Driving The Alaskan Highway

First of all, I have to give a shot out to the company who produces The Milepost. I used the book and the website for maps, road conditions, and places to stay. It's called "the bible of North Country travel" and it was the only resource I used.

My mother and I met up in Anchorage. We spent two days gathering supplies and planning our trip. If it was just humans involved, I wouldn't have worried so much. But since I had cats and a dog, I wanted to be sure all was ready. 

Me & My New Car!!

We stayed at The Puffin Inn in Anchorage. I stay there every time I am in Anchorage. I really like their jacuzzi suite. Plus, I could bring Dakota there and there never have been any problems. Funny story about that...there is a weight limit on the dogs. I had been bringing Dakota there since he was a 35 pound puppy, and so I never knew about the weight restriction. And when I came in with a 110 lb Dakota, no one said anything to me. The manager told me that he knows my dog and knew he was a really good dog. And Dakota has never caused any trouble there, but it was that little act of kindness that made me realize how special Alaska is. People are truly kind in Alaska. I will miss that. 

That Saturday, I got to pick up my new car. After living in teacher housing for 3 years, that car was the fanciest thing that I have ever seen. And it was mine! I couldn't believe it. It was so pretty and clean. I knew that wouldn't last long. Not with a 3,000 mile road trip with 2 adults, 2 cats, and a dog. 

I am going to note at this point that those two days were the only nights I shared a hotel room with my mother. She's allergic to cats and while it worked out for Anchorage, we didn't want to tempt fate and have her react to the kitties. 

Day 1: Anchorage, AK to Tok, AK; 328 miles; Glenn Highway

The first day out was pretty uneventful. Fitting all of our luggage & the animals was tricky. I might have freaked out about that. It was tricky, but once I got everything in and the animals were settled, I relaxed. 

I will say that Alaska has a nasty habit of renaming highways with the same name as another one. Then they rename the old highway Old _____. There was a couple of times that day where I had to ask myself, "Wait....did I want Old Glenn Highway?" I was glad I went over the route that night before. And if anything, that first day taught me to go over the map more carefully each night. 

I had called ahead the night before to reserve a room. The books all recommended it. What I didn't know until we got on the road, was that the season was 5 days away from starting. So not everything was open, BUT what was open (and enough of hotels & gas stations were open so we didn't feel the pinch) was pretty empty. So rooms ended up not being an issue. 

The highlight of the day was when I saw a sign for something called, "Glacier View ____." I thought, "Why would they call something Glacier View? Is there a glacier nearby!?!" And I turned a corner and saw to my right.....yeah, that's a glacier. I was beside myself! I didn't know I was going to be driving by a glacier! How cool is that?

Driving past a glacier

I guess there was something that happened. Gas wasn't an issue, but there weren't any rest stops on the road. And there was a long stretch of road with no bathrooms. So, at one point, I had to pull off and go behind a tree. I was a bit nervous doing that, but I took Dakota with me and figured he'd protect me. After that day, I was careful about going to the bathroom when bathrooms were available. But as the rest of the trip had rest stops, it wasn't an issue. 

We arrived at Tok, Alaska. And it was going to be my last night in Alaska. We stayed at Golden Bear Motel & RV Park. And the people who ran it were so incredibly nice. The rooms were nice but the restaurant wasn't open yet. But we went to dinner at a place called Fast Eddy's. 

At this point, I should note that we hadn't been driving on the Alaska Highway yet. We drove the Glenn Highway that day.

Here are some pictures of Day 1:

Poor Moose

We stopped here for lunch

My favorite picture.....

Golden Bear

We ate dinner here

Day 2: Tok, AK to Whitehorse, Yukon; 387 miles; Alaska Highway

That was the day of my phone interview at 5:00 p.m. (4 p.m Alaskan time). I had checked my cell phone plan and the website said I would be roaming. My goal was to hit Whitehorse by 3 p.m. I figured I could spend an hour getting settled. 

I'm an idealist at times. 

A couple of points to note: Day 2 is when we crossed the border into Canada. We were in the Yukon Territory of Canada at that point. Canada posts signs letting you know that now the signs will be posted in kilometers instead of miles. Oddly enough, Canada does NOT post when you've entered into a different time zone, but more of that later.

