On June 2, 2023 we drove our rig onto M/V Columbia in Bellingham, Washington for the three night ferry trip to Sitka, Alaska, with stops in Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg.

Time to dust off the old travel blog; we are hitting the road again in May in a new rig for another summer in Alaska.Our last Alaska trip was in 2014 with Ma, Pa, Big Kid and Little Kid in our 2001 Jayco Eagle class C motorhome. This time around it’s just Ma, Pa and Little Kid (now Tween Kid, age 11) for most of the summer because Big Kid (now Adult Kid, age 18) is now in college and has a summer job on campus and won’t be joining us until August. Also, the Jayco Eagle motorhome has been donated to Arizona Public Media and replaced by a 2023 F-150 with a Cirrus 620 camper (Big Blue).

In 2014 we covered most of the places that are on the road system in Alaska, so this time we are starting off with touring Southeast Alaska via the Alaska Marine Highway (what they call the Alaska state ferry system). We will take the ferry from Bellingham WA up to Sitka Alaska, then take ferries to Ketchikan, Prince of Wales Island and Juneau.

From Juneau we will take the ferry to Skagway Alaska for the “Arctic Dash” to the village of Tuktoyatuk, Northwest Territories, Canada, on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Tuktoyatuk, or “Tuk”, is one of the northernmost communities in the world.

After the Arctic Dash we will meet up with Adult Kid in Anchorage and she will join us for August. Space is very tight in the Cirrus 620 camper, so we will be renting a camper van for her to sleep in for that part of the trip. This part of the trip will include Valdez, the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak Island (via ferry), and the Anchorage area.

After Adult Kid flies out of Anchorage in late August for a semester abroad in Scotland we will visit Denali National Park and then start the long drive back to Tucson.

After La Pine State Park we decided to start working our way slowly south, and picked out Farewell Bend Campground, on the upper Rogue River, as our next stop. It turned out to be one of our favorite campgrounds of all our travels, which is saying something.

Farewell Bend Campground is located in a stand of towering old growth Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pines along the banks of the Rogue River. The Rogue cuts through old lava flows here in a series of waterfalls, rapids, narrow gorges. The lava was laid down in layers from a few inches to a couple feet thick, and at Farewell Bend erosion has turned these layers into natural patio areas along the river, with numerous flat spots, steps, seats, and potholes, which are ideal for lounging on a beautiful day. There were even natural sandboxes where large potholes were filled with sand. These gorgeous areas, each of which would have been significant tourist attractions anywhere east of the Mississippi, were tucked behind the campsites without any signs or formal trails indicating their presence. It was refreshing to be somewhere where you could discover fantastic scenic spots on your own.

We didn’t have any reservations for the campground, but like most Forest Service campgrounds 40% of the spots were first-come, first-served. We lucked into a huge site on the edge of the river with massive Ponderosas and Douglas Firs, and a nice rock patio area on the river.

Less than a quarter mile downstream from Farewell Bend is the gorgeous Rogue River Gorge, where the river tumbles over large waterfalls into a deep and narrow slot. Just beyond that was the ideal amount of nearby civilization: a small ice cream shop, general store, small restaurant, and nothing else.

We spent most of our days playing by the river, exploring the immediate area, and just relaxing.

One day we got ambitious and did a hike along the river. The plan was for Ma to drive the Toad down to Natural Bridge, a scenic spot three and a half miles down the river, and then hike back on the trail, and then after lunch the family would all hike down the river together and take the car back. The plan went a bit awry when Ma accidentally took the wrong trail at Natural Bridge, had to backtrack quite a ways, and then walked along the highway to get back instead of trying to find the right trail. However, the family hike back down the trail went smoothly, and Little Kid walked the whole way, albeit slowly for the last portion.

Another day the kids tubed together down a calm stretch of the river. The water was cold, but the kids loved it. Big Kid especially liked tubing by herself through a narrow gorge; the current was swift and just rough enough to make it exciting without being dangerous. On our last day on the Rogue everyone jumped in the river, even little kid.

Because we procrastinated on making summer plans we were not able to get any reservations on the coast for the July 4th weekend, so on July 1st we headed 18 miles inland to Blackberry Campground on the Alsea River, the only nearby campground where we could get reservations for July 1-5.

Blackberry Campground is a US Forest Service campground, so we kind of assumed we would be in the middle of forest with hiking trails, etc. Turns out, Blackberry is on a small parcel of Federal land surrounded by vacation homes and small farms. We like to go for long walks and explore, but the only place to walk was around the campground loop and along the adjacent highway, which left us feeling a little claustrophobic.

On the plus side, the weather was warmer than the coast and the river next to the campground was shallow enough for the kids to play in. Big Kid and Little Kid had tons of fun exploring pools, catching crawdads, and riding an inner tube down the mild rapids

After two days in camp we decided to break out and take the Toad for a drive along the nearby coast to scope out the first-come first-served campsites available there. We had burned out on researching campgrounds and making reservations after getting through the end of June, so we had no reservations for anything after the Fourth of July and needed to find where we would go after Blackberry. After striking out at the first campgrounds we scouted, we found first-come first-served spots available at Rock Creek Campground on the coast halfway between Yachats and Florence. The campground was nestled in a beautiful rainforest valley with towering Douglas Firs, and was a short walk from an incredibly scenic beach. We paid for a spot and then went back and packed up and moved, leaving Blackberry two days early.

While we were at Rock Creek Ma and the kids went to nearby Yachats for their Fourth of July parade while I stayed home resting an injured toe. According to Ma, it was not your typical Fourth of July parade: there were more tie dye and peace signs than American flags, and the parade included a wedding party, with the bride and groom on top of a wedding cake float.

While Rock Creek was a beautiful setting, the constant near gale force wind of the Oregon coast kept us off the beach in the afternoons, and even in our valley the wind was strong and cold enough to keep us inside most of the time, so once again we started researching where to go next. We quickly settled on bopping over the Cascades to the high desert region of Central Oregon, and after three nights at Rock Creek, we were on the move again.

Our first day on the road was a long one: approximately 450 miles to Yucaipa Regional Park near San Bernardino. We hit the road at 6:30 am, which was a bit early for many family members, and managed to make it to Yucaipa by about 3pm by taking almost no breaks.

We picked Yucaipa Regional Park for our first stopover because it had a huge water park with a crazy long water slide. So, imagine our disappointment when we found that the swim area was closed, despite the website saying it was open starting Memorial Day weekend. We had made reservations for two nights, planning on spending a day at the water park, but with it closed until June 14 we decided to leave the next day.

Our second day on the road was another long one: approximately 490 miles or so. For a regular car that wouldn’t be so bad, but we lumber along at 55 mph at the most, so we didn’t roll into Lake Solano County Park outside Davis, California, until about 6pm. One thing that makes Lake Solano unique is that there are feral peacocks all over the place. In the first five minutes we must have seen ten or more. I hadn’t really appreciated how noisy peacocks are until I camped among them! As Little Kid said, it sounds like they are screaming “help, help.”