the lower 48…

Day 59…60…61

8/18-8/20/26 Tues, Wed, Thurs

They have an expression in Alaska when the residents are going to the “lower 48”… they say they are “Going Outside”. We are going Outside today…returning to the USA at a Washington State border. The border crossing is Blaine, WA near Vancouver BC.

Happy Birthday! Let me start today by wishing my eldest sweet sister Jean a Happy Birthday. There are 16 years between us but for all my adult life Jean was the sister that always lived closest to me (in Montana) so she’s always been a big part of my life… and her children😊

As we head to Vancouver the highway is literally running along the shoreline of Howe Sound. There’s a great view in the smokey haze across to islands west. 

Border Crossing. Declared 2 oranges, 1 bell paper, 2 eggs. This declaration required pulling into a parking area, entering the agricultural station and declaring produce. The agent then has to go to your vehicle and confiscate said produce. Fortunately it’s not busy and shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes. Warning.. get rid of those items before you go thru customs. We did experience this at the Skagway border but because it’s so small the inspector just came into the van with us occupying it and took whatever it was we had. This Vancouver/US border is significantly busier. 

Things to look forward to…

Pumping gas and actually filling the tank and paying whatever amount it is when the pump shuts off. In Canada you have to prepay an estimated amount. You guess as close as possible to a full tank. 

Sleeping in the natural dark . We’re now far enough south that it is dark at 9pm. If we are camped away from towns and other campers we don’t have to use all our darkening shades anymore. While I did like the feeling of so much daylight for the summer… I did miss the stars at night!

Tasks. We stopped in Bellingham for a tire rotation and haircut for Jim. Two birds… one stone. They were right next door to one another and right off the I-5 exit. Jim feels refreshed after 2 months of growing out his short hair!

Last stops. Seattle. We are headed to Seattle to my niece Sarah’s house for one night and then to Gig Harbor WA (Jim’s sister Donna) before heading toward Olympic National Park.

We took some time to visit in Gig Harbor. On Thursday they have a small farmers market. Music, fresh flowers, local fruits, vegetables, different kinds of food products locally made. On top of the fact that it was a warm beautiful afternoon this little town has such a cute little harbor. We enjoyed the easy outing.

Jim’s sister Donna is turning 80 next month so we took her to dinner tonight at a local area seafood restaurant. It had great outdoor seating overlooking the water near Belfair (see map). It was a good meal in such a lovely setting.

Tomorrow we are headed to visit Port Townsend, Sequim and Olympic National Park. We’ll see how far we get!

I’m going to wrap up this Alaska and Canada adventure here! I think 60 days is enough (maybe more than enough🤣)

I hope you’ve enjoyed the drive. I know some readers have never been to Alaska or northern Canada and don’t expect it will happen for them so by following our daily travels I hope you feel like you’ve seen more of Alaska than the average traveler. I know personally that we covered many miles of Alaska. There are places I regretted I missed (Valdez) but oh the places I’ve been…

I need to thank Jim for driving some 7600 miles. Honestly I didn’t drive 1! And you know many of them were not easy miles. Most of them were not easy!! I am the chief navigator though so I was busy keeping up in the Milepost book.

Our Vincent Van-go survived it. We survived it. It was a trip of a lifetime and I’m so happy we accomplished it without any mishaps. Life is good🥰