The Highways Traveled

Purposes of this trip:
1. Get the last two college signs in Alaska and the two in Washington to COMPLETE MY COLLEGE SIGNS project that was started in 2014
2. Visit several national parks including some attempted in the past but came up short. Still, at some, visitor centers were closed.
3. Complete my last visits to several states -- with the exception of very few small sections, pretty much all areas west of the Mississippi River will be done
4. Wake up on my birthday in yet another out-of-town place, this time in Anchorage

The plans for this trip changed several times during the pandemic time. Losing the option of visiting Canada (I planned to explore much of Vancouver Island). Thus, I moved a few things from the August trip to give me some places to visit on this trip. And, I expanded the places to go during this trip. My number of days were set because of the scheduled flights in and out of Seattle. Then, because of what I saw/experienced in the trip in August, I decided to skip the entire state of Nevada (too many construction zones) and Truckee (less than a spectacular mountain town plus much smoke from a nearby7 forest fire).

WASHINGTON: Two college signs to photograph here. In fact, after photographing Western Washington University, it completes my project to photographing college campus signs. That's 456 colleges with over 1,000 photographs (since most campuses have multiple signs). Two things from this project. One, make a coffeetable book of all the signs; many people have said I should do that. Two, get into the Guinness Book of Records for something such as most campuses visited -- I have twice tried and was twice rejected.
Some other things for this state include driving along the Pacific Coast and taking a ferry to one of the islands in the Puget Sound where a small national park -- Ebys Landing -- exists.
ALASKA: I have long had a goal of visiting every state at least twice and spend a night in a different town each visit. Thus, two nights in two towns in two trips. Spending a night in Anchorage completed that goal for all 50 states. And, I finally got to visit a national park in Alaska plus photograph the campus signs for the two adjacent campuses here.
IDAHO: I tried in 2017 to visit the Hagerman's Fossil National Park. However, the bridge to it was out. Returned this year where a new visitor center just opened.
CALIFORNIA: I have long wanted to visit the town of Truckee. Tried a few years ago but a non-predicted snow closed the mountainous roads to Truckee. I have read that the town is a gorgeous place to see, thus, wanted to be here. Also, on the same trip that I missed getting to Truckee I had planned to visit Lassen Volcanic National Park further north. I got within a few miles of the park to learn it was closed due to the snow that had started.
OREGON: For several reasons -- all as a traveler in the state -- this state ranks in the bottom three of my favorite states. I thought I had finished being here a few years ago -- I even cheered as I drove north on I-5 across the Columbia River and got into Washington saying "DONE!!". But I ended up here once more because of the change in trip plans of being unable to visit Canada. Only thing really on the list for the state was the Astoria area. There is a national park in Astoria that marks the end of the trail for Lewis and Clark's exploration trip over 200 years ago. Plus, seeing where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean is likely a cool thing to see from high up on a bluff.


MISSED VISITING:
--Vancouver Island
--Lassen Volcanic National Park

OBSERVATIONS: Some observations made while traveling in this area:

  1. Alaska drivers are similar to New Hampshire drivers -- going 5 to 10 MPH below speed limits
  2. Washington has a new (for me) sign that says "Slide Area". I think it means something similar to "Falling Rock".
  3. Alaska introduced to me two new highway signs: "End Avalanche Area" and "Abrupt Edge" (aka. "uneven pavement")
  4. Oregon also uses "Abrupt Edge" as well as "Truck Escape Ramp" (aka. Runaway Truck Ramp")
  5. I saw a number of "street people" in Alaska. Some seem oblivious to traffic and would just walk across a street or highway without considering traffic. Others were pushing their grocery carts of stuff or hanging out at unusual places for a person to just be sitting. One would think they would seek a warmer climate for that type of life because life outside in Alaska winters would be quite challenging. But, I guess they know how to survive.
  6. Washington state highways have lower speed limits that most states. Apparently, for that reason, about 90% of the drivers exceed the posted speed limits. I rarely got to pass anyone!
  7. Pretty much everyone wears a mask indoors anywhere in California, Oregon and Washington but few wear them in Idaho. Many in Washington even wear masks outdoors too (e.g. walking down a street sidewalk). What is funny is that, at the Flight Museum, they put masks on the lifesize mannequins (except for astronauts who instead have space helmets).

The Bests:


The Worsts:

The Totals:


Just to list this as of September 2021: