I have to start out by saying I never thought I would write so much for each post! I originally thought I would pretty much copy what Larry was posting on Facebook and leave it at that. But I realized right away that that wasn’t my voice. And I had things to say! And if people were looking at both, that would be boring. Also once I started writing it wasn’t too hard and I found it kind of fun. :). Now I am looking into printing it, what a nice book to keep!

As I mentioned we kept track of a lot of things on the trip, here are some of the results!

Number of days: 170
Number of different overnight locations: 88
Total miles driven: 23,049
Average miles per driving day: 181
Most miles, one day: 494 (Montgomery to Tampa)
Average MPG: 33.1
Most expensive gas: $6.92US per gallon in Canada
Budgeted gas: $3.50 per gallon 🤣
Westernmost point: Ka’ena Point, Oahu
Southernmost point: Diamond Head Rd., Oahu
Easternmost point: Northport, Maine
Northernmost point: Livengood, Alaska
Time zones: 5
Saved photos: 7,879
Photos taken: approx. 30,000+ 😳

Mileage by state or province:

1 Alaska 2,426
2 California 1,765
3 Arizona 1,456
4 Florida 1,180
5 Yukon 1,076
6 British Columbia 1,038
7 Idaho 939
8 New Mexico 851
9 Texas 731
10 Wyoming 685
11 New York 655
12 Kansas 641
13 North Dakota 620
14 Ohio 619
15 Alberta 596
16 Alabama 481
17 Utah 447
18 Minnesota 413
19 Colorado 403
20 Montana 357
21 Nebraska 334
22 Maine 327
23 Hawaii 324
24 Arkansas 324
25 Virginia 318
26 South Dakota 303
27 Nevada 302
28 Vermont 292
29 South Carolina 284
30 Pennsylvania 284
31 Illinois 272
32 Iowa 255
33 North Carolina 212
34 Oregon 173
35 Indiana 171
36 Maryland 161
37 Tennessee 157
38 Mississippi 127
39 Connecticut 123
40 Washington 118
41 Georgia 112
42 New Hampshire 110
43 Michigan 109
44 Massachusetts 105
45 Oklahoma 73
46 Louisiana 64
47 New Jersey 59
48 Wisconsin 54
49 West Virginia 29
50 Delaware 25
51 Rhode Island 22
52 Kentucky 18
53 Missouri 13
54 District of Columbia 12
55 Ontario 4

Total 23,049
Average per state 419
Median 292

One last stat … Covid cases: 1, Me! After going to many hotels and restaurants and places people coughed and didn’t wear masks, and talked loudly on their cell phones about how they had just had Covid… we sailed through and all was good. Until the last day. I was the one who got it. I am recovering at home with a lingering cough, but all is well. Amazing we got all the way through the whole vacation with just 1 illness.

I can’t say enough how fun this trip was. To have the time to do it with Larry is a memory I will treasure. Also, thanks for reading my blog, and giving me encouragement along the way to continue it.

The pictures for this post were just random ones I picked out that I liked. Some I’ve posted before, but there also some new ones.

We offloaded from the Alaska Ferry Matanuska in Bellingham and started towards Seattle, and eventually another ferry. We are feeling good. We did it! We went to all 50 states in our MINI. So many memories, so many stories to retell to each other. So many times we were asked about our Hawaii license plates, so many people we met and told our story to, and so many stories we heard from them.

This trip has been amazing and was all that we could have hoped for. What a great way to celebrate Larry’s retirement!

I am grateful for so many things. First of all, Larry’s planning and booking. Every place we went to, even small towns in the middle of nowhere, were expecting us. For our trip to go as smoothly as it did, I give him full credit. From ordering the car in time for us to pick up in Hawaii, to booking our stateroom and ferry passage back to Bellingham. I am grateful that Cameron and Maddie were able to meet us in Hawaii, and Carly and Sam were able to meet us in Louisville. We were able to meet Melanie and Donna while in Hawaii, and Bill and Jean joined us on the Lake Louise and Banff portion of the trip. Dave, Jeff and Bev were able to hang out in Southern California with us, and Matt and Dylan joined us for a Rockies game in Denver. Catherine and Wayne joined us for dinner in Sedona, Tom, Helen and Laura showed us around Trenton and we had a great visit with Kim and Jim in Arizona. We were able to spend a few days with John, Jeanene and family while in Kansas, and meet up with Bonni and Irv while in Alaska! A big thank you to Paul, Deb, Mike, Denise, Bill, Jean, Kirk, and Jamie, for letting us stay with you, cooking meals for us, and letting us do laundry!! Another big thank you to Carly and Sam for housesitting for us, it was so nice to not worry about the house! Meeting up with family and friends along the way made our trip that much more special.

