Link to our Alaska trip photos:
(new photos at the bottom of this photo album page)
August 12th – 14th, Friday through Sunday
The long drive home across Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Northern Colorado was long an hot—up in the 90s all the way home. We got home at 4PM on Sunday. It was a great trip to Alaska!
August 9th – 11th, Tuesday through Thursday
We spent three days camping with Janet & Nancy at the William Kent Campground, on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, near Tahoe City. We drove down to see Emerald Bay and then hiked a mile up the side of a mountain to see Cascade Falls.
August 8, Monday
It was a short drive from Willits to Sacramento today. We had dinner with Julie’s cousin Sandy and fiancé Brian. Then we spent some time with Steve’s sister Janet and Nancy. We stayed overnight at the Cal Expo RV Park, at the California State Fairgrounds. We snagged a nice spot with two shade trees.
August 7, Sunday
We left Harris beach State Park and stopped in Crescent City, CA for breakfast. Crescent City is where Steve’s youngest daughter was born while he was stationed at Klamath Air Force Station south of Crescent City at Requa, near the mouth of the Klamath River. We enjoyed the drive through the California Redwoods and spent Sunday night at Willits.
August 6, Saturday
It was another short day with a 3-hour drive to Brookings, Oregon. We stopped for breakfast along the way. Then we made our way to Harris beach State Park, just north of Brookings. It is one of the prettiest Oregon State Parks we’ve stayed at.
Tonight will be our last night in Oregon before we head down to see the California Redwoods tomorrow. We plan to arrive in Sacramento early Monday afternoon. We’ll see Julie’s cousin Sandy and Steve’s sister Janet and Nancy in Sacramento.
We plan to head for Lake Tahoe next Tuesday for three nights of camping (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) with Janet & Nancy on the west shore of the lake, near Tahoe City. On Friday we get on I-80 and start heading towards Colorado.
August 5, Friday
We knew that it was only about 75-mile to Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, where we had a reservation. We took our time getting ready to depart and left around 9:30AM, headed south again on U.S. 101. We stopped at several waysides to take photos. One stop was at “Devil’s Churn” but the waves only splashed some there, as it was low tide.
We saw some historic lighthouses along the coast today, including the Umpqua Lighthouse, a short walk from our campsite.
August 4, Thursday
We drove about 2-hours south from Tillamook to South Beach State Park, a few miles south of Newport. Along the way, saw more beautiful Oregon coast scenery.
We stopped in Newport to fuel up and have lunch. The small café we stopped at was very crowded and we shared a table with two middle-aged guys. It turned out they both worked for two different local radio stations. It was fun talking to them and they suggested we must stop at the local Rogue brewery.
I’d never heard of Rogue but they have produced many award winning beers over the years. We stopped at the brewery and headed for the tasting room, where we could sample some of the 40 different beers they had on tap. We sampled four different beers and purchased some to go.
We saw the South Beach State Park campground sign and a small sign that said “full”. It was around 1:30PM and we decided to drive in to the park anyway. They had a spot for us so we decided to stay. After we set up, we walked about 1/3 mile to the beachto check it out.
August 3, Wednesday
We left Fort Stevens State Park and headed south on U.S. 101 along the Oregon Coast. We stopped in Cannon Beach and saw an amazing Oregon beach scene that you would imagine. Two elderly ladies at the park told us that we were seeing “Haystack Rock”, the most photographed rock in America, and they insisted on taking our picture for us.
It is where the tufted puffins, we saw in Alaska, go to nest. We got a postcard image of the Oregon coast as we headed south out of town.
We arrived in Tillamook and headed to the coast to check out the nearby Cape Lookout State Park to see if they had any vacancy. No room so we headed back towards Tillamook to a RV park. Once settle in, we headed to the Tillamook Cheese Factory for a self-guided tour, sample some of the ice cream and cheeses.
August 2, Tuesday
We had a nice two-hour drive to southern Washington on U.S. 101 and crossed the Columbia River into Astoria, Oregon.
We followed the highway to Warrenton and on to Fort Stevens State Park. They had a “vacancy” sign by the entrance and with over 500 campsites; we ended up with a pull-through site with water and electric.
We couldn’t figure out what the big draw was for the state park, but after exploring a little we saw they had a small lake, long beach on the Pacific, many biking and hiking trails, great views of the Columbia where it meets the Pacific, and historical significance where Fort Stevens was active from the Civil War until after World War II.
August 1, Monday
We spent the day at Ocean City State park catching up on our reading and just hanging out. We plan to drive south into Oregon tomorrow to the Ft. Stevens State Park to see if we can get in since we don’t have reservations. We called Oregon State Park reservations and were told that Fort Stevens was full but we’ll drive there to see if anything opened up. Our plan B is to stay at the KOA right across the road from the state park entrance.
July 31, Sunday
We left Gig Harbor for a short two-hour drive to the Pacific coast and the Ocean City State Park. Our state park campsite is a pull-through with full hook-ups. We got a nice site with grass, sun and shade but the best part is the sound of the surf nearby and a short hike to the beach.
