Alaska adventure

What if you had the chance to travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go? I don't know about you, but the US and British Columbia have some amazing places to explore, and Alaska was on our bucket list. There are still many more travel destinations on that list, but last year by God's grace we were finally able to scratch that one off, and we took that long dreamed of vacation to "Alaska ".

We packed up the RV, said a prayer and headed towards the wild frontier, and what an awesome trip it was. This was one of the most enjoyable and exciting trips we have ever taken, we highly recommend it to everyone. If you want to be inspired or just get back to nature, then Alaska is the place.

In this hub I will try and show you the route we traveled on google maps, but unfortunately you can only pin point a few cities so I couldn't show all of them. I also hope you enjoy the slide show of our Alaska photos that I created, because photographs tell the true story. I've also included some tips on how to best travel in an RV which include using Microsoft maps. It was a God send on this trip, because it helped us get out of some very tight spots and highways. This was a month long trip just over 6,600 miles - round trip, that is a lot of fuel and at 8 miles per gallon, with gas prices almost $4 a gallon, well you can do the math. Although it was less expensive than if we had stayed in motels and dined out for each meal. That's the reason we chose an RV, we have our own bed to sleep in every night and are able to cook our own meals. Park fees are very reasonable between $30 and $40 a night, depending on whether you have any views of a river, lake or beach then they will be slightly higher.

So come along with us, grab your favorite cup of java or tea, and enjoy our Alaska Adventure!

My favorite part of the trip was getting up at sunrise 4:00 in the morning one beautiful day in the Kenai Peninsula and venturing out on our jeep to get some photographs of wildlife. We passed this foggy valley and in the distance we could see the sun coming up, it was so red and beautiful (as seen in the first photo). Later we drove a little ways down the road and captured a momma moose and her calf grazing in the grass, it just doesn't get any better than this folks.

While still in Kenai on the very next day we drove along the beach area and watched while hundreds of fisherman lined the coastline all fishing, what a spectacular sight that was. We happened to be there during the "hottest" fishing months of the year usually May - July. Then along the Kenai River we captured this photograph of a few fishermen fishing the river, it was really cool. Kenai City is a very old town and has so much history. We also visited the Russian Orthodox Church in the middle of town, it is a small quaint little church with a white picket fence, this will be another one of my hubs in the future so stay tuned.

When we visited Steward, which was the furthest City we traveled to, we took a chartered boat out in Prince William Sound. On this boat adventure we experienced whale, otters and beautiful glaciers, it was a gorgeous sunny day - still a bit chilly out but nevertheless stunning. When we got back we had lunch at a local pub right at the marina and had the best "halibut cheeks" and chips - ever! It was an awesome day. Some of the photos of Seward and our boat trip are in the video we created below!

Watson Lake often referred to as the Yukon's gateway, was a very cool place and is easier for me to remember by the famous landmark "The Sign Post Forest". There are literally thousands of signs, license plates from every part of the world, state and countries displayed at the landmark. Watson Lake sits at the junction of the Campbell and Alaska highways and is often the first major stop for visitors entering the Yukon from the south.

The area now known as Watson Lake has long been inhibited by First Nations peoples, traders and trappers. Regardless of where you stay the landmark is a must see. Photos of the sign post forest are in the video as well.

There is a small town of Teslin in the Yukon Territory that you will pass if you are headed towards Alaska. We visited this little town and had to see the "Tinglit Intrepret Center" and museum. I personally am very interested in this tribe of First Nation's people, because I painted a watercolor of a young Tinglit Native American girl a few years ago. So to me this was so exciting to finally experience and see where she grew up and lived. The museum was full of old photos and how they lived in this part of the Yukon Territory dating way back in time - it was so educational and inspiring. This is the watercolor painting of the young girl.

Another exciting town we wanted to explore further was Whitehorse. While there, we stayed at Hi Country RV park and had a blast. We saw some awesome eagles and other wildlife while there. We took a drive along the windy road up to the bridge on the Yukon River, what a beautiful river this is and the water is an emerald green color, simply stunning. We got to visit a wild animal park and saw moose, deer, elk, fox and mountain goats. It was about a six mile walk and it was a gorgeous day to do it in. We took a picnic lunch with us, so halfway during our walk we stopped and had a picnic. Highly recommended when at Whitehorse. Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory and the town is right on the river. Of course there are other very exciting things to do along the Yukon river right through the middle of town, take a train that runs all along the river and also the SS Klondike ship, which is docked near town. They have a great downtown area with lots of shopping and restaurants. Great stay at Whitehorse.

On our travels back towards Washington we visited Quesnel and Barkerville. We stayed a week there to enjoy all that area had to offer, and boy did it not disappoint. I even created a whole hub just on those two very quaint towns, so be sure to check them out. We also did some sight seeing at Chilliwack and visited the famous Bridal Veil Falls. What a spectacular sight that was. The hike to the falls definately was energizing but so worth it in the end.

The trip was almost to an end, I was dreading going back home, but when we crossed over to the US border I got a call from my son stating I was a grandma again. This is my ninth grandchild, Wade was born on July 26, 2010, what a great way to say welcome home mom!

• What kept our trip very enjoyable and without stress, at least heavy stress was having our laptop right in front of me. We used Microsoft streets and maps with a GPS system, the GPS costs about a $100 bucks and so well worth it. It plugs into the laptop with a USB chord and will guide you on your trip. This is a great way to always know exactly what is up ahead. When traveling in a Class "A" vehicle such as ours and towing a Jeep, it's imperative you do not ever get into a tight situation because backing out is a pain. Well you can, but it means un-hooking the Jeep and backing out then re-hooking the Jeep, we try to avoid this as much as possible. With the GPS you can zoom into any area and intersection to see what is up ahead, plus you an get the upcoming rest stops, restaurants and RV parks. You can even find points of interest, parks, shopping or whatever else you may need on the trip. This GPS system made our trip go smoothy and it is a must have for an RV.

• The other tip for traveling to Alaska if you are a TV watcher is, if you are going to take your Direct TV box and satellite on our RV, make sure you have the right satellite. I guess in Alaska because of where it's located the round satellites do not work, you need the oblong one, wish we would have known this before we left. This has to do with the curvature of the earth and being closer to the equator. I wish Direct TV would have told us this, we found out later unfortunately.

• The other very important tip is to always take "bear spray"or "wasp spray" when taking walks along the forest areas, because as we found out first hand a bear or other wild animal can be at any turn.

• Always take your camera - in British Columbia, The Yukon Territory and Alaska almost every where you turn there will be a wildlife photo opportunity just waiting to happen.
• The other thing to remember is that when you are traveling in British Columbia as well as the Yukon Territory it is in kilometers and not miles - 1 kilometer equals .621 mile!
• We did have an encounter of the "bear" kind as we walked along a walking trail by the salmon river one day while at an RV park. It was a small bear and it came up behind us but we left the wasp spray in the RV - I did have my camera but I was so scared that I couldn't even grab it to take the photo, just when I did the bear ran up the tree and hung on for dear life - poor little thing, he was more scared of us than we were of him!