The Happy Ending in Anchorage

After 4,300 miles, and 15 days we finally reached the city where the RV is to be dropped off--Anchorage Alaska.

We drove to downtown Anchorage and walked along 4th avenue. Here it is today

And here is is right after the quake on March 27, 1964.


Tomorrow we will drop off the RV and heading to the airport for our flights to San Francisco.

I really liked this trip becasue I saw five new US states, and two new Canadian provinces. My favorite thing that I saw on the trip wash seeing Mount Rushmore. The hardest part of the trip was life in RV--it felt like that was my whole life.

Our Final TOTAL Route!

Denali and a Mountain Naming Controversy

We got up early and headed for the Visitors Center. There we waited for the tour bus because you can't drive in to Denali National Park. Our goal was to see all the mountains out there with no smoke like last time. We also hoped to see wildlife.

Arctic Ground Squirrel

Ptarmigan (The State Bird)
Dall SheepCaribou

Two Grizzly BearsMoose

Chris Hamilton

The mountain known to many Americans as Mount McKinley is actually known to Alaskans as Mount Denali. William Dickey wanted to rename Denali to McKinley in honor of presidential candidate William McKinley, but you have to be dead to have something named after you. So when he was assassinated in 1901 they changed the name to Mount McKinley.

Many Alaskans have been trying to change it back to its original name, Mount Denali. But a congressman from Canton Ohio (where McKinley is buried) always has pending legislation to keep the name as McKinley.

Todays Mileage -- 163 Miles (plus 104 on the bus)

Today's Route

A Trip with MOM-- Museum, Oil, and Mountains

We did not go the the Arctic Circle today because of snow on the Dalton Highway.

So we started off the day by going to the Museum of The North at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. It is a strikingly modern museum.

We all watched a film about the northern lights, or the aurora borealis. I learned how the the lights appear. The sun has flares that creates a solar wind of electrons. When the electrons hit an atom of oxygen or nitrogen, photons are created that glow. Fairbanks is positioned under the oval where the northern lights are.

There was also a sound room that made music from the earth's movements and the moon phases, and the northern lights. It made me feel like I was in space.

After lunch we drove north to see the Alaska Pipeline. It carries oil from the north slope to Valdez. One million barrels a day move south in it.

We then headed south to see the mountains and are going to take a tour tomorrow into Denali National Park.

Today's Mileage -- 155

Today's Route

Bouncing by the Border

We got up and left Burwash Landing because we a long day of driving.

Some of the roads were bouncy and were like a roller coaster. This is because of frost heaves. Under the roads are permafrost, which is permanently frozen ground. But the roads casues is to melt in the summer and refreeze in the winter. This makes the road bumpy.

We saw the highest point in Canada, Mount Logan. It is near the US border.


We stopped on the border and I had a foot in each country, the US and Canada. My Dad asked me how many times I had been to Canada and I ran between the two countries.

We are spending the night in North Pole Alaska, near Fairbanks.

Tomorrow we are not going to the Arctic Circle, but we are going to spend some time in Fairbanks and then head down to Denali.

Today's Distance -- 651 km
Today's Route

Dawson City CANCELLED!!

We woke up and checked road from Dawson City to Chicken--STILL CLOSED. So we decided to skip Dawson City and we headed the other way. This gave us time to stroll around Whitehorse. Whitehorse was the transportation hub of the Yukon and the capital of the territory.

We ate lunch near an old wooden bridge.

We drove Kulane Lake which is the largest lake in the Yukon Territory and saw the site where the final two sections of the Alaska Highway met.
We spent the night in beautiful Burwash Landing, home of the world's largest gold panning pan.

Today's Mileage -- 278 km
Today's Route

A quick exit from Liard, a Continental Divide lunch and into Whitehorse

After not having showers or internet for two days we wanted to get on the road quick. We had a long day of driving so we left at 7am which was early for us.

We saw about 30 wood bison(buffalo) along the road. There are only about 250 of them in British Columbia so we were excited to see such a large herd. The herd was cool because they had babies and I have never seen a baby buffalo before.



Soon after that we stopped along the road to see a black bear. We were close enough to it that we could hear it snort. During the drive we saw more bison, elk and moose.

Next stop was Watson Lake named after the guy who was from Lake Tahoe. Watson Lake is known for its Sign Forest. It started during the building of the Alaska Highway when one of the soldiers was homesick and he put up a sign from his home town to remind him of home. Many other soldiers followed as well other people from around the US and the world. They put signs up on posts.If you look close, you might even see one from Stanbridge Academy,


We stopped for lunch at a rest stop that was on the Continental Divide. The rivers on the west flowed to the Pacific and on the east flowed to the Arctic Ocean. It was finally clear and starting to warm up. We enjoyed the views.

Oh yeah, I forgot to write something earlier. When we were on the Columbia Ice Field in British Columbia we were very near the only triple Continental Divide in the world. From that spot water flowed to the Pacific, Atlantic and Artic Oceans. I think it was really cool.

We drove past Teslin Lake which was 92 miles long. The ice was cracking but you could see tracks where people had driven on the lake in the winter.
Our RV park in Whitehorse was called Hi-Country RV park. It was a very nice RV park with lots of trees. I liked the little playground there and it was warm and sunny so we ate outside, yeah!

From Stuck in Snow to an Hour in Hawaii

This morning I woke up and saw snow, LOTS OF IT! It had snowed all night and there was 4 to 6 inches on the ground. We didn’t know what to do because we didn’t have tire chains for our RV. We saw a couple trucks go by and decided to go look at the road. We decided it was time to go out anyway.
The road looked like winter wonderland in May. It was covered in snow and we had to go over the highest point of the Alcan Highway.
We did not see too many other cars, but we did see moose and caribou along side the road. Every where we go we see animals.
We stopped for the day early at Liard Hot Springs. After lunch we walked to the hot springs, put on our bathing suits and got into the HOT…HOT..WATER.There was snow nearby and it was actually snowing while we were in the water. Many plants grew beside the pools, liking the warm water. There were ferns and my dad saw little flowers.

The worst part of the hot springs was getting out. It was so cold I was dizzy at first. I enjoyed my hour in Hawaii though.

Tomorrow we are going to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory and make our decision of where we are going to go for the remainder of the trip—Dawson City and Chicken, or Delta Junction.

Today's Mileage- 125km
Today's Route