We have kept track of many things while on the trip. If you’re into stats at all, or at least want to know how many miles we went in each state, make sure you come back for my final post, because this isn’t it! 😊

We have been excited to do this second to last leg of our journey. But it’s a bag of mixed emotions. This ferry ride has been absolutely beautiful! We have a nice stateroom, and it’s been a chance to just relax and enjoy the scenery. But it also means our trip is almost over. It’s not like we are sorry to come home – we are excited to see all of our friends and family again! But this trip has been in the planning and talking stages for so long – years – that it feels a little sad to see it come to an end. But more on that later!

For now here are some scenes from our drive from Fairbanks to Haines where our ferry was waiting for us!

As I write this we are still on the ferry. We disembark Wednesday morning the 29th in Bellingham. Like I said, this was our second to last leg … we still need to reach Washington, state 50, with the MINI and to drive home! Stay tuned for a couple of final posts.

Before COVID, the ferry from Alaska back to Bellingham was running every week. But now it has been cut back significantly. We either had to go straight to Alaska and get right on the ferry to come home, or wait around in Alaska for 2 weeks, and then take the ferry home. It was a pretty easy decision that we did not want to rush the end of our trip. So we have been spending more time in Alaska than anywhere else (except Hawaii) and it’s been fun having time to explore different areas.

We left Seward and drove to Denali National Park and Preserve. We stayed in a cute creekside cabin about 10 miles south of the park. What a beautiful location! We felt like we were camping, except we had a real bed. And indoor plumbing. Oh, and a restaurant to eat in. OK, not camping, but definitely some fresh air! Unfortunately, we never did see the summit of Denali. The top was always shrouded in clouds. We read that the top can only be seen about 30% of the time. That made us feel slightly better, that most people had the same experience. We did a little hiking, and a lot of viewing!

Next was Fairbanks! Back when we talked about spending two weeks in Alaska, Larry said it would be fun to spend the solstice in Fairbanks, and then we both thought – and the Midnight Sun baseball game! This game is something Larry has wanted to do since he was a kid, and when he told me about it years ago, I thought it sounded fun too! It would be interesting to have daylight for 24 hours, and we were able to secure tickets for the game. The game started at 10:00 pm and ended about 1:40 am, all played without lights. We also went to a dog mushing kennel and learned about the Huskies that are bred to race, and to a few more museums. We even drove a bit farther north just because we could. 🙂

Our next stop in Alaska after Skagway was Valdez. The first thought that came to my mind was the Exxon spill of 1989. Fortunately there’s a lot more to Valdez than that! The setting is stunning, on the water, with craggy glacier covered mountains surrounding it.

We went to the Valdez Museum and learned more about the tragic oil spill, but what I learned the most about was the earthquake on March 27, 1964. This earthquake measured 8.4 – 8.6 on the Richter Scale, which is the largest ever recorded in North America, and if that wasn’t enough, it lasted 5 minutes! 5 minutes! It devastated the town. The entire town was condemned and moved to a better geologic and geographic location, 4 miles away. We drove to the original town site where there are signs identifying where the businesses originally stood.

After a quick overnight in Anchorage for our second oil change, we were on our way to Homer! Homer, again, is right on the water with big craggy glacier covered mountains on full display. We stayed at a funky hotel right on the beach, which meant we could easily take some walks on the beach. We also went to Anchor Point, the westernmost point you can drive to in North America. Pretty cool, and amazing to see how much land is west of this point in Alaska, but there are no roads. Crazy!

Next, as you probably guessed was Seward. It was very fun and interesting to visit these 3 cities, all waterfront towns with incredible close beautiful mountains! Each city had a different vibe, but not better or worse. Picking out a favorite would be difficult since they each had different neat things about it. We went on a 6-hour cruise to Holgate Glacier and saw beautiful waterfalls and lots of amazing marine life along the way. Puffins, orcas, humpback whales and porpoises to name a few.

But wait, there’s more! I will be adding more as we explore Alaska further.

As I mentioned in my previous post, while we were in Whitehorse, Yukon, we went on a day trip to Skagway, Alaska! Larry has talked about going to Skagway on the train forever. And after showing me pictures of what he was talking about, I was all in too!

Before Covid, there was a train route to take from Carcross, Yukon to Skagway and back. But with the international border and Covid restrictions they have changed it to a round trip from Skagway, staying in the US and not crossing the border. So we needed to drive to Skagway to go on our scenic train ride, the White Pass and Yukon railway.

Skagway is about a 2 hour drive from our place near Whitehorse. Bonni and Irv wanted to join us as well, so we all met in our car and got moving on a road trip! We arrived in Skagway around 11:00, plenty of time to grab some lunch before our train was scheduled to leave at 1:00.

As we boarded the train Larry and Irv were able to secure front row seats in the first car! Leg room was great, and that’s where the complementary water was located as well. 🙂

We had amazing views the whole way up to the top of White Pass and back down. The highway we took driving to Skagway is on a similar route, but the views were different on the train. Both were amazing!

After returning to Skagway on the train we did a little shopping and found a restaurant for dinner. We did need to make sure we were back up to the Canadian border by 8:00 pm since they close at that time.

We had a fun ride back to Whitehorse looking for wildlife, visiting and reliving our day on the train and in town.