July 30, Saturday
After a quick 30 minute drive to Bremerton, we found a place close to the terminal to park and embarked on the ferry for an hour-long ride as foot passengers to Seattle. It was another beautiful sunny day and the cruise to Seattle was fun. Don’t ask why, but the ferry ride to Seattle was free and the ride back to Bremerton wasn’t ($7.10 per person).
We walked along the waterfront and headed to the Pike Place Market. It was interesting, but extremely crowded (we assumed that Saturday plus sunny in Seattle brought out the crowds).
We stopped at Emmett Watson’s Oyster Bar located in the Pike Place market for lunch (think more clam chowder, fried oysters, halibut & chips and Alaskan Amber). After lunch we headed to the Seattle Monorail to catch a ride to the Seattle Center and back.
We walked to the Chinatown International District for a look around and then headed to the Klondike National Park building in the Pioneer District. Many of the gold rush prospectors left from Seattle to reach Skagway and finally Dawson City. We walked back to the ferry terminal to catch a ride home.
July 29, Friday
We got our laundry done in the morning and decided to go into Gig Harbor for lunch. It is a quaint town right on a small harbor with lots of sail boats, cruisers and runabouts.
We went to Tides Tavern and they had a dock on the harbor. We saw people docking their boats and servers ferrying their drinks and lunch right to their boat. We ate inside with a window view of all the boating activity. We both continued our quest for fresh seafood and Julie ordered some excellent fried oysters while I chose to stay with my usual halibut fish & chips accompanied by an Alaskan Amber.
After lunch we went by the local Fred Meyer to pick up some salmon dry rub and Costco for wine and beer. We learned there were no discount liquor stores as Washington State operates the liquor stores and sets the prices, so we had to pay a little more for our margarita ingredients than expected.
We were planning to go into Seattle on Saturday and were looking into the light rail system and driving to the nearest station near the Seattle-Tacoma airport. The RV Resort manager suggested it would be easier and quicker to take the Washington State ferry from Bremerton and it was only a half-hour drive up the road to the ferry terminal.
July 28, Thursday
We drove to McChord Field and checked out the FamCamp, but they were full, including about 20 campers boon docking in the overflow area. We decided to go to Gig Harbor RV Resort in Gig Harbor, WA.
As we drove there and crossed the Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge, I remembered it from writing a research paper for a graduate-level project management course. The original Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge built in 1940, nicknamed “galloping gertie” collapsed a few months after it opened (there are good videos of the collapse on You Tube). We crossed on the replacement suspension bridge, built a few years later. It is now used for west-bound traffic and a new suspension bridge is used for east-bound traffic.
July 27, Wednesday
Back in the USA (lower 48). We drove from Cache Creek, BC to Bay View State Park, near Bay View, Washington. It’s about 70 miles north of Seattle. We drove along the Fraser River all the way from Prince George to Chilliwack, BC. Today we went through Fraser River Canyon and Fraser Valley. It was a scenic drive, in spite of the 7% grades coming down some long hills.
We saw last night on the Internet that this state park had three sites open so we took a chance that we’d get into one and we did. The view is magnificent. We can’t get over how cheap everything is here in the lower 48. We even saw diesel fuel for $3.89/gallon (after paying well over $5/gallon in remote parts of Alaska and Canada).
We’re headed to Tacoma tomorrow to look at staying a few days at McChord AFB or Ft. Lewis at their FamCamp.
July 26, Tuesday
We had a nice drive from Vanderhoof to Cache Creek, BC. We drove through Prince George, BC and saw the turnoff to go to Dawson Creek (start of the Alaska Highway) but we turned south, rather than north. The highway followed the Fraser River south.
July 25, Monday
We had a nice drive from Meziadin Lake Provincial Park to Vanderhoof, BC. Julie saw two bears today at two different locations. Both were eating berries along the road, but off the side of the road in the brush. We arrived at Vanderhoof around 3PM and set up at Dave’s RV Park south of town. It’s nice to have a hookup tonight to recharge our batteries.
July 24, Sunday
We left Iskut and stopped for breakfast at a small resort called Tatogga Lake Resort. It was very nice inside, especially the decorations (moose and other wildlife). The breakfast was one of the best we’ve had on the trip.
We drove down to Stewart to check out the campgrounds with the intention of going to see bears, from a special bearing watching platform, as they fished for salmon spawing in a local stream. However, we learned from a local in Stewart that the salmon weren’t spawning yet, so seeing bears by the stream may not be possible.
However, driving down the Cassiar Highway and the highway to Stewart, we saw seven different black bears, but only a couple of them weren’t camera shy. We even saw a mother and her young cub crossing the road. Most were eating berries along the road.
We decided to spend the night at a nearby BC Provincial Park called Meziadin Lake. It was right on the lake and we had a great view of the lake and mountains.
