We Are Back In The U.S.A.! Reflections On Our Adventure To Western Canada and Alaska

U.S Border (Canada/Montana)

We entered back into the United States on September 25th!  Whew!  It was an adventure of a lifetime. We started in Tampa Florida on January 20th and headed west over 13,000 miles.  We visited ten states, three Canadian Provinces and one Territory along the way. It feels good to be home in the U.S. and we really feel proud to have accomplished this bucket list adventure.

Our route from Tampa Florida to Port Angeles Washington (5900 miles) 

Our route from Port Angeles, Washington to Great Falls Montana (7418 miles)

Highlights of our adventure...

Betty's RV Park
Abbeville, LA

Lost Dutchman State Park

Apache Junction, Arizona

Hearst Castle

San Simeon, California

California Coastline

Fern Canyon Hike

Redwoods State Park

California Redwood Trees

Haystack Rock

Cannon Beach Oregon

Olympia National Park
Washington

Butchart Gardens 

Vancouver Island

Zodiac Boat Trip
Tolfino, Vancouver Island

Peak to Peak Gondola Ride
Whistler, BC

Okanagan Wine Country, BC

Chetwynd Chainsaw Festival, BC 

Liard Hot Springs, BC

Grizzly Bear checking out a fish hut (he eventually got stuck in the window)

Funniest moment

Haines, Alaska

Grizzly Bear eating wildflowers
Destruction Bay, Yukon

Lulu Belle Glacier Cruise
Valdez, Alaska

Our traveling friends (Valdez, Alaska)

Cooking King Crab Legs 
(best meal ever)
Valdez, Alaska

Kenai Fjords Cruise
Seward, Alaska

Watching Game and Fish sort  salmon
Salmon Rodeo
Ninilchik, Alaska

Brown Bear Watching
Ketmai National Park and Preserve


Mt. Denali
Denali National Park

Chicken Alaska

Dempster Highway
Yukon

Salmon Glacier
Hyder, Alaska

Aurora Borealis (we saw it but not photos)
Most awesome experience
Pelly Crossing, Yukon 

K'san Historical Village
Hazelton, BC

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Columbia Icefield, Alberta

Jasper National Park, Alberta

Chateau Lake Louise ,Alberta

A few observations....

The roads in Alaska were in better shape then we had expected

Having campground reservations in advance worked out well. Probably would not have needed them in August and September except in the Canadian Rockies

The Glacier Boat Trips in Valdez and Seward were amazing

The trip to Kenai National Park and Preserve to see the Brown Bears was worth every penny

Gasoline and alcohol in Canada is very expensive 

We saw less wildlife in Alaska then expected

It took longer to drive from one campground to another because you have to drive much slower

Weather was better then expected

Long sleeve shirts and long underwear were worn most of the time

There were very  few mosquitoes

Groceries except in Skagway were reasonable. Finding fresh vegetables was more difficult in Alaska

Hiking the trails is the best way to really appreciate Alaska and Canada

Alaska is so VAST

We loved all the wildflowers growing along the sides of the roads in Alaska 

Did not see the moon or stars due to the midnight sun for several months

Getting used to the almost constant daylight in June and July took some getting used too. Black out shades are a must 

We enjoyed this adventure even more than expected and our expectations were high!!!

Exploring Washington's Volcanic Beaches, Rain Forest, National Parks, Waterfalls, and Vampires

Castle Rock, La Push and Port Angeles, WA (51 degrees, rain, sun, fog...repeat)

"In the rain forest,

thoughts intuitively yield

to a slower and grander pace"

Tim McNulty

The past ten days have been spent exploring some of Washington's coastline and beautiful National and State Parks. We have been in some of the wettest parts of the nation (over 200 inches of rain/year) and snowiest (over 800 inches/year) and taken some lovely hikes along the rough coastlines and into pristine forests. 