We aren’t done with Alaska or the Alaska Highway though! So watch for more content!

We left Bonni and Irv’s Airstream after breakfast and started out to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. It was another day on the Alaska Highway and we were ready with our milepost book open.

The place we stayed was outside of Whitehorse about 20 kilometers. It was a cute cabin, in a cluster of log cabins that were built and marketed for watching the northern lights. But they are open all year long and we enjoyed the beautiful grounds and the nice included breakfast … while talking to the owners about what it’s like during the winter and thinking about possibly going back to see the northern lights in some future winter. While we were there, the sun would set around 11:30 pm and rise again at 4:30 am. It would be fun to return in the winter and experience the mostly darkness all day.

We also planned to meet up with Bonni and Irv again! The four of us (and Stewie) walked around Whitehorse, going to the MacBride Museum of Yukon History and the Yukon Transportation Museum. We also went to S.S. Klondike National Historic Site and learned about how the S.S. Klondike played a key role in moving people and freight up and down the Yukon River before there were roads.

While we were in Whitehorse we paid a visit to the train depot – not to board a train, but to find out about the scenic train that runs in Skagway, Alaska. The 4 of us were able to buy tickets for the train for the next day. Larry and Irv had always wanted to visit Skagway and check out the scenic train. We took a day trip to Skagway from Whitehorse … but that’s in Alaska, so I’ll get into that on my next post! 🙂

Leaving Dawson Creek, Alberta, we were excited! We were actually finally on the Alcan Highway that we had planned and talked about for over a year – and Larry had wanted to do since he was a kid. The highway itself is quite nice! There is not lots of traffic on it, and there are wide shoulders that have been cleared of vegetation so that you can see wildlife, reducing the risk of something jumping out in front of a car. There are not many towns along the way and it is beautiful and feels remote.

For those of you wondering, because I was wondering, there are pullouts that have restrooms. They are primitive, but hey, if you gotta go, and the next gas station is over 200 kilometers away… you’re pretty happy to see one! Enough said.

Our first stop was Fort Nelson, British Columbia. A funky but very friendly town that had a heritage museum where we saw more old cars! Actually there was a lot of old stuff there, and lots of cool artifacts from building the highway.

We have a book called Milepost which literally has every mile on the Alaska Highway mapped out with viewpoints and stops that might be of interest. It was in this book that we learned about the most amazing cinnamon rolls that are on the way from Fort Nelson to our next stop, Watson Lake, Yukon. It was a very tasty cinnamon roll, warm and gooey, and it was a very fun stop.

Watson Lake was our stop for the night. Again, small town but very friendly people. The famous attraction in this town was a sign post forest. What is this you ask? When the Alaska Highway was being built in 1942 the US Army of Engineers put up a directional post at their camps giving directions and mileage to surrounding communities and various parts of the world. A GI that was working on the Alaska Highway got hurt, and was given the light weight duty of repairing and repainting the directional sign post while he recovered from his injuries. He was feeling homesick and added his hometown of Danville, IL 2835 miles to the sign. Since then people have brought signs and mileage signs from everywhere, and now there are over 80,000 signs. It’s really an amazing collection. The closest sign we saw was Poulsbo, we did not ever find one from Bainbridge Island, but I did find a couple from some small towns in Oregon that a few of you will find interesting! 🙂

Another fun thing about Watson Lake is we met Bonni and Irv Alpert there! They are also traveling to Alaska. We met for dinner and the next morning, Irv whipped us up a delicious breakfast served inside their Airstream. What a treat!

We left Lake Louise and drove on the Icefields Parkway to the town of Jasper, in Jasper National Park, Alberta. Along the way were beautiful views of the snowy Canadian Rockies and alpine lakes. We were in Jasper for two nights, the town itself was pretty small but filled with restaurants and some gift shops.

Dawson Creek, British Columbia was our next stop, we again stayed for two nights. Dawson Creek is famous for being where the Alaska highway begins. There are exhibits about the highway being built, and of course milepost 0! Interesting that when we are out to dinner, or a grocery store, the question is not “Where are you from?” or “How long are you here for?” It’s “Are you going up or down?” That’s the question. Then always, “have a safe trip!” Canadians are very friendly! We have enjoyed some beautiful sunny weather here with temperatures in the mid 70’s.

Tomorrow we start out on the Alaska or Alcan highway! We’re excited to be at this part of our trip!

This part of the trip has always been intriguing to everyone, including us! Larry has made reservations for us along the whole Alcan highway, but especially as we go further north, we’re not sure what to expect. At least we hear the road is paved the whole way now. 🙂

The first stops in Canada are places we’ve been to before, Banff, and Lake Louise. Our good friends Bill and Jean flew into Calgary to join us for this part of the trip! We had a great time with them shopping, visiting, eating, and going up gondolas! Spring seems to be arriving late for everyone — Lake Louise was still mostly frozen over.

As we go further north and actually get started on the Alcan highway (Saturday June 4), I will try to post our progress as much as possible.