Season Three: Recap of 2021 and Season Four: Plans for 2022

Season Three was packed full of adventures. The inspiration behind our route was to reach Maine by fall for the autumn colors. However, we packed in so much more than that along the way. We were on the road for 178 nights (just under six months), driving over 20,000 miles through 25 different states, visiting 15 different National Parks and numerous state parks (link to map: BRB Season Three Make Maine by Fall Route).

We completed another 52 Hike Challenge in 2021, going on hikes in places like Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Hocking Hills State Park, Letchworth State Park, Lake Placid, White Mountains in New Hampshire, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Cumberland Mountain State Park.

Early on in our travels, we experienced unique landscapes, such as Grand Teton National Park, Devil’s Tower National Monument, Yellowstone National Park, and Badlands National Park.

Light houses, lakeshores, and seashores were a recurring theme during our travels in such places as Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Newport in Rhode Island, Acadia National Park, and Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

There was plenty of wildlife to see. There were big horn sheep in Flaming Gorge National Recreational Area, moose in Grand Teton National Park, a couple of cute, young owls in a tree just outside the Mammoth Visitor Center in Yellowstone National Park, and seals in Acadia National Park.

We even did a little spelunking by exploring the lava tubes in Craters of the Moon National Monument and touring the caves in Wind Cave National Park.

We brought along our bicycles and put them to use on the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, along the Karl Boyes Multi-Purpose National Recreation Trail in Presque Isle State Park, cycling the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, going out onto the Colchester Causeway in Burlington, and exploring the carriage roads in Acadia National Park.

Our inflatable kayak (paid link) also came along with us. However, we didn’t use it as much as we thought we would. We did enjoy kayaking on a couple of lakes, in Pearl Lake State Park and Green Valley State Park.

Our adventures included going on boat rides which included taking a Dells Boat Tour in Wisconsin Dells, touring the Soo Locks in Sault Sainte Marie, riding Shepler’s Ferry under the Mackinac Bridge and over to Mackinac Island, getting wet on the Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls, and encountering humpback whales on our Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruise on Cape Cod.

We extended our autumn color experience by heading south from Maine. The scenic drives along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway were enhanced by the fall foliage.

For a change of pace, we mixed in some historical sites to expand our knowledge. Some of them were Fort Niagara, Battleship Cove, Minute Man National Historical Park, the Biltmore Estate, and Colonial Williamsburg.

We generally stay away from large cities, but we love wandering around cute, little towns. Some of the towns we visited were the South Dakota Tourist Traps of Wall Drug and Mitchell, the Amana Colonies in Iowa, Baileys Harbor and Sister Bay in Door County of Wisconsin, Traverse City and Holland in Michigan, Mystic in Connecticut, Stowe and Woodstock near Quechee in Vermont, Boothbay in Maine, Cary in North Carolina, and St. Charles in Missouri.

Visiting friends that we have not seen in years made the trip all that more special. We feel fortunate to have friends in wonderful places like Deep Creek Lake in Maryland and Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.

Then there were a few unique places just to mix things up. Pulling ourselves across a fresh spring on a raft at Kitch-iti-kipi in Michigan, attending the Adirondack Balloon Festival in New York, and touring Gillette Castle State Park in Connecticut rounded out our experiences.

It will be hard to beat Season Three: Make Maine by Fall (2021), but we are going to try in the coming Season Four: Alaska Bound (2022). A trip to Alaska has been a long time coming for us. Twenty years ago, we planned to take a summer off from work and travel with our kids to Alaska. Left Buddy (LB) had an eight-week sabbatical through his employer. Combining the sabbatical with his regular vacation gave us about eleven weeks to play with. Right Buddy (RB) quit her job in preparation for the trip. However, we were both employed in the tech industry and the dot com bust hit just as we were about to start making reservations for our trip. Not only were sabbaticals cancelled, but LB was laid off six months later. Then we were both unemployed, struggling to find work. Alaska was off the table. To say we have been looking forward to this Alaska trip for a long time is an understatement. Our kids, who are now adults, won’t be with us for the trip. They are responsible for their own adventures.

To plan our route to, within, and back from Alaska, we used the Milepost trip planner. The Milepost (paid link) has an overwhelming amount of information, but it is an invaluable resource. Here’s a link to the map of our planned route: BRB Season Four Alaska Bound Route.

Our plans for Season Four have us on the road a month longer than Season Three. We start in April by first heading east to Ohio to visit family. Ohio is on the way to Alaska from Colorado, right? From Ohio, we head back west, all the way to Seattle, with a list of things to see along the way. In order to let things warm up a little before heading north, we’ll spend over a week on Vancouver Island first.

Our route up to Alaska is is not a straight path. We are taking the Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver to Cache Creek, British Columbia, where we turn onto the West Access Route. In Dawson Creek, British Columbia, we start the Alaska Highway, also known as the ALCAN. From Jakes Corner in the Yukon Territory, we take a side trip down the South Klondike Highway to Skagway in Alaska, take the ferry over to Haines (also in Alaska), and drive up the Haines Highway to get back on the ALCAN in Haines Junction, Yukon Territory. However, we take the ALCAN south (yes, you heard that right) down to Whitehorse, still in Yukon, so we can head up the Klondike Highway to Dawson City, Yukon Territory. From Dawson City, the Top of the World Highway takes us into Chicken, Alaska (also known as the Klondike Loop).

Inside Alaska, we take a few loops around the interior. From Chicken, the Taylor Highway takes us over to Tok and the Tok Cutoff brings us to Glennallen, then we get on the Glenn Highway to reach Anchorage. After spending the Fourth of July in Anchorage, we explore the Kenai Peninsula. The Seward and Sterling Highways take us to Homer. We retrace our steps a little to make our way over to Seward. Another retrace allows us to get over to Whittier, where we take the ferry over to Valdez. From Valdez, we head up the Richardson Highway to Fairbanks. The Parks Highway brings us down to Denali National Park. After spending some time camping within the park, we head back up to Fairbanks for a few days in an effort to catch a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis. Then it is back down the Parks Highway to Palmer, just in time for the Alaska State Fair. After the fair, we take the Glenn Highway and Tok Cutoff back to Tok to get back on the ALCAN to start our trek back home.

The route south through Canada is just as windy as the route coming north. Heading south on the ALCAN to Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory, where we get on the Cassiar Highway. We stay on the Cassiar Highway until it ends at the Yellowhead Highway. Taking the Yellowhead Highway east, we reach Jasper, Alberta. The Canadian Rockies Route carries us from Jasper to Banff in Alberta. To complete our trip back to the United States, we take the Trans-Canada Highway 1 from Banff to Calgary and the East Access Route from Calgary to Great Falls, Montana.

But wait, our adventure is not quite done! From Montana, we head over to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. North Dakota will be our 50th and last state we have visited, 49 of which were with our Red Tail Lodge (our camper van). We’ll swing by the visitor center in Fargo, North Dakota, to pick up our “Best for Last Club” t-shirt before heading south for home.

In addition to sight-seeing and hiking, we have quite a few adventures planned that involve trains, planes, and boats. We’ll bring you along through our blog posts and YouTube videos. We also took a couple of short trips over the winter that we will share with you as well. Hopefully this will be our greatest season yet!

Check out our related video: Season Three Recap of 2021 and Season Four Plans for 2022

(RB)