizoma. Posting along the way via iPhone so friends can travel virtually with me.

I already had a number "dream vacations" in National Parks. Be it three weeks on the Colorado Plateau with all the diversity from hiking down to the Colorado in Grand Canyon and to the more remote spectacular arches in Arches NP to Native American culture from Basketmaker and Anasazi to Navajo and Hopi. Another memorable region was the Rocky Mountains, from the Wasatch Range to Yellowstone, from Glacier to the Canadian parks Banff and Jasper with a multi day hike on the tree line in Jasper. I've seen almost all landscapes of California (and most of Oregon) and spent some time in the Pacific northwest (including the Vancouver/Vancouver island area).

I'd love to explore the prairies, maybe three days on horseback in Badlands or Theodore Roosevelt NP plus canoeing on the Missouri River in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument (BLM, not NPS)? Alternatives are Alaska or the Everglades.

The total opposition to a nature oriented trip would be a vacation to learn about the prehistoric Native American cultures of the eastern US: From Poverty Point NM over the American bottom and Cahokia to "Hopewell land" in Ohio to the Effigy Mounds of Wisconsin and adjacent areas.

Or - just to get away from it all - five to ten days in the backcountry. Maybe in a Wilderness Area in Colorado.

We took our dream national park vacation last year. Starting out from our home in Mt. Pleasant, SC, we drove to Carlsbad, NM for a day in Carlsbad Caverns. A truly out of this world experience. Then on to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. From Santa Fe to Flagstaff, AZ passing through Gallup, NM (the City of Murals) and the Painted Desert. We stayed in Flagstaff for several days using it as a base for trips to Sunset Crater, Canyon de Chelly, Walnut Canyon, Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, Wupatki National Forest, and the Grand Canyon.

From Flagstaff we set off for the California portion of our trip which included visits to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia National Forest, the Monterey Aquarium, cannery row, Big Sur, and Napa Valley. From San Fransisco we made the long drive to Jackson Hole, WY where we spent a week in the Grand Tetons, toured Yellowstone, went white water rafting and enjoyed the abundant wild life up close and personal. Although difficult to move on, we made the drive down to Moab, Utah, a true Mecca for "gear heads". Using Moab for a base we visited Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, and Canyonlands.

By the time we arrived home at the end of our six week journey, we had driven 9,000 miles in our van, shot over 1,500 digital photos and used our "Senior" national park pass to enter 16 national parks--some several times. Ain't good health and retirement great!!

We just returned from our springtime road trip out west. We stayed at the North Rim, Zion, and Bryce. Visited Cedar Breaks, Grand Staircase Escalante, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Arches. We were out 3 weeks and 5500 miles. Great hikes through amazing country. It was a great trip and the scenery was stunning and I would love to do it all over again, but I've got to tell you, we have reservations for a week at Cinnamon Bay campground for January in the Virgin Islands National Park (see above pic) and right now that is my 'dream' vacation. How can you beat having the beach as your front yard and the Carib as your swimming pool? I agree with Will. Ah, life is good.

Frank C, Beamis - c'mon, now!

The invitation is to dream-up your "dream" vacation.

Here's a brief example to set the tone.

Fly to the last airport. Drive to the end of the road. Put in at the furthest river and float for 3 days past the last sign of Man. Pick a nice medium-bank meadow by the river and build a 3-sided shelter. Line a pole bunk with balsam fir boughs.

Put a fish-trap in the river, and lash-up a drying rack. Erect a cache, and dig a cooler/cellar. Take medium game and cure the hides.

Once secure & comfy, begin taking radial outings to find other sojourners. Maybe a village. Mark the far corners of your homestead with rock cairns. Make them artistic/whimsical. Find out where the spring rendevous takes place.

When feeling at-ease and pacing at your natural rythm, but before boredom and nostalgia for the techno-world sets in, activate the Holodeck exit routine. Put on a fresh suit and return to your appointed place in mass-civilization.

See? That's not so hard, is it? We're talking "dream", right?

Well, my advice is, don't dream little. :-)

P.S. No, I didn't overlook the "Park" part. Are today's parks the same as yesteryears'? Are 'living' Parks inconceivable, or even unknown? In the great trans-Europe Park of tomorrow, will whole generations not live & pass in naturalistic lifestyles? Are Europeans that much smarter than we are? Is Nunavut a Province, or a Park?

My dream trip would be to repeat the bicycle trip I did a few years ago across southern Utah taking in Cedar Breaks, Zion, Bryce, Escalante, and Capitol Reef. It would be nice to extend the route to include Arches, Moab and, possibly, Lake Mead. Love that red rock country.