Road Trip
Photos & Story by Cher
Our mission was to drive from Anchorage to Skagway, take a ferry to Juneau and close up our store in the capital. It was too expensive (especially in this economy) to operate a store so far away. Just how far away? At the end of September, my sister, brother-in-law and I hopped into the GMC Yukon and began our journey across Alaska and two Canadian provinces.
Alaska's fall was in full swing with termination dust on the mountains. I was hoping we wouldn’t encounter any of the white stuff as it would slow us down. Meanwhile, the fall colors were gorgeous orange, gold, yellow, chartreuse, and red. We spent hours talking business and doing NY Times crosswords, all the while looking out at the gorgeous scenery surrounding us.
On the first leg of our road trip adventure, the Glenn Highway took us through the Alaska Range. There was snow on the trees in Sheep Mountain Pass, but the road was dry. The Matanuska Glacier was magnificent.
It was 10°F in Tok, Alaska where we stopped to spend the night. Dinner was at "Fast Eddy's" with a wonderful salad bar.
Getting up before dawn, we hit the road and were able to see the sky become light again. We saw the tree and mountain silhouettes turn to color, and the stillness, freshness and wild beauty of the great outdoors.
We were quickly passed through Canadian customs and stopped for breakfast at Destruction Bay on the shore of Kluane Lake. Lunch was in Whitehorse on the Yukon River. Looking at the river and realizing how far the water was flowing filled me with awe. That water was running through all of Alaska on its journey out to sea!
Just south of Whitehorse we turned off the Alcan towards Skagway with daylight still in our favor. The highway left the Yukon Territory to cut through a corner of British Columbia. Winter was not so far advanced here and the fall colors were amazing.
We were climbing now, crossing back to the coastal side of the mountains. The scenery changed to large boulders and more of a barren landscape with ponds trapped in the rock. It looked like scenery a studio could use for a science fiction movie. We were welcomed back to Alaska at the top of the pass.
The highway descending steeply into Skagway, which was wrapping itself up for the winter sleep before awakening to a fresh visitor season next spring. We spent the night at Sgt. Preston’s Lodge and then got in line to board the fast ferry Fairweather. Three days after we started our adventure, we’d find ourselves in Juneau in time for dinner.