My husband, Mike, and I recently drove from Iowa to Seattle, Washington to catch a Carnival cruise to Alaska. It was an amazing drive, cruise, and adventure! I will try to make some more specific blogs about the places we experienced, but in the meantime, here's a little breakdown of the trip...
During the course of our travels we crossed 3 time zones visited Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Montana, South Dakota, and two Canadian provinces, Yukon Territory and British Columbia. We traveled via car, cruise ship, tour bus, train, catamaran, and Double Decker bus. I wish we'd had a step-counter on us as I can't imagine that number!
The National Park Service saw some revenue from us as we went to the Little Bighorn Battlefield site, Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore, and the Badlands National Park as well as cruising in the Tracy Arm Fjord in Alaska which is part of Tongass National Forest. On our White Pass and Yukon train trip we also spent time in historic areas born of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897.
Wildlife spottings were abundant and started with the Alaskan sled dogs we visited in the Yukon...oh my gosh the puppies were adorable! Then on our whale watching excursion in Juneau we saw bald eagles, humpback whales, two large pods of killer whales (very rare), and a bunch of sea lions vying for real estate atop a marker buoy. Later in Yellowstone we saw some deer and several herds of bison. Horses were more common at Little Bighorn and in the Badlands.
In all, we were gone for 15 days, drove 4220 miles and traveled another 1200 miles or so up to Alaska and into the Yukon Territory. We spent time at sea level while cruising and topped out at 10,947 feet while traveling between Montana and Wyoming on the Beartooth Pass. There was plenty of snow to see in the mountains but during our stay in Alaska daytime temps were in the 50s and 60s. Our high point was 92 degrees in the Badlands on the way home and the low was 49 degrees in the Beartooth Pass due to the elevation.
Lost: a pair of sunglasses and the GPS unit
Found: a new appreciation for God's beautiful creations and each other!
