Ohio grandmother on a mission to visit every National Park

(CNN) – An Ohio grandmother is on a mission to visit every National Park in the U.S.

89-year-old Joy Ryan wants to see all 61 parks before she turns 90. She has 30 more to go. Joy’s grandson Brad, who came up with the idea, is joining her on the mission.

When Brad told her about a trip he took hiking the Appalachian Trail, Joy says she regretted having never done anything like that. All her kids are grown and her husband passed away 20 years ago – and she had never seen a mountain.

So in 2015, Brad took her to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and they have been traveling together ever since. They even managed to visit 21 National Parks in 28 days.

Brad says his grandmother knows she’s seeing theses amazing sites for the first and last time. He says watching her take it all in has changed the way he lives.