Below you can find links to my blog posts (in chronological order) for this EPIC road trip. *In progress
Here’s a quick trip overview:
- Driving my homemade camper van from the Bay area near San Francisco, through Oregon and Washington into British Columbia, Canada
- Visiting Banff and Jasper National Parks before hitting the official Al-Can Highway
- Going all the way up to Dawson City in Yukon Territory, the inspiration for Jack London’s Call of the Wild and While Fang
- Across the Top of the World Highway into Alaska: seeing North Pole, Fairbanks and Anchorage before dipping back up into Canada and down into Haines, AK
- Boarding the ferry, aka the Alaska Marine Highway, to Juneau then hopping over to Gustavus for a 7-day kayaking saga in Glacier Bay National Park
- Back to Juneau to re-board the ferry and travel on to Ketchikan to meet my little sister, who joins me for the remainder of the trip
- Taking the ferry again back to Seattle and driving the coast home.
Chuckanut, Chilliwack…Is today Tuesday?
If you count my last day of work (Friday 6/10/22) as my first road trip day, then this is 6 am on day 5 of my soon-to-be-epic road trip to Alaska in Rosie. Have you met Rosie? She’s my 2017 Nissan NV 2500, former delivery van turned awesome custom camper. She’s got her idiosyncrasies, but she’s special and I made her (with help from my husband). I guess Rosie is her nickname because her real name is Rocinante, an homage to both Don Quixote’s horse and John Steinbeck’s camper (see the novel Travels with Charlie – great read in general and greatest road trip read of all time!!) Read more.
A Lovely Older Couple, Some Perspective, and Van Coffee on the Balcony
When I first arrived at Harrison Hot Springs, I was feeling pretty punchy from a long day of driving but I was clinging to the fantasy of staying at the resort and soaking in the springs. It didn’t disappoint! First I was upgraded to a room up on the 5th floor overlooking the lake. Then I headed straight to the restaurant for food. I hadn’t eaten anything since “breakfast” which ended up being just toast and hash browns, hold the Spammy Dog food hash (see my last post).
Wow, today was the most fun I’ve had in a while.
It started out a little meh because most of the main road in Revelstoke National Park is still closed due to snow. I drove up until the road was blocked and they had a big turnaround post. Some people were parking and then walking further up the park road. I wanted to, I tried to, but I lost my courage. Read more…
Act my age? Never. Feel my age? Sometimes.
(Part 1)
It has been a wonderful, busy, tiring, exhilarating, thrilling, exhausting week. So much has happened since my last post I can’t possibly do it justice, but I can try!
So the day after my super funtastic day in Revelstoke, I drove through Golden to the Radium Hot springs in Kootenay NP (BC, Canada). The drive was long and rainy (again), but the soak in the hot springs made it all better. Read more…
Act my age? Never. Feel my age? Sometimes. (Part 2: Banff, Jasper, and the Icefields Parkway)
After the Via Ferrata – we were both pretty tired and sore, and we kept saying we would take an easy day to recover…but then there was just too much to see and do! Every day we said, “tomorrow, tomorrow we will take it easy” but we never did. The next day we drove to Lake Louise, stopping to do the Johnston Canyon hike and a few other small walks.
The Johnston Canyon hike is supposed to be pretty amazing. I would call it “fair” compared to the other truly spectacular stuff to see
Just when you think it can’t possibly get better…
Have you ever ridden a roller coaster where you have the first big thrill section and think, “Wow! That was awesome!” And you just assume that the ride is going to be over because that was so great, and then you realize, “Wait, there’s more?” And the ride just keeps going and going. Read more…
I am so excited I feel as if I will burst with it. I made it! What’s funny is that the gold rush doesn’t interest me all that much, maybe it’s a bit of been there, done that being from California. Even so, just being here fills me with excitement. Read more…
I had a mixed experience today… It started great. I deeply enjoyed wandering the dirt streets with wooden sidewalks and seeing a mix of the truly original buildings and those that are original but restored. Read more…
On Top of the World! (Top of the World Highway)
Yesterday I did the drive I had been nervous about ever since I planned this trip. At Whitehorse you have to decide whether to stay on the official Alcan or head north on the Klondike highway through Dawson City. Read more…
Santa!! Then Fairbanks, Denali and Anchorage.
Let me start with a couple of videos to show you how I spend the majority of my days… My last post was from Tok, Alaska and from there I headed to Fairbanks to pick Bastien up at the airport. On the way I stopped at North Pole, Alaska to visit Santa and his reindeer….
A Lifetime of Moments in a Few Days
This entire trip, it seems like each day feels like a week and each week feels like months. I mean this in the best way possible. Not that time is dragging by, but that so much is being experienced that it can’t all possibly be in just a day. Read more…
Glaciers, Whales, Otters, Bears, and Mild Hypothermia: part 1
Oh god…what day is it? When was my last post? I actually had to check! Last time I was in Haines waiting to get on the ferry to Juneau. That was two weeks ago, a decade ago in Alaska time. Read more…
Glaciers, Whales, Otters, Bears and Mild Hypothermia, part 2
Day 4: I woke up for what felt like the 50th time with my arms hurting and realized it was time to get up. Well, my bladder told me I was getting up in the next 5 minutes or it was going to pee on my sleeping bag. Read more…
Glaciers, Whales, Otters, Bears and Mild Hypothermia, part 3
Day 5: And I thought day 3 was rainy…
Except for the exceptions (the moment of hypothermia followed by mild emotional breakdown), day 4 was pretty great. It was a long day, but the weather had been good and we only had soft rain on occasion during the day. Day 5 made up for it times 10. Day 5 decided to show day 3 what a rainy day really looks like in Southeast Alaska! Read more…
Glaciers, Whales, Otters, Bears and Mild Hypothermia, part 4(final)
Day 6 and 7: Oh, thank GOD! I woke up and heard…nothing. It wasn’t raining and it meant that I had at least a slim chance of getting through the day without being completely soaked. Read more…