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Grandmother-grandson duo taking on road trip to US national parks

Brad Ryan and "Grandma Joy" are on a mission to visit all 61 U.S. national parks.
(Photo: Instagram: Acadia National Park)

BAR HARBOR, Maine — When Brad Ryan's 85-year-old grandmother told him she had never seen a mountain or the ocean, he set out to change that.

Now — 25,000 miles later — the 89-year-old has seen nearly half the U.S. national parks thanks to a road trip the two set out on more than three years ago.

"Grandma Joy" and Ryan have visited 29 of the 61 national parks, making their latest stop in Maine at Acadia National Park.

News Center Maine highlighted the duo's stop in the state's only national state park and shared their story on Instagram:

Brad Ryan, of Duncan Falls, Ohio, shares photos from a visit to Acadia with his Grandma Joy Ryan on June 6-7. "My Grandma Joy was 85-years-old when I took her on a road trip to her first US national park. She told me she had never seen a mountain or the ocean, so I committed to a mission to show her the very best of America. In the past 3.5 years, we have driven 25,000 miles through 38 states. Most recently we traveled to Acadia National Park, the 29th US National Park on #GrandmaJoysRoadTrip. Grandma Joy is 89 now, but she intends to stick around long enough to check all 61 US National Parks off her list." (Photo courtesy of Brad Ryan @doctorhellbender Used with permission.) More @ http://go.nps.gov/YourAcadiaNPS

A post shared by Acadia National Park (@acadianps) on


The duo has already marked off some well-known national parks off their list, such as the Great Smoky Mountains, the Everglades, Yellowstone, the Grand Teton, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon.

Follow their journey through their Facebook page or by searching the hashtag: #GrandmaJoysRoadTrip.

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