At 93, Grandma Joy has finally visited every U.S. National Park. Thank her grandson

Emily DeLetter, Cincinnati Enquirer
·2 min read
8

It took seven years, with a pandemic thrown in the mix, but Brad Ryan and his grandmother, Joy Ryan, finally accomplished their goal of visiting all 63 national parks in the United States.

Brad Ryan, who graduated from Ohio State University's veterinary school in 2016, began traveling with his then 85-year-old grandmother in 2015, first visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The travel bug caught on, and the pair made it their goal to visit every single national park.

Both grandmother and grandson are from Duncan Falls, Ohio, a small town south of Zanesville in Muskingum County.

Grandma Joy's road trip: He didn't want to be a statistic. So he set off on a road trip with Grandma Joy

He created an Instagram account called “Grandma Joy’s Road Trip” to document their travels, which has gathered over 78,000 followers and international media attention.

And last week, their goal became a reality with a final trip to the National Park of American Samoa. Brad Ryan wrote that Joy Ryan, now 93, set the record for the oldest living person to visit every U.S. National Park.

"We defied erroneous assumptions about the limitations of aging," Brad Ryan wrote on Instagram. "We defied financial and logistical constraints. We even defied a pandemic. And you might have noticed that I accidentally made Grandma Joy the superstar I always knew her to be."

The pair may have met their goal, but they aren't stopping. They have plans for other trips, including one to Kenya.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Grandma Joy’s Road Trip (@grandmajoysroadtrip)

In a "Good Morning America" video, Joy Ryan said her travels with her grandson have been "a grand adventure."

"Just knowing that she had never seen deserts and mountains and the ocean and these incredible, wild places on Earth, it just felt like a responsibility I had to her to make sure she had some memories to tuck away in her life story as well," Brad Ryan told "Good Morning America."

Brad Ryan and his grandmother Joy Ryan have been traveling the country together, documenting their adventures on Instagram. The pair recently completed their goal of visiting all 63 national parks in the United States.
Brad Ryan and his grandmother Joy Ryan have been traveling the country together, documenting their adventures on Instagram. The pair recently completed their goal of visiting all 63 national parks in the United States.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio's 93-year-old Grandma Joy visited every U.S. National Park