10,591 miles!

We are home.  Got here on Friday - 8/9 around noon after spending the night in Kerrville.  Got up early and cleaned the rv inside and out so all we had to do was unload things when we got home. It's odd being back home.  We start looking for things where they would be in the rv and Jeff and I are both waking up in the middle of the night thinking we are still in the rv (wishful thinking!)

We decided to each write down our top 10 things we remember about our trip; (mine is  a little different - I did the 10 best things about the trip)

Jeff:
Ten things about the trip I will remember
1. Spending up lots of up close and personal time with the whole family
2. Our National Parks and all the great scenery
3. Seeing old friends and family in Alaska
4. The pollution in Canada
5. The dry states and the poor suffering livestock and wildlife
6. Our terrible road conditions
7. Seems to be plenty of water for fracking wells
8. The high number of people living in trailers and mobile homes
9. The bears, buffalo, whales and other wild critters
10. The ferry trip

Renee:

10 Best Things about our trip – in no particular order

1. Visiting our National Parks – especially Arches National Park 
2. Spending time together as a family 
3. Taking the Alaska Marine Hwy on a portion of the Inside Passage 
4. Waking up somewhere new almost every day 
5. Seeing old friends and visiting with family 
6. Seeing Jade and Mya learn so much about everything along the way 
7. Learning so much myself about the areas through which we traveled(Thank you Google!) 
8. Seeing so much wildlife: buffalo, bears, birds, chipmunks, herons, and so many others. 
9. Texting with my sister in Alaska as we traveled along our routeJ 



We covered 11 states and 2 Canadian Provinces on this trip! 
I started planning next year's route about 4 nights before we
got home. Got to fill in that WHOLE map! 

10. Realizing the importance of the phrase: “I wonder . . .

Jade:
10 things I remember
#1Carlsbad Caverns
#2National Parks
#3The Buffalo
#4The cows and horses
#5Mountain Sheep
#6Whales
#7Mendenhal Glacier
#8Juneau
#9M.V MATANUSKA
#10Getting home

Mya:
Top 10 things about summer
1. The Redwood Forest

2. Arches National Park

3. The deserts

4. Mendenhall Glacier

5. Petrified Forest

6. Painted Desert

7. Bob's campground

8. Playgrounds (at campgrounds)

9. The beach, lake

10. My family

In the words of Willie Nelson, "just can't wait to get on the road again"!!!

WWWAAAAA!

I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME!!!  (That's all I've got to say - at the moment)

The long way home

I guess we've been on the way home since we left Alaska but today it really seems like it.  We are camped in Ft. Stockton, Texas - the same place we stayed our first night out on June 9th. Different RV park though - we've learned some things along the way - lol!

Nevada highways

Sunset in Beatty, Nevada with Venus in the sky.

We ended up not traveling "the loneliest road" - at least not the whole thing.  We looked at the map again and realized that the elevation changes would be a challenge (putting it mildly).  We found a chart on Google that showed the elevations changes (thank you Google! - again!) and there were about 5 and in a fairly short stretch of road. So we headed south after Carson City (nice place!) and drove southeast across Nevada.  My goodness, that is one barren stretch of road.  I think it's probably the "saddest" stretch of road we've seen.  Utah had some amazingly dry barren stretches where even the cows looked sad, but this was much worse.

Hoover Dam on the border between Nevada and Arizona

There is a reason that area is owned mostly be the government (Nellis Air Force Base aka "Area 51"). No one else wants it!

One of the remaining Burma Shave signs on the original
Route 66.

We stayed at a surprisingly pleasant little RV park in Beatty, Nevada. We saw a bunch of burros wandering in the area.  The owner of the campground told us they are wild.  They are descendants of the burros that were used "back in the day" when gold mining was big in the area.  Apparently, they breed like rabbits (his words!).  Many were abandoned there when the miners left and they've been there ever since.  We could hear their distinctive braying sound during the night. What we found disturbing all across Nevada are the current mining operations.  We saw huge tailing pits - giant scars on the desert.  Made us wonder how polluted the water was in the area.

Heading into Arizona we drove some of the original Route 66 (and got the t-shirt!!).  Highway 40 follows a lot of the original road but we actually drove some of the remaining original route.  From the condition of the road, Highway 40 hasn't had much upkeep since then!!  Some rough road going through the area.  We got a tip from the lady that ran the Seligman KOA about a great restaurant in Winslow, Arizona (remember the Eagles song?? - "Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see, . . .") called La Posada so we stopped there for lunch.  It's the "last great railroad hotel" built in 1929 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. We had an amazing lunch in the Turquoise Room.

