The Great Alcan

The sunrise as viewed from our apartment.

Today we got up early to start our trip along the Alaska Highway (also called the Great Alcan), said to be one of the most scenic routes in America. We didn't do the whole thing from Fairbanks to Dawson's Creek; we were just planning to go as far as Haines Junction, then head south to Haines to catch our ferry to Juneau. The first part of the route from Fairbanks to Delta Junction was noted as "relatively unscenic" by Lonely Planet, but I guess the people who wrote Lonely Planet have never driven through Nebraska if they think the below is "unscenic..."

Then"unscenic" part of the Alaska Highway.

 

But the rest of the route was definitely even better - the Alcan goes between two mountain ranges, the Alaska Range and the White Mountains with cloud-wreathed views of both all the way through. The road also borders several lakes and rivers, and of course the ever-present black spruce forests. We stopped several times to take pictures, and also noted the following:

1. Don't be fooled by the signs in Canada denoting "Rest Areas." EVERY SINGLE "rest area" in Canada along this route is an OUTHOUSE. :) When I finally couldn't wait any longer, I had to use it with the door open because it smelled so bad...

Canadian "Rest Area."

2. The instant we crossed the border into Canada, the road went from a lovely, smooth, paved road to a pot hole-ridden, bumpy, part gravel monstrosity. We also went through a 15 mile construction zone behind a pilot car.

3. We maybe saw 10 other vehicles the entire day, which made it easy to stop for pictures and even wander in the middle of the road to get the perfect shot!

4. Out of those 10 vehicles, probably 7 were RVs. :)

5. Gavin insisted on peeing in the wilderness almost every stop we made. To try to guilt trip him out of it, I took pictures. At the end of the day I had 5 pictures of him peeing in various scenic locales. Photos not for public consumption, but check out the awesome stuff below!

Mountains peeking through as we approach...

...then the view suddenly opens up into the mountains!

Black spruce in front of the mountains.

Seriously, this is the prettiest drive ever!

Look at this Caribbean-blue water!

 

We stopped for the night in Haines Junction, where we would turn off the Alaska Highway and head south to Haines. Our day ended at after about ten hours of driving. We stayed at a cute little motel where the main attraction to us in picking it was that it had a laundromat. (it was a novel experience for us to pick a place to stay without Trip Advisor/Lonely Planet/Yelp guiding our way...) We had dinner at the little Northern Lights restaurant next door that was just about to close (it was 9pm), but they kindly stayed open and let us order our dinner. I tried poutine for the first time. It was an Italian style poutine, basically french fries covered in mozzarella cheese and spaghetti sauce. Not the healthiest thing I could choose, but hey, we're on vacation... :)

We ended our rainy, drizzly evening reading books and sipping red wine in bed.

 

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