August was all about the journey home from Alaska. We started August in Beaver Creek YT at the Discovery Yukon Lodge. We didn’t come straight home, instead choosing to return back through Jasper/Banff Canadian National Parks, North and South Dakota, and Rocky Mountain National Park. Below is our August route.
I don’t have the words to express what an amazing experience the last 7 months has been. We left home on 28 January of this year and have traveled over 14000 miles in the coach. We visited every Western state in the lower 48, Alaska, British Columbia, Yukon Territories, and Alberta. We visited around 19 US National Parks and 2 Canadian National Parks. We visited many more historic, scenic, and amazing locations. One of the unusual observations is that experiences from as little as a month ago seem like they happened years ago. Each week of this trip contained as many experiences as usually happened in a whole year before this trip. With 30 weeks of adventures we’ve experienced 30 years of vacations! Not once did we regret our decision to take on this trip and we are positive we will feel like traveling by the time our laundry is clean at home. One question that inevitably comes up is “What was your favorite place?” It is nearly impossible to answer that question. We loved so many of the places we visited but for different reasons. Some of our favorite highlights include:
- San Diego/Chula Vista CA – The weather is great and there are so many things to see and do. We could easily spend months here.
- San Lous Obispo – Really neat towns, beautiful beaches, nearby wildlife and hilly/semi-mountainous terrain. A really comfortable place to hang out with easy access to the ocean.
- Giant Redwoods – You can experience these forests from several places in California. Visiting these forests is a very spiritual experience for us. The hikes there will remain some of the most cherished of any we have experienced. Visit these sometime in your life if you can.
- Bend Oregon – If it were closer I would consider moving here permanently. The town is really neat and the surrounding mountain wilderness areas are some of the most beautiful anywhere. The ocean is only about 1 ½ hour away.
- Oregon Coast – The coastline here provides some of the most dramatic coastal scenery you will find anywhere. This same beauty continues all the way up to Olympic National Park in Washington. We absolutely loved it.
- Port Angeles WA – On the edge of Olympic National Park, ocean views, and a short ferry ride to Victoria British Columbia. The town has a great port feel and great weather. Not far from Seattle if you need big town resources. This is another place we could live if not so far from family.
- Kenai Peninsula in Alaska – Stunning scenery everywhere. We are not sportsman but you can’t help but be taken in by the abundance of sportsman activities and wonderful wildlife. Everyone should plan to experience Alaska some time in their life. In Alaska you can still see “real” wild areas that are rare to find anywhere in the world.
- Mount Ranier, Olympic, Glacier, Jasper, Banff – If you love mountains as we do, all of these are amazing. We are so privileged to have experienced them. The richness of your experience will vary somewhat with the crowds, time of year, and where you stay. We only take short easy hikes but these all beg for longer hikes if you are able.
- Colorado Rocky Mountains – Ok this is a big area, but it feels like home to us. The scenery in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado Springs, and many other places we didn’t visit on this trip compare to the “Great” national parks. We are still considering a retirement home here.
I’m sure we left out many other fantastic locations that are wonderful in their own right. We simply can’t choose a favorite. We wouldn’t trade our experience in any one place for another. This trip touched on so many of the places we had dreamed of visiting. We hope our blog will help you find places for you to dream of. I don’t know if and when we will re-visit any of these again because we still have a long list of places to visit both in North America and abroad. We don’t know how many new places we will have time or money to visit and that isn’t the point. For us the point is to enjoy the memories we have been blessed with and then add experiences when the opportunities present themselves.
We are excited about being home but also anxious to be resuming home responsibilities like fixing broken vehicles, house maintenance, etc. We still love Texas and McKinney and it will be wonderful to visit our favorite places for the first time in a while. The coach performed great despite a few maintenance issues along the way. Now that we are home we have a pretty long list of major and minor things to take care of on the motorhome. Some of the major items include:
• Rear air conditioner quit functioning on the way to Alaska. Front A/C not as cold as it should be. Number one priority before we hit the road in warm temperatures again.
• Toilet electronic flush slow on A/C and non-functional when unplugged from shore power
• Air Pressure sensor for parking brake needs repair
• Right Rear Axle Seal repaired last year needs repair again
• Complete filters and lubricant service for coach and generator
Ok, that sounds like a lot if you aren’t familiar with big Motorhomes. Between the forums I follow and people I’ve met, our list isn’t that unusual. As a mater of fact, brand new motorhomes have substantial lists like this also. Two or three of these items I can handle myself but some of these will require professional help.
The Jeep also needs some attention. The Jeep lost its built-in GPS/phone when returning through Dawson Creek. We also have what is probably a noisy wheel bearing. Towing the Jeep worked extremely well and we wouldn’t consider our adventure without a capable set of wheels. We didn’t often use the Jeep off-road capability but we did use it some and we were glad to have it.
What now? Well, we definitely will hang out at home for a while. There will be quite a few things to take care of and we will be busy for months. In the future we definitely would like to spend a month in, or near, the Florida Keys. We also want to experience the far North East US, probably in the fall season. As for this blog, I doubt I will continue it in the future. Even though the blog is simple for this kind of thing it still takes a lot of time and effort to maintain. I do enjoy looking back to see where and what we’ve experienced so maybe I’ll try something simple in the future.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for reading this blog and following along with us. It means a lot to us to know you have been cheering us on. We miss our friends and family while on the road and it helps to know you are there for us. I hope this inspires you to follow your dreams no matter what they are. We are incredibly blessed to have the time and resources to realize this dream of ours.