The Tepees in the Painted Desert

We added another National Park to our list, the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert in Arizona. So beautiful. One of our favorite stops on the drive through the park were the "Tepees".  These cone shaped hills are blue and purple and grey because of the minerals (iron, copper, manganese) in the ground.  The petrified trees are 225 million years old, older than the big dinosaurs.  There was creature called a phytosour that lived back then - looked like a giant alligator.  Amazing stuff!

A petrified tree - beautiful!

They call this one "old faithful" - one of the biggest of the
remaining petrified trees -part of the "Rainbow Forest"

Our journey from Arizona into New Mexico was a lot different than we expected.  We took back roads and threaded our way through the Apache and Gila National Forests.  During this part of the trek we managed to summit 8,550 ft - the highest elevation on our trip.  Beautiful forests with little communities scattered along the route.  Always makes us wonder what people do for a living in these places.  We decided to hang our hats at the Las Cruces KOA for the evening and what an excellent choice.  Las Cruces has about 100,000 people and sits at about 4000 ft.  It's surrounded by low lying mountains and the view is fabulous.  I'd have to say that New Mexico was one of our favorite states in our 14 state journey.  The high desert is great because even though it gets hot, it's a dry heat (not kidding - it's awesome).  Makes a lot of difference from the humidity at home. But this morning when we got ready to go and Jeff disconnected the water hose, he noticed the filter was BLACK!  It was filled with some kind of sediment - looked like bits of coal.  So a beautiful place, just don't drink the water - lol!

It's Fido!!  One of the creatures that lived 225 million years ago.

Driving into Texas we passed through El Paso.  I'd always heard of this place as "the armpit of Texas" but I'd have to disagree.  It has the same beautiful mountains and open spaces that we saw in Las Cruces.  What was shocking is that we could actually see that FINE border fence our government has spent so much time and money on.  When you see it, you realize just how ridiculous the whole idea is - what a total waste of OUR money.  (Okay - I digress - I'll get off my political soap box.)  We stayed on I-10 the whole time but were surprised that we had to stop at a "Border Patrol" station in Sierra Blanco (which is in the U.S).  They had dogs with them (scared Mya to death, Jade wanted to pet them).  I figure they were letting the dogs sniff all the big rigs to see if they were carrying drugs or people.  Who knows??  But it was curious.  All we saw on the trucks where white and yellow onions - huge bags of them!

We told our housesitters we wouldn't be home until Friday so we are going to lollygag tomorrow - stop at Kerrville for one last night out before we head home.  I asked Jeff tonight how he felt about going home and he said he has mixed feelings, as do I.  On one hand this has been an amazing adventure; on the other hand it will be nice not moving every day.  He got a message on his cell phone today from Jade's school reminding us about "market day" - the prep day for middle schoolers - ACK!!!  Don't know if I'm ready for it but it will happen, ready or not!!

Land of the BIG TREES!

Lighthouse on the misty Oregon coast.

How does one get so tired just riding in an RV?  Maybe it's from gripping the armrests on the curves?!?!  The last few days have been amazing traveling on Hwy 101 through southern Oregon and northern California.  The crowds finally dispersed as we passed Waldport (about 1/2 way down the Oregon coast) and the trees thinned so we could actually see the ocean.  So rugged and beautiful.  The foggy/misty conditions really contributed to the magical quality of the journey - very otherworldly.  

Misty Oregon Coast

Into the BIG woods

We crossed into California mid-day on Wednesday and were so excited to be heading into the Redwoods!  Jeff saved the day when he reminded us that we needed to stop at the visitor's center to get our National Park passports stamped and buy the sticker.  When we stepped out of the RV we thought we would freeze!!  It was 54 degrees and on top of that, the wind was blowing.  Chiillllyyyy!   Karen, at the visitor's center gave us a good tip for seeing the best parts of the forest.  We took the Newton-Drury Scenic route instead of the main Hwy 101.

 There really are no words to describe what it's like being in the forest with all those huge trees. We stopped at one pullout to take pictures and I said to Jade, "listen".  And she said, "what?"  I asked her what she heard and she looked at me puzzled.  I said, "that's right, nothing".  It was completely and totally quiet - no cars, no people, not even any birds singing.  It was heavenly.  I told Jeff that when I get stressed out at work, that's going to be my new "happy place" I go to in my mind - lol!!

