John and I spent 2 weeks driving and Camping (sleeping in our rental car) all over the road system of Alaska. We traveled over 3000 miles on our journey and saw a lot of fun and exciting things. It is amazing how long it takes to get from one town to another. Many of the "highways" are unpaved and have sheer cliffs on each side. Also, there are moose, rabbits, geese, and squirrels all over the roads. On top of all that, there are a ton of fun places to stop and hike on trails along the roads so every adventure took us a lot longer than I thought!
We started out on May 16. John flew in that morning and I arrived in the afternoon. We had lunch with some friends of mine who were amazed to see that my "little" brother was so tall! Then we stopped at Fred Myers and loaded up on some supplies. We bought Pilot Bread, which are big crackers, peanut butter, jelly, banana's, and salad. John organized the car and I supervised then we were off.
Our first adventure took us South towards the Kenai Peninsula where we slept outside a glacier for the night. We tried to go to the visitor's center in the morning, but we were in a little early in the season. They had posters up and a hiking trails clearly marked so we just explored on our own. As we were walking, we saw a PORCUPINE. I had no idea what it was - it actually looked like a baby bear climbing a tree. I really need to stop getting my ideas about nature and wild life from cartoons!
We started out on May 16. John flew in that morning and I arrived in the afternoon. We had lunch with some friends of mine who were amazed to see that my "little" brother was so tall! Then we stopped at Fred Myers and loaded up on some supplies. We bought Pilot Bread, which are big crackers, peanut butter, jelly, banana's, and salad. John organized the car and I supervised then we were off.
Our first adventure took us South towards the Kenai Peninsula where we slept outside a glacier for the night. We tried to go to the visitor's center in the morning, but we were in a little early in the season. They had posters up and a hiking trails clearly marked so we just explored on our own. As we were walking, we saw a PORCUPINE. I had no idea what it was - it actually looked like a baby bear climbing a tree. I really need to stop getting my ideas about nature and wild life from cartoons!
A moose came up to our car the first night we were camping. Guard Dog Puffin alerted us, but I got some cool pics of it while it was leaving:
Here are some pics from our way down to Kenai:
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We also stopped at a conservations park that rescues hurt animals. Did you know Bison were not extinct?
Up close with a Caribou:
Brown Bear - this was definitely close enough for me!
The snowy part in the middle is the glacier:
The frozen water is melted glacier:
We wouldn't want Puffin to get cold while hiking! 
Puffin is on thin ice:
Puffin is on thin ice:
Eagles anyone?
A really cool partially frozen river:
Icicles on the side of the river bed.
In Denali, we saw bears, cubs, moose, caribou, and all kinds of birds. Here is a picture of the state bird a ptarmigan (who starts a word with "pt"). It changes plumage from white in the fall to brown in the spring. This one is caught between seasons - part white and part brown:
Mt McKinley:
John and I in Denali:
Back Seat Driver:
We tried to go to a hot spring in Circle (one degree below the Artic circle), but when we got there this is what we found.
In the middle of all these run down buildings, there was this beautiful house...so strange.
If there was a road, John and I traveled on it! We drove over 300o miles in about 13 days. It is amazing that Fairbanks was the hottest place we traveled. We encountered temperatures varing from 30 to 90 degrees. I really didn't exspect the south of Alaska to be warmer than the north. We also got to drive over some really high mountaints (about 5000 feet) with some breath taking views! Here are some random pics from the road:
Icicles on the side of the river bed.
In Denali, we saw bears, cubs, moose, caribou, and all kinds of birds. Here is a picture of the state bird a ptarmigan (who starts a word with "pt"). It changes plumage from white in the fall to brown in the spring. This one is caught between seasons - part white and part brown:
Mt McKinley:
John and I in Denali:
Back Seat Driver:
We tried to go to a hot spring in Circle (one degree below the Artic circle), but when we got there this is what we found.
In the middle of all these run down buildings, there was this beautiful house...so strange.
If there was a road, John and I traveled on it! We drove over 300o miles in about 13 days. It is amazing that Fairbanks was the hottest place we traveled. We encountered temperatures varing from 30 to 90 degrees. I really didn't exspect the south of Alaska to be warmer than the north. We also got to drive over some really high mountaints (about 5000 feet) with some breath taking views! Here are some random pics from the road:
