I am getting ready to head out on an adventure this weekend and early next week up in the Pacific Northwest. I am actually going up for the MozCon SEO conference but heading up the weekend before to do a little traveling
3 states, 2 countries and 19 COUNTIES
Longtime readers will know that I am on a quest to visit all 3,143 COUNTIES in the United States. With a little bit of extra time before the conference, I’m going on 2 county trips
Darker grey is a trip to fill in my holes in western Washington and then a bit in northern Oregon. Lighter grey is a second trip north of Seattle up through northwest Washington and into British Columbia. Not pictured is a quick flight from Seattle to Ketchikan, Alaska (KTN) which will be my 49th state visited (only Hawaii left!)
Point Roberts: a quirky map oddity
Point Roberts, Washington is an exclave of the United States that can only be reached from the rest of the mainland US by traveling THROUGH Canada
(READ MORE: Navigating enclaves, exclaves and the world’s most complex international borders)
So I figured while I was in the neighborhood, I’d stop by and visit. Plus visiting British Columbia will count as a region for Most Traveled People, bringing my count up to 77 (including Alaska). While I’m excited to visit the exclave of Point Roberts, that’s not quite as crazy as the enclaves and exclaves of Baarle-Hertog on the Belgium / Netherlands border, something on my travel bucket list.
I also “have to” take the ferry from Anacortes over to San Juan Island, because that group of islands is their own county (San Juan, WA)
Instagram Stories
You may have heard of the new Instagram Stories feature that allows Instagram users to create “stories” that knit related videos and pictures together – I’m going to attempt to do one of those as I travel over the next few days.
So make sure to follow me on Instagram if you don’t already! I’ll also be following along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with #PWaCSeattle
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Don’t be too excited about Point Roberts. We had plenty of time before our ferry left Tsawwassen, so we headed down just to experience the geographic anomaly. What did we find? Answer: not much. We couldn’t even find someplace to eat, so we headed back after driving the entire edge.
The one nice part was that the border patrol officers there were much friendlier than the others I’ve encountered.
LOL – I’m not planning on being super excited. Just going to spend a bit of time there and take some pics.
Totally agree about using the Deception Pass bridge to reach Whidbey Island, and Island County. Stop and take a good look at the bridge (there’s a tidal current through there that the boaters are careful about) by accessing Deception Pass State Park on the south side of the bridge. Whidbey is well worth some time (lots of little towns, like Coupeville and Langley), and if you really want a ferry experience, drive all the way south on Whidbey, and take the ferry back to Mukilteo on the mainland.
As for Point Roberts, it’s always been an interesting place (I grew up just 20 minutes from there). There is NOT a lot there, but it is very unique. They get some of their utility services from the neighbouring Canadian town, for example. Until 1988, the telephone service was provided by a BC Tel, and it was a local call to Vancouver. Their middle and high-school kids have to commute to the ‘mainland’ passing two international borders on the way to school, and the same on the return home each day.
Hope you enjoy the look.
Try to catch the wooden boat festival in Port Townsend this weekend. It’s amazing if you’re interested in sailing at all and PT is the coolest town on the Olympic Peninsula.
That explains why all the hotels near there were sold out 🙂
Oh and Friday Harbor is cool too but it’s a looooooong ride round trip. If you drive a few miles south of Anacortes across the Deception Pass Bridge (also cool) you’ll be on Whidbey Island which is also part of Island County.
Right – that is my plan to catch Island County
Skip the ferry to San Juan Island and take the Kenmore Air seaplane flight.
Much quicker and cooler!