This is a retroactive update. I’ve been in Juneau since June 4, 2019, and it’s now almost 2 months later.
The itinerary:
THIS is the big road trip. The one where we drive for some days and then get on the car ferry for some more days. Here’s the rough itinerary:
Fly Detroit to Denver- Drive Denver to Moab, UT
- Drive Moab, UT to Pocatello, ID
- Drive Pocatello, ID to Boise ID
- Drive Boise, ID to Vancouver, WA
- Drive Vancouver, WA to Seattle, WA
- Drive Seattle, WA to Bellingham, WA
- Ferry ride from Bellingham, WA to Juneau, AK – boat ride, 2.5 days
- Arrive in Juneau, AK, and start work!
The photos:
You can find all of my photos from the journey on Flickr, here.
The days
Day 3: Denver, CO to Moab, UT
We drove west, and then we were in Utah. It’s basically a straight shot on I-70 from Denver to Crescent Junction, then about 45 minutes on a highway off I-70 to get to Moab.
We arrived at the gate of Arches National Park on Sunday afternoon of the busiest weekend of the year (Memorial Day) to find the line from the gate backed up all the way to the highway. I have never seen it this busy. We went with plan B: to Lions Park for a pit stop and to fill up water jugs, then on to Corona Arch (a local hike that’s not in the National Parks). It was much less busy, but still popular. We were able to park and hike for quite a while. It was QUITE hot. My dad was an expert cactus flower spotter. We hiked in a ways, took photos, and headed back before melting.
We went into town, grabbed dinner, and settled in. The plan was to wake up early, get into Arches as early as possible, blaze through to a few hot sites and short hikes, and then get out.
Road Food Break: Utah
Maverick gas station’s Macachocochicoconut cookies (Macadamia nut, chocolate chip, oatmeal, and coconut).
Taco John’s Potato Oles (the crispiest most delicious of fast food potato products)
Day 4: Moab, UT, to Salt Lake City, UT to Pocatello, ID
We made it into Arches early the next morning and managed to see some favorites without much trouble. We did Double Arch, and the Delicate Arch Viewpoint trail, and drove around to some other viewpoints before grabbing a quick photos with the sign and hitting the road. I was in a bit of a hurry because I knew holiday weekend traffic awaited. It was, after all, Memorial Day. I was not disappointed – we sat in a few long slugs of traffic creeping our way through the canyon to American Fork, to catch I-15 up to Salt Lake City.
We met up with my beloved former roommate and current friend La’Shaye at our regular spot: Dee’s Restaurant. My dad and La’Shaye met for the first time. We caught up, and hit the road later than expected. By the time we hit the border with Idaho it was basically dark. It was a pitch black drive on I-15 in light rain all the way to Pocatello. I’m sure the scenery in souther Idaho is lovely, but we didn’t see any of it.
San Fran Melt sandwich at Dee’s Restaurant in Salt Lake City, UT
Day 5: Pocatello, ID to Boise, ID
Today’s trip took us through central Idaho – lands I have not yet explored. We left Pocatello in the morning and made our way west. At our first turn off of the Interstate we found ourselves in Blackfoot which just happens to be the site of Idaho Potato Museum. We were compelled to stop, get a picture with a giant baked potato, and eat a giant baked potato for lunch.
We continued on through some small towns and rainy roads until we arrived in Arco, and finally arrived at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. After more than an hour of pretty standard Idaho scenery, we were suddenly surrounded by black lava rock in all directions. I was really excited to see a new unexplored park, and one that boasted lava rock and accessible caves! We ended up exploring Indian Cave, a lava cave with several “skylights” in the ceiling casting plenty of light into the cave. Descending into that fairly open cave, and another much tighter cave “Boy Scout Cave”, I was amazed to feel the temperature drop precipitously as I got closer to the cave openings! In some we even saw snow!
I was really excited to explore and photograph the caves. Turned out that Indian Cave was the only one we were able to explore. Boy Scout cave is very small and difficult to enter, and we did not have enough time to check out the third cave.
Road Food Break: Idaho
Baked Potato at Idaho Potato Museum (no additional comment needed)
Day 6: Boise, ID to Vancouver, WA
I think I was unconscious for much of this day since my dad did pretty much ALL of the driving on our longest driving day. It was great… for me.
