Today we passed the 50,000 mile mark on the Subaru (aka “The Dolphin”), which is a modest count to be sure for a Subaru or for a bay area commuter car. It started out as our first family car. We bought this 2008 Subaru Outback in September 2008, a few months before our first baby was due (I traded in my first car – a Ford ZX2 in the process). In recent years we added more miles when it became my commuter car.

It has mostly been a reliable, safe and steady motor vehicle, true to the all-wheel drive Subaru reputation. Having attended to several maintenance issues in the past year or so, the car’s running well and primed to expand it’s range:

Farthest North: Nevada City, CA for a friend’s wedding

Farthest East: Cedar Grove and Roads End (end of CA-180) in Kings Canyon National Park (California)

Farthest West: Pescadero, CA and the nearby beaches

Farthest South: Garden Grove, CA, visiting grandma and the SoCal family (with Jasper riding in his crate in the back and the luggage going in the flexible carrier bag on top)

Highest Elevation: 7,200′ at Wuksachi Lodge (Sequoia National Park). Fomerly: 4,160′ at Tejon Pass

For a while we had a double-Subaru driveway – an Impreza hatchback was my main car before we traded it in and graduated to a minivan (aka “The Shark”).

Update June 2019: updated for a 762 mile trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in East/Central California.