We started in Castle Rock KOA campground which is near Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier National Park. After checking the weather for our stay there was only one blue sky day. Mount Rainier is rarely seen due to it's elevation being over 14,000 feet and often extreme weather conditions. It's also receives around 800 inches of snow!!!  In early spring only one road was partially open. It was a spectacular day and we saw clear views of the mountain peak.

Wow!  That's a lot of snow

Mount Rainier

Glaciers have carved out this area

The next day we did attempt to see Mount St. Helens, however, fog and rain made visibility poor and the National Park Visitor Center was not open.  We did stop at the State Park Visitor Center and saw some interesting displays and a movie about the eruption. You may have heard the  story about Harry Truman who owned a lodge at Slide Lake. He refused to evacuate and the eruption blew the lake out and up the mountain returning with tons of debris. He was buried probably below the lake he loved so much. An additional 56 people died that day. We will have to go back another time when the weather is more cooperative.

Our next stop was La Push and our campground (Quileute Oceanside) was delightful. It's on an Indian reservation and many of the sites have great views of the ocean and haystack. We even were able to have a fire on the beach. It's a gem.

We look sort of homeless according to a friend of mine in this photo below but we had a blast despite the chilly temperatures.  

Belle's truck

The closest town, Forks, gained lots of notoriety after being chosen by the author of the Twilight series. We stopped at the Visitor Center and she gave us a map to all the filming locations. Are you a fan of the series? It does seem like a place where a vampire and werewolf could hide out. But, alas we didn't see any.

One sunny day we took a beautiful hike along the very rugged coastline of Rialto Beach. The ocean was very active and fun to watch. We hiked out to a hole in the rock but couldn't go in due to the high tide. This is one of my all time favorite  hikes.  The forest comes right down to the beach. Eventually some of the trees fall in and huge amounts of driftwood cling along the high tide mark. 

The hole in the rock is in the background

Another great hike was out to Cape Flattery recommended to us by our friend Diana. You hike through a beautiful forest and then suddenly step out to views of an incredible coastline and lighthouse. We saw seals and an otter plus lots of shorebirds. This is an Audubon trail

Cape Flattery LIghthouse

Otter at play

Our last stop was in Port Angeles and we stayed at a pretty county park called Salt Creek. Our friend Georgann recommended it. We snagged a site with a view of Strait of Juan De Fuca  Now we are on the drier side of the Olympic peninsula (only 40 inches of rain). There are tide pools at the beach too.

One clear morning we raced up to see the Olympic Range at the National Park at Hurricane Ridge. This can also be a rare event. There was a lot of snow here as well but it was so pretty.

Olympic Mountain Range

As you might have noticed Olympic National Park is very diverse. There are rain forests, beautiful coast lines and spectacular mountain ranges. It's a large park and we really just saw a portion of it. I'd rate it as one of my favorite National Parks to date. We would love to return to and explore further. 

Near the park is Dungeness National Fish and Wildlife Refuge which has the largest natural spit extending out into the ocean. We hiked through a lush forest out to the beach and walked a great distance down the spit. There is a lighthouse at 5.5 miles out but the tide and fog were rolling in and we decided not to go out that far. It was a nice hike especially when the fog horn began to sound off.

The forest was lush and very pretty

This narrow spit extended and curved out into the ocean for 5.5 miles

Our last day at the park was spent going out to where the ranger thought we might see Steelhead jumping up the river to spawn. He was right. Our pictures are not great but it was a thrill to see them and they were huge.

Steelhead jumping...can you see him/her?

There is a nice hot spring in this area and a sweet hike out to the prettiest waterfall.  This time of year was the perfect time to see it. 

Marymere Falls

Tomorrow we will be taking a ferry from Port Angeles Washington to Vancouver Canada and starting our exciting adventure to Western Canada and Alaska. Our travels up the California, Oregon and Washington coast has been wonderful and better than we ever imagined. We so enjoyed meeting up with some of our friends.  The rugged coastline delighted us and the lush green forests and snow topped mountains were a fairyland of wonder. We feel very blessed and although this lifestyle may not be for everyone it suits us so well. Check back soon to read all about our trek to Alaska. Thanks for stopping by.