The trees go up, and up, and up . . . 

Even Jeff looks tiny!

This sign says it all - "slow down or else!"

We took tons and tons of pictures but there is just no way a picture can convey the size of the trees.  Just standing beside them is awe-inspiring. To think they have survived and continued to grow for so long.  The second day we traveled along the "Avenue of the Giants" and saw even bigger trees.  But this is a well-traveled route and lots of little towns along the way and lots of people.  Not the serenity we experienced on the previous portion. Today we headed east.  Jeff wanted us to see Lake Tahoe since we were in the neighborhood and have to head east sometime.  We did have to pass through Sacramento and did manage to do so unscathed.  We read that Lake Tahoe was at 7,000+ ft so I was a little concerned about the RV making it okay but we did similar elevations coming through Canada and survived.  (The highest point is 7382 ft just before you head into Tahoe.)  We encountered lots of traffic - way more than we expected.  I thought Tahoe was this quiet little spot in the woods - NOT!!  A tourist mecca:-(  But the lake is beautiful - so blue, and it's huge.  But the beach looked like Waikiki:-(  We really are "sticks" people.  It's nice to experience it but I'm glad we only reserved one night. Too many people.

It's supposed to get to 36 degrees tonight. Mountain climate.  Tomorrows journey is into Carson City, Nevada and then Hwy 50 (the loneliest road in America) toward Great Basin National Park on the border of Nevada and Utah.  Hope the "BOODWA" continues to put up with the hills and valleys!  We only have one week left on the road:-(  The girls were having a hard time understanding where we were and when we would be home so we told them they had "8 more sleeps" and then they would be home.  They CHEERED!!!  Aunt Tina said to tell them to click their heels together and repeat, "there's no place like home,  . . . " - lol!!  But we still have 7 more days of adventure and we're going to treasure every moment of it!! At least Jeff and I will:-)

Oregon Coast

Just got back from a post-dinner walk on the beach.  We finally got to touch the Pacific Ocean! Spent last night in Waldport about a third of the way down the coast.  We weren't terribly impressed with the northern Oregon coast but today has been totally different.  Incredible coastline from Waldport to Gold Beach where we are staying tonight.

Delicious blackberries for breakfast. 

This morning I went for a walk before we hit the road and picked a whole bowlful of big blackberries - right next to the RV park.  They are delicious and seemingly grow wild everywhere.

Got to see some sea lions frolicking in the surf near the sea lion caves.  Tonight on our walk we saw some sort of seal, flocks of pelicans, and dozens of cormorants.  The weirdest sighting was a hawk that had caught what we thought was a fish.  Turns out it was a snake!!  It flew over the beach and dropped it, probably because it was alive and wiggling.  It swooped down and grabbed it up again, and then flew around.  It looked like he was looking for a good place to land and eat it. Didn't see where he landed.

Had to FORCE the girls to leave the wifi and walk with me on
 the beach.  Mya is none too happy but here is the "turtle rock"
the RV park is named after.  Afterwords they did
say they were glad I made them go:-)

It's surprisingly cold here (Turtle Rock RV Resort)  I didn't expect it to be so chilly.  Only 54 this a.m. but got up to 64 but that seems to be balmy for this part of the world.  The water is COLD!  Couldn't talk the girls into swimming in it.  The thermometer says it's 55 right now - almost 8 at night - brrrrrr!

Gold Beach, Oregon

Tomorrow our destination is Redwood National Forest.  Still don't know how we are going to get home - but we need to go through Nevada at some point so we can fill in the map:-)  On one map it looks like there is a HWY 50 called "the loneliest hwy" so I'm going to google that and see if it's doable in our rig.  Mya wants to go by the great salt lake "to touch it".  We skirted it when we came up through Utah but she wants to actually touch it - go figure!  We'll see . . .

Back in the U S A (and the land of decent wifi!)

Had to visit the North Pole and Santa before leaving Alaska.

At Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska

Our Stateroom on the Matanuska

Wow - what a journey!  We left Fairbanks and landed in Haines, AK on the 20th to catch the ferry south.  I couldn't bear the thought of driving through all those evergreen trees again so we took the ferry to Prince Rupert.  What a marvelous experience!!  Mya thought she was going on a cruise ship and I guess it was kind of like one - the inexpensive version.  he girls loved the stateroom.We all enjoyed it immensely especially Jeff because he didn't have to drive and had someone else to make his breakfast.  He did say the coffee was by far the WORST he's ever had in his lifetime but besides that it was awesome.  The journey through the Wrangell Narrows was spectacular.  It's so narrow that cruise ships can't go through the area; the captain has to make 28 turns to navigate through the passage.  Really beautiful.