July 23, Saturday
We had a long drive from Teslin to Iskut. There was a lot of road construction/ resurfacing work going on the Cassiar Highway. It was a pretty drive but stressful with the narrow highway with no center line or other markings, the many gravel sections and road dust. We didn’t see any wildlife other than two snowshoe hares, one bald eagle and many ground squirrels.
We did find a very pretty RV campground, outside of Iskut, British Columbia, in a beautiful mountain setting.
July 22, Friday
We left Haines and stopped at the Mile 33 Roadhouse for breakfast. The food was good but they took forever to prepare it – we were there almost an hour. We crossed the border into British Columbia with no problem. We stopped along the way at a panoramic view of the Kluane Range.
We had a busy day spotting wildlife along the way. We saw one grizzly bear, a bald eagle, and several trumpeter swans on the Haines Highway. Then we turned south on the Alaska Highway and near Whitehorse we spotted two grizzly bears eating berries along the road.
We also saw a hawk, coyote, and one black bear just outside of Teslin. Tomorrow we head further east on the Alaska Highway, but turn south on the Cassiar Highway towards Dease Lake, Iskut and Stewart.
July 22, Friday
We left Haines and stopped at the Mile 33 Roadhouse for breakfast. The food was good but they took forever to prepare it – we were there almost an hour. We crossed the border into British Columbia with no problem. We stopped along the way at a panoramic view of the Kluane Range.
We had a busy day spotting wildlife along the way. We saw one grizzly bear, a bald eagle, and several trumpeter swans on the Haines Highway. Then we turned south on the Alaska Highway and near Whitehorse we spotted two grizzly bears eating berries along the road.
We also saw a hawk, coyote, and one black bear just outside of Teslin. Tomorrow we head further east on the Alaska Highway, but turn south on the Cassiar Highway towards Dease Lake, Iskut and Stewart.
July 21, Thursday
Tonight is our last night in Alaska as we leave Haines tomorrow and head back into Canada through the Yukon Territory and British Columbia towards Washington.
We plan to drive to Teslin, YT tomorrow and then head down the Cassiar Highway on Saturday through British Columbia on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. We’ve been told that we’ll see lots of wildlife on this route (e.g. bears and moose).
We’ve spent 33 days in Alaska and driven nearly 3,000 miles across the state, but you really can’t capture in words or pictures the beauty of Alaska. We met a couple from Arizona last night and they told us that Colorado had been their favorite state to visit, until they had come to Alaska.
July 20, Wednesday
We took a day trip on the Fjord Express to Juneau, a catamaran that also included whale and marine life watching. On the way down the Lynn Canal towards Juneau, we saw the Eldred lighthouse, sea lions, and whales.
The weather for the trip was fantastic with sunny skies and temperatures in the low-70s. We saw small planes taking off and landing in the Juneau harbor, alongside the three cruise ships in port yesterday. We spent three hours in Juneau having lunch and a little sightseeing.
Our trip included an hour-long visit to the Mendenhall Glacier, which is one of only a few glaciers that are accessible by road.
The highlight of our trip was the whale watching and we saw several humpback whales on the trip back to Haines. Several came right next to the boat.
July 19, Tuesday
Yesterday after we got off the fast ferry in Skagway, we saw our friends Eldon and Cindy driving down the street but we couldn’t catch them to say hi. After we got back to our RV campground, Cindy came by. They had put their truck camper on the Alaska Ferry from Skagway to Haines.
We goofed off today, washing the Mazda and picking up some groceries. Then we decided to drive out to the Chilkoot River around noon to see if any bears were out there. Sure enough, we came around a bend in the road and several people are out taking pictures. We pulled over to see two, year-old brown bears (grizzlies) wrestling on someone’s lawn by the river.
Then we drove over a bridge and could see the mama bear and the same two bears fishing in the river. It’s the closest we’ve been to any bears (I was on the opposite side of the car to take pictures).
July 18, Monday
We took the fast ferry from Haines to Skagway, 14-miles up the Lynn Canal, about a 45-minute ride. Skagway was once the major gateway for the Klondike Gold Rush in the late-1890s. The town was kept much as it was back then, and is now part of a National Historic District of the National Park Service.
There were three cruise ships in the harbor at Skagway and therefore, many people on the streets of Skagway. We hadn’t seen so many people in one spot in Alaska.
We had tickets for the three-hour ride on the White Pass & Yukon Route scenic railway that takes you to the White Pass summit on the U.S – Canadian border and back. We really enjoyed the trip and saw lots of historic relics and beautiful scenery.
July 17, Sunday
Julie did laundry this morning and we hung out. We took a drive along the shore of the Lynn Canal up to the Chilkoot River and Chilkoot Lake State Park.
The salmon were running in the river and there were many fishermen. We heard that that there’s a couple of bears that come down to the river to fish but we didn’t see them today.
The RV park owners host regular potluck suppers with Dungeness Crab for $6.00/person for a whole crab. The crabs are supplied by a local fisherman who catches them that day. Julie and I went and the crab was some of the best we’ve ever had. We met people in our RV park from all over the world: South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Boston, Florida, Kansas, and places beyond.
