This 93-year-old grandmother travelled to all 63 US national parks

A 93-year-old grandmother from the United States is living her life to the fullest. At the age of 93, Grandma Joy has seen all 63 US national parks. Joy went on this epic journey with her grandson, Brad Ryan, who was first inspired to travel with his grandmother in 2015.

By the age of 85, Joy from Ohio had never even seen the ocean or mountains. But now, she has seen every corner of the United States by visiting all 63 national parks in the country. 

Joy told CBS News all the travelling she had done earlier was “to the fishing hole.”  

“Every winter, my husband took me to Okeechobee and we fished. That was about the extent of my wandering,” she said.

A trip that gave the idea of travelling to all US national parks 

It was her grandson Brad who decided to take her to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This trip was memorable for Joy as she saw the mountains for the first time, but it also sparked the idea of travelling to all US national parks. 

“When I learned she had never seen the great wildernesses of America – deserts, mountains, oceans, you name it – I thought that was something that would haunt me if I didn’t intervene in some way,” Brad told CBS News in October 2022. 

“The more I kept reading about the parks and I saw how close they were to one another, that we could make this giant loop, it became an obsession,” Brad said. 

“And all I could think about was, ‘I’ve got to see Grandma Joy at Old Faithful, I’ve got to see her at the Redwoods, I’ve got to see her at the Grand Canyon. I just have to do this; I just have to have those memories for my own long-term happiness. I think we’re two peas in a pod when it comes to just our desire for travel, adventure, connection.'”

The duo started planning road trips, hitting multiple parks each time they went on the road. The duo said that though they had many adventures during their travels some of their best memories happened while travelling in the car. 

“We hit the road together and we start talking about our lives,” Brad said. “And she told me things in her 80s and 90s about her life.

The 63rd and final stop on their epic tour was the National Park of American Samoa. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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