We left Tok early this morning and headed southwest on Tok Cutoff toward Glennallen. It was supposed to be a better maintained road than the Alaska Highway, but I’m not terribly convinced. We discovered when we got here (Northern Nights Campground) that the cap off our bumper was missing. Jeff didn’t think a whole lot of it until he discovered that our sewer connection, which is stored in the bumper, also fell out somewhere along the way. Oops! Despite the bumps, it was again a beautiful drive. We passed by rivers and many mountains. The skies were perfect, so we were able to clearly see the Wrangell mountains, Tanada Peak, Mt Sanford, Mt Blackburn and Mt Drum. We saw a Colorado plate a few days ago, which Jeff thought was hilarious. They are proud of their ... read more

Today was an absolutely amazing day, by far the best of our vacation thus far. I'm so glad it was on Liam's birthday. It was a cruise to Juneau and back with Alaska Fjordlines (www.alaskafjordlines.com). Honestly, I can’t even imagine how I’m going to express the day in words, but I’ll try. I’m racing through pictures trying to get this posted so we can go to bed, so I may miss some really cool shots. Bear with me (said with a smirk). We took 1,344 pictures today. We started with a 3 hour cruise from Skagway to Juneau with a stop in Haines on the catamaran Fjordland. We had a little cloud cover, but not bad, so we were able to see the mountains. Some of them looked so close, but were actually 4 miles (!) ... read more

As anyone who knows me knows, our vacations, at least the ones I plan, are jam-packed with stuff. Go somewhere; see four museums. In one day. So this trip has been weird. Drive 2000 miles and see three museums total? That is so not me. Today was better. We drove from Teslin to Whitehorse under sunshine, so were able to see mountains and appreciate the views of Teslin River and Marsh Lake. Compared to the last few days, it was a very short trip. Our first stop in Whitehorse was at Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre. The Beringia was the area not covered by glaciers during the last ice age. It included present-day Yukon, Alaska and Siberia. They have skeletons of the area’s animals, including a mammoth, steppe bison, Scimitar cat and others. They also had some ... read more

Today was all about the driving. We left the truck stop shortly after 0700 and spent a few extra minutes trying to get a picture of the Edmonton sign. (The first time we noticed it, I only got a blurry picture.) Why did I want a picture of the Edmonton sign? Because it’s the hometown of Kael Mouillierat, of course. He will be a senior at MSU-Mankato this fall. Jeff bought his jersey his freshman year because we thought he had a cool name, but it turns out he’s a great hockey player. Anyway, after leaving Edmonton, we took a picture of the Spruce Grove sign (hometown of Shane Joseph, first All-American for MSU). Then we drove, and drove, and drove. There were small showers, and it’s still windy, but it’s beautiful—big fluffy clouds and lots ... read more

For the last few weeks, I followed a couple travel blogs from Alaska. One belonged to Bob Kribs (Snowhaug), who is now home. He did some very cool things, like flying over and landing on a glacier and over Wrangell-St Elias to see bears. With two small boys in tow, we will be much less adventurous. He mentioned the importance of Milepost in doing the Alaska Highway. We aren’t there yet, but I’d also recommend The Next Exit for services on interstates. We found last night’s rest stop there and decided where to get gas there. For non-interstate driving, I’d recommend The RVer’s Friend, which gives a lot of information about service plazas, like showers, restaurants, and, most importantly, internet connectivity! Jeff & I both woke up before 6, but we didn’t get up and breakfasted ... read more