We weren’t in Idaho too much longer before crossing into Oregon and being greeted with Oregon Trail history info at the first rest stop. Much of our course through Oregon coincided with the Oregon Trail, so we crossed several historic sites along the way. We were able to stop into one National Historic Site to learn a bit about the trail in that area, and the history.
The rest of Oregon was quite a blur, as I mentioned, until we got closer to the Columbia River. We decided to stop at Multnomah Falls right before crossing into Vancouver, WA to settle in. It was, in contrast to our previous hikes, very very green. We were in the Pacific Northwest, at last.
We checked into our air bnb – a whole house with a nice back patio, laundry facilities, and our own bedrooms. We picked this place to do some laundry and have a kitchen before hopping on the ferry.
Day 7: Vancouver, WA to Seattle, WA
Thoroughly sick of driving at this point, we decided not to be too ambitious with our road trip plans for the day, and just take our time getting up to Seattle in time to check in, hang out in Seattle, and meet Kelly for dinner. This plan ended up being kind of perfect, because we underestimated a big part of our morning.
We grabbed breakfast at a diner in a charming part of Vancouver, stopped in a woodworking shop and scoped out some cool pieces, and returned home to pack the car. At this point (not a moment sooner), it occurred to us that this was our best chance to strategically re-pack for the ferry since we were staying in an air bnb in a residential neighborhood where parking was free and convenient, and didn’t require a lot of schlepping on elevators and packing things in parking garages. Totes, coolers, and bags were re-filled based on ferry needs, and repacked in the car for easy access. We ended up chekcing out about an hour late form the air bnb, but our hosts didn’t care.
If anything should be clear at this point, it should be that we re-packed about 100 hundred times in the space of a week at this point. I’m sure we could have brought half as much stuff, but some of it has really come in handy during my 2 months of hotel living.
We got to Seattle, checked into the hotel, and walked to Pike Place Market to explore. After exploring the market, we met up with my friend Kelly for tasty dinner (transported by an expert Uber driver who got us there in record time). We went back to the hotel, grabbed some dessert from the hotel shop, and went to sleep on land for the last time before boarding the ferry.
Road Food Break: Washington
Burgerville, USA USED TO have the most amazing cherry chocolate shake when I lived in Washington. It turns out they discontinued it a few years ago, so we settled for seasonal crispy asparagus and strawberry shakes.
Day 8: Seattle, WA to Bellingham, WA to board the car ferry
At last, our final day on the road took us to Bellingham, WA to the Alaska Marine Highway ferry terminal. We scoped out the ferry terminal, got our tickets and car tag, said hello to the M.V. Columbia, and figured out the boarding schedule. Then we went to grab some snacks and fuel for the journey.
About 2 hours before departure time, we needed to drive through the car ticketing line, and get our car staged in a holding line ready to go. The lanes are labelled by letters, and you get in line depending on where your destination is so that they don’t have to shuffle all of the cars around at every port.
While waiting in our staging lane, we met a neighbor who was very confused about her journey, and didn’t seem to understand that she was traveling to Alaska that day. It turns out the Marine Highway made arrangements for her to fly up instead of taking a 2.5 day ferry ride to avoid distress, especially since she was traveling with a dog, and her car was being shipped up. The ferry system is a little complicated if you’re not used to traveling on public transportation. I can’t imagine navigating the system in a confused mental state. I hope she and her pup made it to Alaska.
We ended up sitting in the hot car for a while once boarding time came. Worried we would run out of time to unload stuff from the car, which might take more than one trip including the cooler, my dad boarded on foot to get our room keys and get situated. Turns out it took about 10 minutes, and our worry was unfounded. Eventually it was my lane’s turn to board, and I drove onto the ferry, parked the blue pig, and met my dad on the ferry.
All aboard the ferry to Alaska!
Well, this has been a long story. To read about our ferry adventure, check out the next 2 posts: the travelogue (about the journey, and experience), and the traveller guide (everything you need to know about taking the ferry).
As I’m posting this, the ferry workers are currently on strike and the ferries are all docked in ports. It’s possible that we caught the ferry just in time!
ROAD TRIP 