July 16, Saturday
Nice drive from Fox Lake to Haines. We drove through part of the Yukon Territory, a sliver of British Columbia and a little piece of Alaska. On the Alaska piece, we drove past the Bald Eagle Preserve but saw one eagle just before we got to the preserve.
We’re staying at Oceanside RV Park, right next to the small boat harbor and have great views of the bay and snow-capped mountains across the bay. We’re here for six nights, our last stop in Alaska before we start heading home. We have a boat trip excursion planned to Skagway on Monday and to Juneau on Wednesday.
July 15, Friday
Steve is drinking wine, so Julie gets to write again.
Left Dawson City just before 9:00 am with a quick stop just outside of town to fill up with diesel.
The drive was beautiful on mostly paved roads. There were a few gravel stretches but they were all short.
We stopped for a late breakfast at the Moose Creek Lodge as recommended in the Milepost. The lodge is a small, rustic log cabin that was built in 1960 and features homemade pastries and a hearty breakfast. We both had eggs, hash browns, bacon (me) ham (Steve) and toast made with from scratch bread. As we were paying, we told her we weren’t leaving until we picked out a couple of pastries for the road. I chose a fresh raspberry tart and Steve got his usual oatmeal raisin cookie. They ended up being lunch at a roadside rest stop later in the day and were delicious.
The rest of the drive was uneventful. We did not see any wildlife with the exception of a few ground squirrels, a couple of which were lucky to live another day as our tires came perilously close. We drove over/through lots of hills, forests, lakes, creeks and rivers.
We intended to drive all the way to Whitehorse, but a little after 3:00 pm came upon a Yukon Government Campground called Fox Lake.
We decided to take a look and see if any of their 43 sites were pull-throughs. One of them was and had the added benefit of being right on the lake, so we pulled over and set-up camp for the night.
We woke up around 1130PM from the sunlight coming in the back window of the camper and got up to close the shades. Wow, what a sunset and we were looking northwest. It finally got slightly darker, around midnight, but was more like twilight.
There were several Canadians outside we talked to who said they always have great sunsets at Fox Lake.
July 14, Thursday
Julie gets to write this blog!
Well, Steve talked me into taking the Taylor Highway and Top of the World Road to Dawson City. Very scary road with switchbacks and 1,000 foot drop offs with no guardrails.
Going up to Chicken was mostly paved and very pretty. Chicken is a town of less than 50 people, mostly trappers and miners. There is no electricity, running water or sewage – they all must be self-sustaining with generators, outhouses and water from the river.
From Chicken to the border was dirt and gravel and very narrow in parts. It was surprising how many RV’s we passed, everything from small Class B’s up to 40’ motorhomes towing SUV’s and cars. Some of the people were even smiling when we squeezed past them. They probably noticed I wasn’t smiling.
Border crossing went smoothly. She did ask about pets and we were able to produce their $120 health certificate. No questions about liquor or vegetables so it all came through intact.
Road was all paved past the border and changed from the Taylor Highway to Top of World Road which was very aptly named. Views were beautiful and road continued on top of the hills/mountains for many, many miles; about 60 in total.
Road finally came down to the Yukon River just across from Dawson City. A free government ferry took us across the river and dropped us on the edge of town. Unfortunately the cats didn’t even realize they had gone for their first boat ride.
We secured a pull-thru site at the Gold Rush Campground right in town and then walked the few blocks to town stopping at the El Dorado Hotel lounge for a beer. The town is still full of gold rush era buildings and streets are unpaved. Loved it!
After our beer, we walked to Sourdough Joe’s for another beer and dinner. We sat outside and had fish and chips followed by homemade apple crisp.
We strolled through the town a bit on our way back to the campground for after dinner drinks outside. Not happy about the drive, but Dawson City was worth it.
July 13, Wednesday
We left Valdez and headed up Thompson Pass where we stopped and took a picture of Horsetail Falls.
Then it was on to Glennallen to fuel up and head to Tok. We stayed at the Tok RV Village which we really liked with their pull-through sites and trees between the sites.
July 12, Tuesday
We went drove around the bay to the Solomon Fish Hatchery to see the pink salmon (Humpies) who had returned to the fish hatchery (where they were hatched) and were trying to spawn up the river there. They were blocked from the river but allowed to swim up sluices at the hatchery. There were also four sea lions there feasting on these salmon. We heard that there’ll be bears there in the evening.
July 11, Monday
We loaded our cats up into their pet carriers and headed to a local vet to get new health certificates for crossing the border into Canada. The cats weren’t too happy about the side trip but were thrilled when we got them back “home”, into the camper.
Then we bid Pat farewell and headed up the Glenn Highway towards Glennallen where we turned south to go to Valdez. It was a beautiful drive where saw more snow-capped mountains and glaciers and we stopped to take a photo of Bridal Falls.