On this leg of the trip, part of the road had been washed out right before Whitehorse. By the way, even though the roads are paved, it's pretty gnarly. We had a to take a detour off the bad road, and the condition of the alternate road made me really curious to see why that road was deemed the better choice. There was a truck that had in big letters: FOLLOW ME on it to represent the pilot car. 

Our detour

At this point, it was 3:30....and we were still a ways from Whitehorse. I had a nagging suspicion I was going to miss my interview. 

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory and is quite widespread. I had asked the hotel if they were easy to find the night before. They weren't. It was by sheer dumb luck I found the hotel. 

I had tried calling the hotel, only to find my cell phone would only work if I dialed 911. It was now 4:00 and time for my interview and I had only just pulled into the hotel. 

Actually, I noticed the clocks said it was 5 p.m. and that's when I realized I had crossed into a new time zone. 

It turns out, I made my interview. I called from the hotel room and the school called me back. Everything went smoothly. I mean, I didn't end up getting the job, but that's okay. Everything worked out.

We stayed at the Best Western Gold Rush Inn and it had the softest bed I had ever slept in! There was one ugly incident that kinda ruined it for me. I had to take Dakota out the front door to walk him. And he's a really good dog. We turned this corner and he started barking at this one woman. Now, for all I know, she eats her babies. But a rep from the hotel was giving her some tour and came up to Dakota and started pushing him back with her body saying, "Oh I know, you are just an obnoxious malamute!" 

I wished I had said something to her. But I was just one part shocked at her behavior and the other part of me wanted to get my dog away from a woman who bothered him enough to bark at. But other than that, everyone else was really nice. I am still mad that woman said that about my dog. For all she knows, the other woman was pure evil. Dakota is NOT obnoxious! My mom actually complained to the hotel about that woman insulting my dog. 

Here are some pictures of Day 2:

Crossing the border...

Canada has spots to pull off & throw trash away

The bridge warned parts could break off

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear

Canada has different candy...

...and money!

Day 3: Whitehorse, Yukon to Watson Lake, Yukon; 282 miles; Alaska Highway

Even though this day was the shortest drive, it was my least favorite. We hit a snowstorm on the way to Watson Lake and I did not like driving in the snow. I was worried when I saw the temperature dropping to 32 degrees. I did not want to deal with icy roads. 

This day was a turning point for me. I realized that I didn't want to do half day trips. I wanted to drive longer on my trips. I didn't want to be on the road 8+ days. 

I also didn't care for the hotel as much. It was my least favorite. The room was the pet room, which was nice, except that it smelled like it was the pet room. And people kept walking past the room with their animals, which would freak out my animals, so I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. My mom, on the other hand, really enjoyed her stay in her room. We stayed at the Big Horn Hotel in Watson Lake. The people were nice and it was easy to find.

Here are some pics of Day 3:

Yeah....sure it's paved....

Bear!

At one of the rest stops

Snow storm!!

Big Horn Hotel

Watson Lake

Day 4: Waston Lake, Yukon Territory to Dawson Creek, British Colombia; 613 miles, Alaska Highway

This day was my favorite day on the trip. As we were leaving the Watson Lake area, we stopped for some gas. The ladies working this one store had warned my mother that we'd be seeing lots of animals and the bison were particularly dangerous because they have no fear of cars. I took this to mean that they stay in the road and don't move. My mother took it to mean they charge your car like rhinos. I thought buffalo were more like cows. Turns out I was right.

We saw: grizzly bears, black bears, buffalo, moose, goats, sheep, elk, caribou, deer but no eagles. This was the day I had to stop my car to let a black bear cross the road. I was laughing the whole time in disbelief. Dakota growled at the bears & buffalo. He growled at the bear crossing the street. 

We stopped at this great RV park/lodge. It was called the Toad River Lodge and it had an amazing collection of baseball hats from all over the world. The hats were all on the ceiling. The picture doesn't do it justice, because there must have been thousands of them!

It was also the first day I saw any signs of spring. Which was lovely.

It was a long drive. That last 100 miles was tough. We all wanted out of the car! We stayed at the Super 8 in Dawson Creek, which was very nice. It had the best morning breakfast we had during the whole trip. But that's the next day.

Here's a lot pictures for Day 4:

Grizzly bear (there were two of them)

Canada & British Colombian Flags

The bear crossing the road

This marks the end of the Alaskan Highway. It has taken me several hours to post Days 1-4. I will continue this post with Days 5-7 in a couple of days. Feel free to leave me comments!!