Alaska Road Trip

Sometimes when bad things happen you can turn them into experiences of a lifetime. I was relatively young when the plant I was working at as Quality Supervisor shut its doors after over 100 years of operation. I took my severance package and seeing that I was not tied down to returning at a given time I packed up the van and headed to Alaska from my home in New England. I took my elderly parents with me since they had both recently retired paying them back for all of the family trips they took us kids on when we were young. We headed north up through Vermont passing over the border to Montreal. You can click the links for more in depth posts on each attraction. In Quebec we picked up the Trans Canada Highway and headed west averaging 600 miles per day.

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Ontario brought us to the north shore of Lake Superior.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

We entered Manitoba stopping for the night in Winnipeg before passing the longitudinal center of Canada.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Saskatchewan and the open plains are next up.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Into Alberta and a visit to the West Edmonton Mall.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Heading north out of Edmonton we finally made our way to the Alaska Highway. The highway starts at mile zero in Dawson Creek British Columbia.

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Ranging rivers, mosquito infested forests and many trading post style shops like the “Trappers Den” highlight the start of the trip.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Summit Lake Provincial Campground was one of the best sites on the trip even though it was quite cold, at least no mosquitos!

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At milepost 613 is Watson Lake, Yukon Territory with its signpost forest.

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Whitehorse, Yukon is a spot for car repairs or upgrades before heading deeper into the wilderness.

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The SS Klondike National Historic Site and the canyon are nice visits.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Passing the Northern Beaver Post Kluane National Park offers expansive views.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Into Alaska and the end of the Alaska Highway at Delta Junction and then on our way to Tok where a meal of caribou sausage and salmon chowder in a bread bowl was our welcome to the state.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Making our way down state passing Wrangell- St. Elias National Park to Valdez.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Heading north and west we went through Anchorage and down to Homer and Chugach State Park.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Back north brings us to Denali National Park.

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

We visited Fairbanks and after a short detour up the haul road towards Barrow we headed back via the Top of the World Highway.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Coming to the Yukon River you board a ferry across to Dawson City, Yukon.

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Back through Kluane we took the South Klondike Highway towards Carcross, The Carcross Desert, Emerald Lake, Bove Island,the Venus Mill and back into Alaska to Skagway.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Instead of repeating the route south along the Alaska Highway we took the Cassiar Highway south. We passed by Bear Glacier and made our way to the charming communities of Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder Alaska.

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

We turned east heading into Jasper National Park in Alberta,

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

and then along the glacier highway to Banff National Park.

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Out of the parks and back into the plains by Calgary.

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Back into the United States brings us to Glacier National Park with its Going to the Sun Road and Many Glacier Region.

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Further south is the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site.

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Heading towards the western entrance to Yellowstone National Park we passed by Earthquake Lake.

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The highlights of Yellowstone include The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and its waterfalls,

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Old Faithful,

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numerous other Geothermal features,

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

but most of all the wildlife. Having just returned from Alaska the wildlife viewing here is even more spectacular.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Grand Teton National Park was just a short jaunt south of Yellowstone.

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Continuing east were stops at Wind Cave National Park, Mount Rushmore National Memorial and The Crazy Horse Memorial.

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Badlands National Park was next on the agenda. This again was one of my mother’s favorite parks as it was a setting of many of her historical fiction novels she liked to read.

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Into Minnesota with a stop at Pipestone National Monument.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Down to Iowa and Effigy Mounds National Monument.

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New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Some heavy miles going east we made one final stop at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park.

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A visit to my aunt and uncle in Cohoes, New York and then home. It was good to see New England and home after many months on the road but the memories of the trip will last a life time. My parents would both pass in a few years and I was glad I could give them this trip in their final years.

Trans Canada Highway – Montreal, Quebec to Edmonton, Alberta

The Trans-Canada Highway is a transcontinental federal-provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada from the Pacific Ocean on the west to the Atlantic on the east. The main route spans 4,860 miles across the country, one of the longest routes of its type in the world. The highway system is recognizable by its distinctive white-on-green maple leaf route markers. On our road trip up the Alaska Highway we made our way from our home in New England to Montreal where we caught the Trans Canada Highway heading west. Driving through Quebec and into Ontario we reached the midpoint of the Trans Canada.

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A truly awe inspiring part of the drive was going along the north shore of Lake Superior. Realizing that you are seeing a freshwater lake and not an ocean gives you even more of a sense of wonder.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Many scenic wonders in Ontario but we couldn’t stop as we were on to Alaska.

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Into Manitoba and through Winnipeg,

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we reach the longitudinal center of Canada.

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In from of us are the Canadian Plains and the endless fields of crops and pasture as we enter Saskatchewan.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Alberta is where we leave the Trans Canada and head north into British Columbia to catch the Alaska Highway,

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but first a stop at the West Edmonton Mall which at the time of our trip was the largest mall in the world. Today it is not even in the top ten!

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Someone once said the best way to see a country is to drive through it and I wholeheartedly agree. We really did not do the trip justice as we were on our way to Alaska but it was still an experience I will always cherish.