We checked out a few campgrounds in Valdez before settling into one called Bear Paws, right next to the small boat harbor. It’s one of the better campgrounds we’ve seen so far with great views and shade trees. We see Prince William Sound commercial and charter fishing boats, and tour boats come and go.
We ran into a couple camped here that we’d met from Michigan who also have a Lance truck camper. We met Eldon and Cindy at Lake Louise last month and saw them again at Denali. We enjoyed sharing stories about our adventures since we’d seen each other. We went to dinner with them to celebrate Eldon’s birthday.
July 10, Sunday
We headed up the Sterling Highway and the Seward Highway towards Anchorage. We stopped at Costco to pick up a few things and the Elmendorf commissary to get a few groceries. Then we headed up the Glenn Highway to Eagle River to spend the evening with John and Pat and parked in front of their house for the night. It was the first time we’d been in a home since we left ours on June 2nd.
July 9, Saturday
We spotted a sea otter in the bay just off the beach from our campsite. We also saw two bald eagles and their nest driving to Safeway this morning.
We went to the Saturday Homer Farmer’s Market and bought a large King Salmon filet and fresh dill for grilling at dinner. After dinner we were sitting outside the camper and spotted two bald eagles on the beach.
They flew around some and then landed on a nearby log. It surprised us that they let us get a little closer to get a better picture of them.
July 8, Friday
We took a tour boat from Homer across Kachemak Bay to a small town of Seldovia. The first stop was Gull Island, a rookery for many species of birds, where we saw common murre, horned and tufted puffins, black oystercatcher, cormorant.
Further along, we saw a few more bald eagles and many sea otters.
We spent about 3 hours in Seldovia, only accessible by boat or air. After lunch, we hiked the Otterbahn Trail to Black Beach and back.
There was a sea otter in the marina by our boat and didn’t mind having his picture taken.
July 7, Thursday
We departed Soldotna a day early and headed for Homer, at the very southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula, right on Kachemak Bay. We headed straight to the Homer Spit (a four-mile strip of land formed by a terminal moraine left by a glacier retreating into the Kenai Mountains) where we knew there were city RV parks right on the beach. It’s dry camping but well worth the view of the bay and the snowcapped mountains surrounding the bay.
We went down to the end of the Homer Spit to see the marina and the cannery row with many gift shops and seafood restaurants. We had heard there were several bald eagles here and managed to get a photo of two of them in flight.
July 6, Wednesday
We drove up to Kenai and went to the Visitor’s & Cultural Center where we saw native Alaskan artifacts and the history of the area. We also visited the Old Town area where we saw an onion-dome Russian Orthodox Church, a National Historic Landmark.
We drove north through Nikiski, with major Cook Inlet oil and natural gas field support industries. We made our way all the way north to the end of the highway and Captain Cook State Park.
July 5, Tuesday
We ran some errands and relaxed at the campsite.
July 4, Monday
We visited the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge just up the road from our campground. After looking inside the visitor center, we went on a 3-mile hike on the “Keen Eye” Nature Trail and the Centennial Trail through dense woods but didn’t spot any wildlife.
July 3, Sunday
We drove the 95 miles from Seward to Soldotna and it was another Scenic Byway, passing snow-covered mountains and several lakes along the way. The last 30 miles before Soldotna, the highway paralleled the Kanai River with its turquoise waters. The Kanai River offers anglers four species of salmon: King (Chinook), Coho (Silver), Sockeye (Red), and Pink (Humpies). We saw men fly fishing near the junction of the Russian and Kanai Rivers and one guy caught a fish as we drove by.
Soldotna is the fishing center of the universe where the Kenai River runs right through town. The Klondike RV Park we’re staying at is one of the best places so far, with 25-foot wide spaces and lots of grass.
We wandered over to the Soldotna’s visitor center to see the Kenai River Classic Fish Walk, a deck that runs 250 feet along the shore of the river and used to fish from.
We also saw the world-record 97.25-pound King Salmon, caught in 1985 from the Kenai River, stuffed and on display inside the visitor center.
July 2, Saturday
It rained most of the day so we got caught up on our laundry and played cards in the lodge. We played five games of 3-13 and Julie won four of them. We went out for dinner again at Chinook’s Restaurant and had seafood again.
July 1, Friday
The town of Seward is filling up with people and campers everywhere for the long weekend. The town hosts a marathon on Monday, July 4th where runners run up and down a mountain right next to Seward.
We took in the Alaska Sea Life Center this morning, Alaska’s only public aquarium, where we saw some of the sea life we saw yesterday plus some new wildlife.
June 30, Thursday
We got up early and drove to the small boat harbor to take a Kenai Fjords boat tour that we had signed up for. It was a 9-hour trip from Seward out Resurrection Bay into the Gulf of Alaska and around Aialik Peninsula. Our tour was called the “Captain’s Choice” and we were on a small 45-foot boat with only 16 guests so we got to see much more than the larger tour boats. Before we left shore, the boat’s captain asked everyone what they wanted to see and then tailored the tour towards that.
