A road trip of roughly 2,500 miles led me to four intriguing units of the National Park System that, while not at the top of everyone's go-to list, revealed both rich and troubling chapters of American history that likely would have faded into irrelevance without the parks that interpret their stories.

The two of us have enjoyed a half century of travel, much of it devoted to visiting America’s national parks. The initial three decades involved travel in a series of four Volkswagen campers, a vehicle we loved, but that disappeared in 2004 from VW dealers in the United States. If only the company would export its California van to the U.S. More recently we tented and stayed in national park lodges. The many national park visits offered some wonderful surprises including these ten that we seem to remember best.

A much-needed rehabilitation of the Scotts Bluff National Monument visitor center is scheduled to get underway in January and run for about nine months. During that time period, a trailer will be set up to handle visitor service and retail operations. The park will not close during the construction and all visitor services will be available to the public.