PORT ANGELES — Cole and Elizabeth Donelson were in a rut.
It was early 2014 and the couple from the Kansas City area had careers — Cole in health care information technology and Elizabeth teaching sixth-graders — but they wanted more out of life.
What if they quit their jobs and set aside an entire year to visit all 59 national parks?
The couple — both 26 — made what might seem a pipe dream to many a reality.
“We kind of came up with the idea back in spring 2014, and it was just something that got us excited — until we started looking at logistics,” Cole said Saturday morning while they visited the Port Angeles Visitors Center.
“We didn’t know there were parks in Alaska and American Samoa and fifty other places,” he said.
The daunting challenge was to come up with at least $20,000 in hand to make the journey a reality, they said.
“It adds up,” Elizabeth said.
But they were determined to make it happen.
“At one point, we had to decide — are we going to do it or not?” Cole said.
“Once we realized that this is a dream that isn’t going away and we don’t want to have any regrets, we made it a goal that we were going to make happen no matter what.
“That meant saving really aggressively, living well beneath our means for a short period [and] taking extra jobs.”
In addition to their full-time jobs, Cole became a driver for Uber while Elizabeth began selling handmade crafts online at etsy.com.
Within a year, they were ready.
“It was save and save and save, and earn more to try to get to that point,” Elizabeth said.
“We do consider ourselves fully self-funded. We did save it all ourselves.”
The couple said that Garmin and L.L. Bean provided them with much-needed gear for their globe-trotting trek.
On Aug. 18, 2015, the couple set out on their epic journey, first visiting the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas and then heading on to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in southern Colorado — the first of 59 national parks on their list.
To date, they said they have visited 42 national parks and about 50 other federally recognized sites, monuments and recreation areas.
NPS Centennial
It is serendipity, the couple said, that they are traveling to all of the National Parks in the year leading up to the centennial of the National Park Service, which turns 100 on Aug. 25, 2016.
“It was such a coincidence,” Elizabeth said.
“It was perfect. It was meant to be.”
Added Cole: “It was a big sign this was something that we need[ed] to do.”
Living out of their car
As with many Millenials their age, the Donelsons said they value life experiences over stationery lifestyles focused on having one permanent career, a home and two cars in the garage.
Most of their worldly possessions are in storage in Washington, Mo., they said.
“The longer we have been gone, the more . . . we want to keep downsizing,” Elizabeth said, “even though we are living out of a car right now.
“We think about how we want our life to be when we get back and we want to keep focusing on experiences and adventure and less on possessions.”
They have found they don’t need much.
“Maybe a third or half the stuff [they brought with them] we barely ever use,” Cole said.
Added Elizabeth: “You really don’t need a lot to get by.”
Olympic National Park
The couple were spending about six days exploring Olympic National Park, they said, adding that all other parks except Yosemite only got four days.
“Our first day, we went up to Hurricane Ridge and that view from the visitors center is unbelievable,” Cole said.
The “cool thing about Olympic National Park is that it is probably the most diverse park we have been to,” Elizabeth added.
“You have mountains, and rainforest and coast and waterfalls and amazing views and trails. There is so much to do and we know we’ve only gotten a sliver.”
Among other adventures, the couple plans on touring the Hoh Rainforest in Jefferson County and camping on the coast this week, they said.
End in sight
The couple is close to the finish line, and has saved Alaska for last.
In late July, they plan is to begin a tour of Denali National Park and Preserve.
They expect to finish their expedition Aug. 1 and return home to Missouri.
Cole will begin his first day of class at Washington University in St. Louis on Aug. 3.
“The end is in sight,” Elizabeth said. “It is kind of crazy.”
The near completion of the trip brings with it “mixed emotions,” Cole said, “because living this year of travel has been a super challenge for both of us.
“You realize all those little comforts that you miss. But then [there is] the freedom.”
When they get back, they are “going to make it a huge priority to design our life around experiences and travel and seeing new things,” Elizabeth said.
That includes eventually traveling abroad, the couple said.
The adventure willhave a lifelong effect, Elizabeth said.
“It really is making us realize what our priorities are,” she said.
For more information about their adventure, visit www.switchbackkids.com.
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Reporter Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