We saw steller sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals, humpback, orca and fin whales, cormorant, bald eagles, common murre, horned and tufted puffins, Dall’s porpoise, mountain goat, black bear, and silver salmon breaching. Julie’s favorite was seeing four humpback whales breaching and open mouth feeding. Steve’s favorite was a pod of Dall’s porpoises that raced along the front of the boat. They were black and white and looked like miniature orca whales.
The boat drove through an ice field up to the Aialik Glacier where we saw it calving small chunks of ice into the bay.
June 29, Wednesday
We drove out to Kenai Fjords National Park about 10 miles out of Seward to see the Exit Glacier. We hiked a mile up the trail to see the Glacier close up.
June 26, Tuesday
We went to Gwennies Old Alaska Restaurant for breakfast on our way out of Anchorage and it was very good. I had eggs and reindeer sausage with home fries and Julie had an avocado omelet with cheese sauce and home fries. The portions were too much and we couldn’t finish it.
We headed down the Seward highway, an American Scenic Byway, and the views were spectacular.
We arrived at Seward Resort where we’ll spend five nights. After we settled in we went over to the registration desk and signed up for an all-day sea excursion on Thursday to see (hopefully) whales, rare birds, sea lions, glaciers, etc. We went ahead and paid extra to go on the small boat that will tailor your trip to what everyone wants to see and holds a maximum of 20 people.
June 27, Monday
The priority today was to find a tire dealer to replace our tires on the car dolly. The tires that came with the dolly were el cheapo regular bias ply tires that literally wore out with only two trips and 5,000 miles on them. Then we ran a couple of other errands.
We met the sister and brother-in-law of Diana Sobottka , a friend of ours from Colorado Springs, for dinner. John and Pat live just outside of Anchorage and we went to Sourdough Mining Co. for dinner where the seafood chowder was excellent.
June 26, Sunday
We had a nice drive from Denali to Anchorage. We stopped twice along the highway in Denali State Park at the Mt. McKinley viewpoints, but there were low clouds so we couldn’t see the mountain at all.
We stopped at Mary’s McKinley Viewpoint Lodge for lunch. The lodge had a small café, with large windows to view Mt. McKinley but it was the food that impressed us. I had the halibut sandwich that included a large grilled filet of halibut, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and spicy sauce with fresh French fries for only $14. We also split a huge homemade 4” x 4” brownie. Mary Carey, famous for Alaskan books, homesteaded the property before the state park was created and fought the state to create the highway from Anchorage to Denali so others could share her view of the mountains. A movie is being filmed about her life. Mary has passed away and her family now run the lodge and café.
We checked out the FamCamp at Fort Richardson (now Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson) and found a nice campsite with full hookup for two nights stay. The huge base is right on the northwest edge of Anchorage. We decide to take a ride into town and found a Mexican restaurant so Julie could get her fix.
June 25, Saturday
We plan to kick back and relax today before we head south to Anchorage tomorrow.
June 24, Friday
We got up early to meet the bus for our Kantishna Experience tour, a 92-mile bus trip to the end of the only road in Denali. The 12-hour round trip down the mostly narrow gravel road was an amazing tour. We were very pleased to see Mt. McKinley, North America’s highest peak at 20,320 feet elevation, which is often obscured by clouds during the summer.
We also saw much of park’s wildlife (dall sheep, caribou, wolf, grizzly bear, golden eagle, snowshoe hare, ptarmigan). The only thing we missed was seeing a moose. Dall sheep are the reason Denali was established. They are the only pure white big horn sheep and remain white in winter and summer.
It’s rare to see a wolf in the wild so we consider ourselves very lucky.
June 23, Thursday
We checked-in for our reservation on Wednesday night, so we went around 10:30AM and picked out our campsite at Denali National Park’s Riley Creek campground, right inside the main gate.
After we set up camp, we went for a ride into the park the 15 miles to Savage River, as far as privately owned vehicles may travel. Guests must travel by park bus past this point. We saw some caribou along the way.
We had dinner at the Salmon Bake, a landmark in Denali’s “Glitter Gulch” right outside of the park. The food was very good, especially the seafood chowder.
June 22, Wednesday
We took the truck to get the oil changed before we departed Fairbanks. We went to fuel up after the oil change and as we waited for a large truck at the pump, we shut ours off. Well, it wouldn’t start and after getting a tow truck, it turned out the batteries were dead. We made another trip back to Walmart to get two new truck batteries (better to break down in Fairbanks than out on the road somewhere).
We finally headed for Denali around 2:30PM and went to Riley Creek campground to see if we could get in one night early, since we had reservations for three nights. They were full, so we spent one night at a commercial campground a few miles down the road.
June 21, Tuesday
Today is summer solstice. It does stay lighter later here...about 21.5 hours of daylight. It doesn’t really get dark, more like twilight. We have been up at 2AM and it was light out. It’s a good thing we have day/night shades in the camper to help us go to sleep. We have found ourselves staying up later. This photo was taken at 10PM and you can see how light it is out.
