We were there last Oct, just at the peak of leaf color season. The traffic through Acadia was so bad that we had to keep going around as the road up to the top was so backed up with traffic, they closed it and then would open it back up for limited traffic for limited times. We had been up to the top the day before and were fogged in while we listened to the park ranger give his speech. He kept saying, "If you could see that would be..." . The wind was so bad, it nearly blew us over and it was like 20 degrees colder than just a short distance down the mountain. We went back the next day and it was gorgeous but lots more traffic!

Arches is one of my favorite places. We had toured it 25 years ago and we saw it again last year. In the interim, one of the major arches had fallen; I believe it was "Landscape" arch. I tried to hike back to "Delicate Arch" but could not make it without possible getting into difficulty. The sign said 2 miles, but I think it was more. The altitude, heat, and steep inclines became too much since I was out-of-shape. I turned back before I passed my point of no-return. I really did want to photograph it - maybe some day. I'll keep it on my bucket list.

Jinx - I'm so glad you mentioned Enchanted Rock! I have not thought of that places in ages, and have never actually BEEN, but it used to be on my "go there" list back when I was frequenting a climbing gym. That was so much fun, and the group I was training with was going to be making a field trip to Enchanted Rock to practice bouldering skills, but I wasn't able to be a part of that. These days, I wouldn't feel confident enough to do any climbing (or bouldering, really), but I'd still like to go there to hike. It looks like there are a lot of other hiking opportunities to be found in the Hill Country too. The Twig looks absolutely amazing! Wow, I would love to stay there! (Isn't that chandelier wonderful!) I mentioned Enchanted Rock to DH, in case he wanted to consider something a bit closer to home than Big Bend, but I think he's still pretty sold on trying to go to BB later next year. The Nuevo Terlingua casitas are stellar! If we go, we will likely choose a different accommodation than previously considered (so, not the adobe I shared earlier in this thread), having found a simple little 2-bedroom trailer very near the park entrance that would suit us well. We are staying in southern Colorado this summer, and I ALMOST thought we should just cancel that trip and go to BB instead, but then I went back to looking at photos and videos of the area where we'll be, and I absolutely have to go here again. Spent a lot of time in this area in my younger years, and really want to share it with DH. Weminuche Wilderness:

Definitely go. That's a long drive, but if you take the time to make some stops along the way, you can make a really terrific vacay out of it. I haven't been in a long long time, but it's not crazy busy like some of the other national parks. What makes it stunning is the number of environments you see in such a compact area... woods full of fir trees, granite topped mountains, Maine's rocky coastline, lakes, ponds, bays, sand beach...and of course even the McDonald's sell lobster rolls. (Of course what always cracked me up was, when we were in Maine, we saw signs in restaurants that said "fresh pacific salmon" and signs in Seattle that said "fresh maine lobster". Go figure!) I'm sure you'll get lots of input on things to see and do along the way if you let us know where you might want to stop and for how long. EG, you can stop in the Brandywine River Valley area, that's one of my favorite places to visit...Longwood Gardens, Winterthur, Hagley Museum, Brandywine River Museum, Nemours mansion. You can stop in Boston of course too...