We did not have high expectations before our visit. Heavy smoke from area wildfires caused poor visibility and our eyes, noses, and throats felt it. Later that day, the road was closed. We considered cutting our visit short and getting the heck out of there. However, we stuck it out for a few days and were glad we did. Rain came a day later and helped the firefighters. The air cleared somewhat and we were able to do a little sightseeing. Our first stop was the Museum of the North, which came highly recommended and did not disappoint. We spent an [View Full Entry]

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This park is truly a national treasure. At 6 million acres, it is larger than the state of Massachusetts. Only one road goes into the park, and it stops after 90 miles, by design. Only park buses can travel the entire length of the road, so if you want to go in on the ground, you take the bus and ride for hours—but what a ride! Many people opt for flight-seeing tours, it is so magnificent. Mount McKinley, also referred to as Denali (the High One), is the jewel of the park and the king of the 600-mile Alaskan Range. The [View Full Entry]

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After a few great weeks on the Kenai Peninsula, we headed north. We stayed at two great state park campgrounds, one in the Portage Valley and one in Eagle River, just north of Anchorage. The Portage Lakes area has six glaciers, one of which we could view from our campsite along the Trail of Blue Ice. We stopped at the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center, which was very nice, but in the middle of nowhere. It seemed like a pork barrel project, if we ever saw one. We drove up to the Mt. Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood, finding a great little [View Full Entry]

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I so wanted to catch a fish in Alaska. Patti and Bill obliged by taking me out twice and loaning me all the fishing gear I could ever want. The first time, we tried lake fishing for trout. Donning full bib waders, boots, and carrying all the paraphernalia, we trudged down a path to Rainbow Lake. It was an overcast, cloudy day and peacefully quiet until a dad and little boy came back from the lake and reported only a few small fish were caught. Not deterred, we all fished for a while with Patti making the only catch of the [View Full Entry]

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The Kenai Peninsula is known as Alaska’s Playground—home to the Chugach National Forest, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and Kenai Fjords National Park. There is something for everyone from salmon and halibut fishing, clam digging, whale watching, and glacier cruising to hiking, biking, kayaking and everything in between. From Seward, we hiked to Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park, the only one of the glaciers accessible by car. We also took a glacier cruise, where we got close to Holgate Arm, one of the huge tidewater glaciers that “calve” and where huge c [View Full Entry]

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Glenn Highway was bumpier than we would have liked. Frost heaves caused “roller coaster” conditions in some areas and had to be taken slowly to avoid damage to the bus as well as damage to our stomachs. The sky was quite hazy due to a couple of wildfires, so we missed some great views along the way. Hopefully, we'll make up for it later on. Almost half the state’s population lives in Anchorage, and its municipal boundary is nearly the size of Delaware. Anchorage is as far north as Helsinki, Finland and as far west as Honolulu, Hawaii. Six mountain ranges [View Full Entry]

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Valdez, approx. population 5,000, sits at the mouth of Prince William Sound and is home to the Alyeska Marine Terminal, where oil from Prudhoe Bay travels nearly 800 miles through the TransAlaska Oil Pipe Line and is loaded onto tankers—over a million barrels each day. The bay is surprisingly ice-free, but Valdez is billed as the snow capital of Alaska due to its record accumulations. The town, across the bay from the Marine Terminal, is surrounded by glacier-studded mountains which rise straight up from the water to about 7,000 feet. Waterfalls spill down the mountain sides, and clou [View Full Entry]

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On June 28, we finally reached the Alaska border crossing only to see the height clearance was marked 13 feet—at least 6 inches too short! What were we to do? The high-clearance RV lane was closed for construction. The commercial/truck lane (which had no canopy) was blocked by cones from the lane we occupied. A sign clearly stated that travelers should NOT get out of their vehicles unless instructed to do so by a Border Patrol officer. So, of course, Bill (driving the coach in front of ours) got out of his vehicle to investigate and went right into the building. [View Full Entry]

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The ALCAN (Alaska Canadian Highway) is a long, laborious, sometimes tedious, sometimes gravel, always exciting adventure. The road bumps, twists and grinds through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory beginning at Mile Marker 01 (Dawson Creek). Along the way unbelievable vistas jump at one from every new bend in the highway. Massive mountains, sharp peaks, flat expanses, pristine untouched forests, beautiful lakes, roaring rivers and wonderful wild animals. Throughout our trip including British Columbia and Alberta, Canada we have seen animals up close, on the road going about their da [View Full Entry]

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On June 24, we entered the Yukon Territory in far northwestern Canada. We stopped overnight in Watson Lake, home of the famed Signpost Forest, where people traveling through from all over the world post a sign from their hometown. It’s fun to look for familiar and not-so-familiar places. About this time, we thought it would be a good idea to install our “rock shield” on the front of Coco. We cooked up this brilliant idea last year when we were told it was likely our coach would take a beating from rocks being thrown up by passing trucks. We obtained a [View Full Entry]

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