June 20, Monday
We explored Fairbanks by first eating breakfast at Sam’s Sourdough Café, where we had an “Alaska-size” breakfast, where the locals go. The sourdough pancakes were especially good.
Next we headed to the Fairbanks Cultural and Visitor’s Center, where they had excellent Alaska historical and cultural displays. We also watched a film on Fairbanks and another on the Aurora, best seen on cold nights in September through March.
Then we headed to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks to the Museum of the North. The cultural, historical, wildlife and art displays made it a very worthwhile visit. They had a grizzly bear that was over 9 feet tall.
We stopped at the Alaska pipeline visitor’s center to see the pipeline again and several displays.
June 19, Sunday
We left Tok and headed north towards Fairbank. As we crossed the Tanana river, we were surprised to see that much of it was still frozen.
Further north we reached Delta Junction, the end of the Alaska Highway. The 1,422 mile drive was an adventure, especially exciting were the sections where we saw wildlife and very few people.
We had read about and planned to stop at the historic Rikka’s Roadhouse north of Delta Junction for lunch. To our surprise, we pulled into the parking lot there were three tour buses. The roadhouse is a national historic landmark and no longer functions as a working roadhouse.
A few miles up the road we got our first look at the Alaska Pipeline.
We stopped at Eielson AFB and checked out their FamCamp, but decided to go another 20 miles north to Fairbanks and Fort Wainwright. We’re staying at the Ft. Wainwright FamCamp for three nights while we explore Fairbanks.
June 18, Saturday
The drive from Destruction Bay all the way to the border with Alaska was the roughest we’d seen on the entire trip. The road has suffered from frost heave as the permafrost has thawed and caused the road to buckle in many places. At best it was only 30-40 mph for about 140 miles. We finally crossed the border into Alaska and stayed overnight in Tok, about 200-miles south of Fairbanks.
June 17, Friday
We had a nice drive from Teslin to just north of Haines Junction, YT and stayed overnight at Cottonwood RV Park on the west shore of Kluane Lake at Destruction Bay. We stopped along the way at Canyon Creek Bridge, built in 1903 on a wagon road for gold miners making their way from Whitehorse to the mountains. We also stopped in Whitehorse for fuel and lunch.
June 16, Thursday
We had a nice drive today from Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park to Teslin, Yukon Territory. Just south of the British Columbia-Yukon Territory border we spotted three different black bears. We couldn’t stop in time to take a photo of the first, but we saw the second one farther down the road and were able to get some photos. We also saw more buffalo, including one that ran across the road right behind our car.
We stopped in Watson Lake to see the “Sign Post Forest” and it was interesting to see all the signs posted by people from all over the world. There are over 55,000 signs there.
June 15, Wednesday
We decided to get an early start so we could make it to Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park by noon or so to get a camping spot, a 180-mile drive.
On the highway here, we saw more wildlife than any other time. First we saw two black bears at separate locations, then moose, Stone sheep and buffalo. The bears were too fast disappearing into the woods, but we got photos of moose and some Stone sheep.
We passed Muncho Lake and the reflection of the mountains in the background on the lake was amazing.
The hot springs are considered the premier attraction along the Alaska Highway. We settled in and enjoyed a dip in the natural hot springs that afternoon, although it was 85-degrees out.
June 14, Tuesday
We left Dawson Creek and headed to Fort Nelson, B.C. for an overnight stay. We met a couple from Nashville, who were on their way back from Alaska. They had a 40-foot motorhome, had sold their house in 2000 and had been full-timing it in their motorhome since then. We couldn’t do that. It’s nice to have a home to come back to.
June 13, Monday
We spent the day in Dawson Creek at “Mile 0 RV Park” doing laundry and running some errands. Dawson Creek has a population of about 12,000. We went to the visitor center and picked up some literature on the Yukon Territory and maps. We also visited the Alaska Highway House, a new museum on the Alaskan Highway. We watched an excellent PBS documentary on the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942 by the U.S. Army.
June 12, Sunday
We packed up and departed Jasper National Park early for the long drive through Grand Prairie, Alberta to Dawson Creek, British Columbia. We took the “scenic route to Alaska” up Highway 40 to Grand Prairie. As we came over a hill, we saw a Provincial Park sign and saw what we both thought was a statue of a bull moose....but as we got closer it moved and we both realized it was real. It was a huge bull moose and it ran off into the woods so fast so we weren't able to get a picture.
We headed west from Grand Prairie and fueled up right before the border as we had learned fuel prices are higher in BC. We settled in at the Mile 0 RV Park in Dawson City, the start of the Alaska Highway, for a couple of nights before we head out for the 1, 523 mile drive to Fairbanks.
