Mountain Lakes, NJ · Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Liam
Chavez

Collecting national parks, great films, and places worth going back to.

35
Parks visited
24
Years old
NYC
Metro area
01 · About

The short version

Hometown Mountain Lakes, NJ
Education Duke University
Current role AE · Rilla Voice
Diet Mediterranean, whole foods
02 · Travel

Places I've been

A running record of cities and regions worth mentioning. Gold tags are ones I'd go back to without hesitation.

California & Southwest
Los Angeles San Francisco Newport Beach Channel Islands Joshua Tree Death Valley Zion Las Vegas Sequoia Kings Canyon Yosemite Lake Tahoe
New York & Northeast
New York City Brooklyn The Hamptons Long Branch NJ Boston Cambridge Acadia
Southeast & South
Orlando Tampa Miami Hollywood Beach FL Nashville Great Smoky Mountains Durham NC New Orleans Big Bend TX White Sands NM
Midwest & Plains
Chicago Cincinnati Badlands SD Theodore Roosevelt ND Wind Cave SD Isle Royale MI Voyageurs MN Gateway Arch MO
Alaska
Denali Kenai Fjords Gates of the Arctic Glacier Bay Katmai
Next up
Morocco Portugal Colombia Japan Argentina / Patagonia USVI
03 · Films

The bucket list

Movies I've been meaning to watch or have already watched and would recommend. Working through it chronologically.

The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan · 2008
Seen
The Dark Knight Rises
Christopher Nolan · 2012
Seen
JFK
Oliver Stone · 1991
Seen
Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese · 1990
On the list
The Godfather
Francis Ford Coppola · 1972
On the list
Schindler's List
Steven Spielberg · 1993
On the list
Interstellar
Christopher Nolan · 2014
Seen
Inception
Christopher Nolan · 2010
Seen
Catch Me If You Can
Steven Spielberg · 2002
On the list
The Wolf of Wall Street
Martin Scorsese · 2013
Seen
No Country for Old Men
Coen Brothers · 2007
On the list
There Will Be Blood
Paul Thomas Anderson · 2007
On the list
04 · National Parks

All 63

Working through all 63 US national parks. The plan is to finish by 2030 — the ones left are mostly in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

35 / 63
55% complete
Acadia
Biscayne
Congaree
Dry Tortugas
Everglades
Great Smoky Mtns
Hot Springs
Mammoth Cave
New River Gorge
Shenandoah
Cuyahoga Valley
Gateway Arch
Indiana Dunes
Isle Royale
Voyageurs
Big Bend
Carlsbad Caverns
Guadalupe Mtns
White Sands
Badlands
Theodore Roosevelt
Wind Cave
Zion
Channel Islands
Death Valley
Joshua Tree
Kings Canyon
Lassen Volcanic
Petrified Forest
Pinnacles
Redwood
Saguaro
Sequoia
Yosemite
Denali
Arches
Black Canyon
Bryce Canyon
Canyonlands
Capitol Reef
Glacier
Grand Canyon
Grand Teton
Great Sand Dunes
Mesa Verde
Rocky Mountain
Yellowstone
Crater Lake
Gates of the Arctic
Glacier Bay
Katmai
Kenai Fjords
Kobuk Valley
Lake Clark
Mt Rainier
North Cascades
Olympic
Virgin Islands
Wrangell-St Elias
Great Basin
Haleakalā
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes
American Samoa
05 · Journal

Notes from the road

A place to write. Not a blog — more like a log. Adding entries as things happen worth remembering.

September 2026
California & Nevada — 11 days, 5 national parks
Newport Beach as a base, the Channel Islands by ferry, Death Valley in September heat, Sequoia and Kings Canyon back to back, Yosemite at the end before a 6am flight home from Anaheim. The drive through Tioga Pass at dusk was the best hour of the whole trip.
Coming soon
More entries to come
This section will grow as I add it. The goal is at least one page written per month — places, thoughts, and things worth documenting before they blur together.