Alaska Bound – Part 1

May 8, 2024 to May 19, 2024

Our travel days are normally only 4 to 6 hours. Before retirement, we would travel as much as 12 to 24 hours depending on how long we would stay at our final destination before needing to be back in Florida to get to work. We would normally get home on a Sunday night to be at work on Monday morning. Our motto was that we needed to go back to work to rest from our vacation. Our travels for this post were mostly one-night stays with a few two nighters.

It was time to leave Moab and start our much-anticipated ride to Canada and on to Alaska. However, our first stop had to be in a city to get my phone fixed after nine days of no phone. The closest iPhone repair shop was in Orem, Utah (just south of Salt Lake City). That was quite the expensive lesson!

We travelled through beautiful Utah, Idaho and Montana to get to Great Falls MT. I mention this because the ride was absolutely beautiful. The mountain ranges along the way were still getting snow in the middle of May! Our view from our campsite was snowcapped mountains and at night, the sky displayed a show of northern lights!

Our journey through Canada toward Alaska started as we crossed the border at Sweet Grass MT. We stayed the night at Lethbridge, Alberta Canada. Not much there to talk about except the Tim Horton’s (Dunkin Donuts of our northern friends) apple fritters and coconut cream filled donuts. I’ve been told that if I ever get a chance, I had to check it out. Now I pass this same sentiment along to all of you!

The ride through Banff National Park was beautiful. As we continued through Canada, I had no idea that the beauty of this country was never ending.

We stayed at Lake Louise, Alberta Canada...

...Saw our first bear in the wild in Alberta someplace north of Lake Louise

...Stopped at Columbia Icefield to view the glacier and have lunch at the Altitude Restaurant.

We crossed the border into British Columbia then spent the night at Fraser-Ft George where we enjoyed the view of the mountains and the river flowing next to the campground …

…the next day we stopped for dinner and overnight in the Treasure Cove Casino parking lot in Prince George. Casino parking lots are great for free overnight stops.

The next day we hit the road for Winset British Columbia to chill for a couple of days.