June 11, Saturday
We headed north up the Icefields Parkway from Lake Louise to Jasper through more of Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. After driving approximately 150 miles with numerous picture stops, we eventually arrived at Whistlers National Park campground, just outside the town of Jasper. The Icefields Parkway claims to be the most beautiful road in the world and we believe it after today’s drive. The Canadian Rocky Mountains are so much different than our Colorado Rockies. Although, they’re not taller, they seem larger because the mountain tops are way above tree line. They are stunningly beautiful.
The Icefields Parkway passes within viewing distance of seven icefields (large upland glaciers) and about 25 smaller, but notable glaciers. We stopped and took some photos by the Icefield Center and saw the people movers out on Columbia Icefield.
June 10, Friday
We drove north from near Fort McLeod towards Calgary on a very good 4-lane highway. It was a little confusing near Calgary until we finally saw the signs for Trans-Canada Highway 1 West which we knew would take us towards Banff National Park. Julie spotted a bald eagle just east of the park before we entered.
We drove to outside of Lake Louise town where we found a spot at a national park campground. After lunch, we headed up to see Lake Louise and The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. The view of the crystal clear blue water of Lake Louise, the mountains and glaciers were spectacular. After seeing it in person, we can say pictures do not do it justice.
June 9, Thursday
We drove from Great Falls, MT to Fort McLeod, Alberta. The day began in pouring down rain and we were soaked (and cold) by the time we hitched up the car dolly and got the Mazda loaded. Then we had to troubleshoot a car dolly tail light problem which turned out to be corroded contacts and a bad bulb. We stopped in Shelby, MT for lunch at The Griddle; it was very good, eating alongside the locals. We crossed the border into Canada with no problems.
We stopped in Lethbridge at a Safeway Wine & Spirits store and got sticker shock as everything was twice what we are used to paying. We settled in at a campground near Fort McLeod, near Smashed Head…….
We spent the day (in the rain again) getting laundry done and replenishing our provisions before we head north into Canada tomorrow morning.
June 7, Tuesday
It rained overnight and we decided to head for Great Falls, Montana. It was a very pretty drive through several mountain ranges. We settled in at the Malmstrom AFB FamCamp for two nights.
June 6, Monday
We heard from fellow campers that they had a lot of snow in Yellowstone and we saw some of it when we traveled there from Grand Teton. Most of the lakes in the southern part of the park, including Yellowstone Lake, were still frozen.
We stayed in Madison Junction campground and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was, with the many pine trees and right next to the Madison River, where we saw an elk grazing.
We drove around Yellowstone on Monday afternoon and stopped to see a grizzly bear. We’re sure we’ll see more bears in Alaska, where they outnumber the people.
The weather has been fantastic, sunny and in the 70s. We took a nice 3-mile hike that went past a couple of small lakes with good views of the snow-capped mountains. We heard that the snow pack in the Tetons is at 300% this year. Tomorrow we head for Yellowstone.
We departed Rock Springs, WY and headed north along the Green River valley towards Jackson. Along the way, we stopped several times at historical markers. One marker was on the Green River, which emigrants on the Oregon and California trails had to cross on their way West.
Another marker was on James Bridger, a trapper who explored the area and for which Bridger-Teton National Forest was named (it surrounds the Grand Teton National Park).
We settled in for a couple days at Colter Bay campground in Grand Teton National Park. After dinner, we went down to Jackson Lodge to look for moose and watch the sunset.
Sitting outside on the deck of the bar, we met two women school teachers (brand new empty nesters) from Sioux City, IA who were fun to talk with. They had coffee at home on Tuesday morning and decided to take a trip. They picked their destination by putting together a kindergarten puzzle of the U.S. Then they proceeded to pull out the states neither had been to until only a few were left. They chose Wyoming and visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton, leaving the next morning. On the way they devised a game for their children and husbands to guess their destination by sending clues via text message that if guessed right were assigned a certain number of points. One woman’s son, who she called her “anal” one was way ahead of the others and had already guessed where they were. We weren’t able to spot any moose but it was a great evening culminated by an incredible sunset.
June 2 & 3
We pulled away from the house yesterday with our Lance truck camper, two cats, and our Mazda 626 in tow headed out on our 2 1/2 month adventure to Alaska.
We've been planning this road trip to Alaska for the past three years and it was at the top of our "bucket list" of things we want to do and see since retiring last November. We plan to take about two weeks getting to Alaska, driving the Alaska Highway through Canada and Alaska, but only driving 200-250 miles (4-5 hours) a day. Then we'll spend about six weeks in Alaska and about two weeks traveling home again.
We spent our first night at Curt Gowdy State Park, about 25 miles west of Cheyenne. It was nice there, with two reservoirs and lots of pine trees and hiking trails. The lakes are popular for fishing and we saw lots of fishermen come and go. There were also many mountain bike trails.
We're overnighting in Rock Springs, WY and will head to Grand Teton National Park tomorrow for a couple of days before we head to Yellowstone.
All our trip photos are posted here:
http://cid-2d8e2ee491959b9c.photos.live.com/albums.aspx
Our home e-mail address is: sandjcornelius@msn.com
