Alaska – Trip Recap

This is how we got there...and back

Whew, calling this an amazing trip would be an understatement. It's easy to say"we went to Alaska" but the places we visited and things we saw is much longer is lengthy indeed. The map above is the route we took from Ohio to Alaska and back to Ohio again. If you've read through the post, you already know our travels took us across, the northern U.S. and across 2,000 miles of western Canada just to get to Alaska. We saw waterfalls, mountains and valleys, glaciers and a lot of wildlife along the way. We try to remember the trip begins when we leave home and not when we get to our destination.

Here is a look at the numbers.

Days traveled - 53
Miles driven - 11,299 (7,178 in the U.S. - 4,121 in Canada)
Gasoline - 805 gallons*
Miles per gallon - 14.0**
Cost of gas - $2318.40***  (Ave per gallon in U.S. = $2.49. Ave per gallon in Canada - $3.40)
Oil change - $35.43 (Fairbanks, AK
Camping - 11 nights in campgrounds, 43 nights boondocking, 0 nights in motels.
Camping cost - $167.44
Groceries - $187.82 (doesn't count full fridge and cupboards when we left home)
Eating out - $150.69
Misc. tours and souvenirs - $1,120.31

Total cost of trip - $4000.09

*     Includes approximately 12 gallons used by running the generator.
**   We normally average 15+ MPG but mountains, head winds and generator use reduced MPG.
*** Average Canadian cost includes the 3% out of country charge by Visa and MasterCard.

Three items that were broken on the trip are not included.
1. Side door catch that was broken when high winds caught to door.
2. Broken elbow in fresh water line. The new elbow was only $1.00 and an hour of my labor.
3. Most costly...the windshield took three hits so it will have to be replaced.

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We are asked how many miles we would drive per day. We averaged 213 but that's deceptive since we would travel long distances some days and almost none on others. Here is a chart of daily miles.

Miles traveled per day

Mingling with the Yoopers

Just because we are getting close to home, that doesn't mean our adventure has to end. Michigan's Upper Peninsula is a treasure trove of things to see so our route would continue across Hwy 2 and we would see what adventures we could find.

We entered the land of the Yoopers and decided to mill around a bit. You say, what is a Yooper? Well, Michigan has a lower peninsula that is mitten shaped and an upper peninsula shaped like a running rabbit. Check out the map below. See the mitten? How about the running rabbit? The mitten is easy but if you are having trouble with the rabbit, the nose is on the far left. See it now?

The two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge (pronounced Mack-in-aw) Michiganders simply refer to the upper peninsula and the U.P. – thus the name Yoopers. I think, to be any true Yooper, one had to be born and raised there but it's a proud group so many residents will call themselves Yoopers even if they moved north later in life. And one more piece of trivia – those who live below the Mackinac Bridge are known as trolls. Ok, now you know...

We checked the Allstays app on our smartphone and found the Wanoka Campground in the Chequamegon National Forest just a couple miles from the highway. It was a great find with a campsite beside a small lake and it was only $6.00 since we took advantage of our national senior pass.

Our stay at Wanoka CG was so good that we decided to give the Black River Forest Campground a try. It's on the Lake Superior shoreline and has a number of waterfalls nearby. But, like often happens, we were side-tracked when we saw this oversized Story Kromer hat in Ironwood, Michigan.

I'm sure most folks have never heard of Stormy Kromer hats but any outdoorsman (or women) in Michigan and surrounding states know about them. Here is their story. The Stormy Kromer Story

We visited the factory outlet store and shopped for the perfect one.

So after the short detour, we found our way to

There are great hiking trains with waterfalls and Lake Superior.

There are a total of five falls and just plain cool things to see just a couple miles up the road. There could be many, many photos but here are just a few.

While traveling the Lake Superior coastline, the Picture Rocks National Lakeshore near Munising, Michigan is a must see adventure. A fairly short boat ride takes visitors to sections of colorful sandstone cliffs that overlook Lake Superior. The colors come from different ores such as iron, copper, manganese and others that are in the soil. Here are a few photos taken during our visit.

Tour boat

Cave formed by eroded sand stone

Colorful sand stone cliffs

Tree that is sustained by a single root the goes to the shore

Boat anchored in cove

Historic lighthouse

Well...darn! It's time to continue east. I'm sure all travelers have a certain landmark that seems to say "you are getting close to home". For us, it's the Mackinac Bridge which links the Michigan's upper and lower peninsula's and I-75, our final road home.

The Mackinac Bridge

Crossing the Mighty Mac

We are still a few hundred miles from our driveway in Ohio but we have grown used to driving near mountains...and wide open spaces...and no traffic. Once we hit I-75 there will certainly be no mountains and the wide open spaces will be replaced with flat countryside with lots of homes, and other buildings. And the NO TRAFFIC part??? Well, say goodby to that, it's all 4-lane interstate for the last couple hundred miles.