Time to leave the "cruise ship" in Prince Rupert

We landed in Prince Rupert on the 23rd.  The trees have moss growing on them - not just on the north side but all over.  The rock cliffs have ferns growing out of them. It felt like we'd landed in the northern version of Jurassic Park. We still had to spend 3 more nights getting through Canada.  Our last night there was at an RV park along the Thompson river. We were thankful for the cold rushing water; this area is known as the "Arizona of Canada" and for good reason.  It was 106 degrees and it looks like high desert. We were happy to cool off in the river.  There were also apricot trees growing in the RV park and we got to pick them and eat them - fresh off the tree - delicious!

A lovely Italian Restaurant in Bothel, WA.

We planned to go to Vancouver BC and headed to an RV park there but had no reservations.  For some reason I thought Vancouver was this quaint little town.  Duh!  The area has twice the population of San Antonio (thank you Tina for googling the info for me!!) After being in the "sticks" for so long, the whole excursion was a shock to our systems. There was "no room at the inn" for us at the RV park and I was kind of relieved.  We decided to bag the whole idea and "head for the border".  After journeying almost 8000 miles on this trip, we have decided we are "sticks people". The traffic and people make us crazy, nervous, and irritable!!!  We still needed a place to rest our heads for the evening and every RV park I called was full - of course, it was Friday! Bad timing on our part. Everyone getting out for the weekend.  But we lucked out and on my last call we found a place in Bothell, WA (just north of Seattle) that had ONE space left!  Thank goodness. And it was a quaint RV park in a suburb of Seattle but secluded - Lake Pleasant RV Park - aptly named.  Spent two nights there - didn't figure we'd get another spot in the middle of the weekend.  But the location was great.We walked up to this darling little market area and had dinner at an Italian restaurant that had live music - one guy playing the mandolin and one on a guitar.  It was a perfect evening!!  (Something that made us raise our eyebrows - a couple came in with there little dog, sat at a table, and put a blanket on the seat for the dog.  It sat at the table with them.  Seemed normal for the area - hmmmmm?  Never seen that before!)

 Bridge over the Columbia River - Border between Oregon
and Washington is half way across.

Our goal for this stretch of the trip is to travel the coast highway (101) to see the ocean and seaside towns.  Tonight we are staying in an KOA near Astoria/Seaside Oregon.  The campground has a gazillion things for the girls to do so they are out there playing and making new friends.  It's fun to see them play with other kids they've just met - in these RV parks, no one is a stranger when it comes to the kids.  It's almost like a way of life.  Tomorrow we are heading down the coast and have reservations in a little place called Waldport.  We are a little disappointed that even here the traffic is fairly congested.  Seems like everyone loves the west coast.  We plan to make it to the Redwoods and then turn inland - unless we change our minds, of course.

This trip is truly an adventure.  As with anything, some days are better than others but on the whole, it continues to be amazing.  My hope is the girls will cherish the memories we've made on this trip - I know I will.  They have been amazing travelers and we've all learned so much from the places we've been and spending this time together.  Today, Mya said something about "Back to School" and I told her I better not here her utter those words again while we are on this trip - lol!!!

Our house sitters, Angela and here sister, are enjoying staying at the house and Marty doesn't seem to miss us at all. We are so thankful for both the girls for taking good care of home while we are away.  It will be strange being in one place.  Maybe we are destined to be gypsies . . .

We finally saw a grizzly bear - Jeff got close:-)
 Chilkoot Park, Haines, AK

Fresh crab in Haines, AK.

Catching the breeze on the ferry.

So many friends and family, so little time!

After living in Alaska for half a lifetime, it's a feat of monumental proportions to try to see everyone, but I think we managed to see quite a few folks.  My "little brother" arrived from South Carolina to join my sisters and my mom in Anchorage.

