A Michigan Couple Finishes Dream to See Every National Park

Teresa and Larry Graetz of Michigan just made pretty cool dream a reality.

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The couple, from Jackson, Michigan, wanted to visit every National Park the country had to offer. It may not sound like a big list to conquer until you realize there are 63 National Parks spread out across America.

The couple started checking parks off their list back in 2013, but they were forced to take a year off in 2020 due to COVID-19. Finally, on June 14 of 2021 they completed the task and the dream became a reality.

Teresa, 68, and Larry, 69 ,did most of journey traveling in a RV. One of their first trips was to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The whole idea for the venture came from a little trip the couple took to Las Vegas that included a stopped to the Grand Canyon. After that they seemed to be hooked on taking in the full park experience.

“We were both still working at the time and we said, ‘Well, maybe when we retire,’” Teresa told Mlive. “My husband retired in 2013 and we said, ‘Let’s get serious about this.’”

So after 8 years of creating memories, the couple can relish in the fact they've created some incredible memories and completed one amazing bucket list and Larry is pretty proud of that.

“We just both thought it was an amazing journey through this beautiful country we live in,” Larry commented to Mlive. “Right now, we’re just relishing that we accomplished it.”

Now the big question is...what's next?

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.