Having a blast with Angie and Daniel

 Got to see my niece Angela and her seriously funny husband Daniel.  We may have violated the RV park' quiet hours that evening with all the laughing and storytelling going on:-) We also got to see some of my mom's old friends, Joan and Paul Bittner.  My parents have known them since the late '50s when they all moved to Alaska in the military.  What amazing old memories we shared about growing up with their boys, Tim and Mike, and living in Anchorage.  I also got to go to dinner with some of my friends from my teaching days at West High. Darla, Amy and I ran the Honolulu Marathon together in 2002 and we talked about doing some crazy thing like that again - maybe the San Antonio Rock-N-Roll marathon in 2014?  We are older but no wiser - lol!  Tina, Clay and I got to sit around one afternoon sharing old stories.  Mya was with us and she kept begging for more stories.  She even got to tell a few of her own. What fun!

The family at Glen Alps (Flattop) with Anchorage
in the background.

Friday we headed down to Homer with Mom and Clay.  Gorgeous day.  We stayed on the Homer Spit and were treated to three glorious days of blue skies, warm temps (60s), sunshine, and a fabulous view of Kachemak Bay.  There are few more beautiful places than Homer on a warm summer day. Jeff and I even got to go to lunch and walk the beach, just the two of us.  The girls spent the day with Granny and Uncle Clay doing their own beach exploring. The whole time I was down there I wished I could just make time stand still, just to be able to savor the moment a bit longer.

But as the saying goes, time waits for no one.  We headed back to Anchorage yesterday and met Susan, Jackie, and "Grandma Pat" (Susan's mom) for a reunion of sorts at our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Mex. So strange to see each other after such a long absence and we just pick up where we left off.  That's the beauty of long-time friendships - so fun to spend time getting caught up.

Stopped by to say hello to my niece, Violet who we hadn't gotten to see yet and say goodbye to my sister, Tina and her family.  The girls had a great time hanging out with cousin Violet before we had to hit the road.

This is the first time we have had a deadline to meet in terms of being somewhere on a particular date.  We (I?) decided to take the ferry back from Haines to Prince Rupert.  I couldn't bear the idea of driving through miles of trees in Canada again so this will cut off about 2 days of driving.  Plus, the girls have never been on the ferry and Jeff and I have never been through the Inside Passage of southeast Alaska so this, too, will be a new adventure for us.

We have to be in Haines by the 20th to catch the ferry so we hit the road early today.  Needed to get to Fairbanks by evening (358 miles from Anchorage) and we also wanted to stop by Denali National Park to get our stamps and stickers for our National Park passport books.  Didn't spend much time at Denali given our deadline, and unfortunately the clouds obscured the mountain, but we got to go through the exhibits in the visitor's center.  What an amazing display covering the history of the development of the park and the ongoing conservation of the area.  Amazing to see all the new development that has gone on in the area.  Jeff visited Denali his first year in Alaska (35 years ago!) and he was shocked at how things have changed.  It definitely looks like a tourist destination now.

So we are sitting here in River's Edge RV park in Fairbanks, Alaska alongside the Chena River.  The advertisement in the Milepost looked so beautiful and it is, but they should have named it Sardine RV park. Good Grief - it's like the airlines - how many spaces can you pack into one area.  Hopefully we can get out in the morning without ripping off anyone's front bumper or awning!!  And really, who can complain when the wi-fi works; plus the mosquitoes must be on vacation at the moment. We were able to walk outside without bug repellent:-)

Yesterday was our 5-year anniversary in Texas; a bit of irony in that we are in Alaska.  It's been 5 weeks since we left home.  Sometimes at night I wake up and have to lay there and think about where the heck we are. You also know you've been an RV too long when you try to flush a regular toilet with your foot!!!!   The other day we were at my mom's house and I had just used the "facilities" and I tried flushing the toilet with my foot (those of you who have stayed in an RV know you flush the toilet with the foot thingy).  I honestly had to stand there for a few seconds to think about how to flush the toilet!  Jade said the same thing happened to her - lol! Earlier in the trip Jade said she wanted to skip a year before we go "adventuring" again; yesterday it was 4 years.  And I do admit there are moments when I think how cozy it would be to be back home.  But we are still having fun and we still have lots of sights to see.

Tomorrow we head for the Alaska/Canada border, about 300 miles.  We are psyching ourselves up for the trip from the border to Haines Junction, the absolute worst part of the road on the whole trip.  But then we get to go "cruising" on the ferry.  Prince Rupert, here we come!

next day:  (sorry there aren't more pics - the wifi is very temperamental in uploading stuff so it's this or nothing!  We got to hit the road!)  Jeff woke up this morning and said "Jurassic Park woke up - lots of old people here!!!