Our stay in Anchorage was a good 2 nights and we left recharged and ready for this new part of our Alaska Adventure. The first part we got to spend time with family in Alaska 20years after our first time driving up together. We spent time camping, fishing and doing fun excursions that we had planned and it’s a time we are very thankful for. This new part was going to be more time with the Govero family alone and driving back down a different way by going down the first half of the Alaska Highway. We’ve been able to spend some time with the other couple on our trip when we meet up in different places for a night or two.
After Anchorage we left and stopped in Tok for the night. I like Tok but I think it’s just because there are great memories of finally getting to Alaska and camping in Tok, the multiple times I’ve driven up over the years. It’s about 1.5hrs north of the border but you don’t really have cell service or good options for camping until Tok. We were all able to get a really good night’s sleep that night and left the next morning for Whitehorse. From Whitehorse we dropped down to Skagway for the weekend.
The drive to Skagway was one of the prettiest drives we’ve been on even with the heavy fog we encountered. Emerald Lake was just as it’s named and a full emerald color! The subalpine terrain looked like somewhere the hobbits would live. The random bodies of water and waterfalls everywhere were just amazing. It’s an 11mile decent into Skagway that drops you out of the fog and into the sea level town. Christopher and I actually took a cruise with a few friends 10 years ago and one of our ports of Skagway. We had an excursions planned taking a boat to Haines to do some kayaking but the seas were so high we had to turn the boat around. It was a memorable and very fun boat ride for the few minutes we were on it! We don’t really remember the rest of our time in Skagway but the boardwalk sidewalks were familiar and how the town is a long skinny town.
We got to our very wooded campground and had a great nap before walking to town for the evening. The shops are really nice shops some with really great ivory pieces and some good restaurants but others are full of the touristy items and some food we had wasn’t the best food we’ve ever had but it’s a great port for a cruise for sure. The next day we walked around town some more, let Soly take a nap and then finished the night in the town again. We asked where to eat and had a great meal of different fried fishies, pizza and more :) We enjoyed out time in Skagway and left the next morning.
We took our time on the drive out of Skagway stopping for photos and a stop at Caribou Crossing. I think this is an excursion option for the cruises and I personally don’t think it would be worth it unless you wanted to take a dog sled ride but plan that in advance so you are able to get a spot. The train should be your number one option, in our opinion, and it’s something we will do when we visit again. Our stop was worth it though because Solomon LOVES the loud sled dogs. They are only loud when they are about to be picked to pull the sleds so it was a good thing there were 7 tour buses of people from the cruise ships with 10,000 people that docked that day waiting to take rides. We walked through their exhibit of stuffed animals and they are known for the largest stuffed polar bear and they have a wooly mammoth. Solomon loved the big elephant :)
This short drive out of Skagway has some of the most random landscapes like… one of the smallest deserts? Yes, there is this small desert called Carcross Desert that has snow capped mountains as it’s background. It was a fun drive with some great stops for photos. We ended our day in Watson Lake. We found out there are tons of fires burning to the west and a lot of the roads down to Seattle are closed so it was a good thing we had already decided to pass on going to Seattle. We hung out at the Sign Post Village for a good bit and Soly jumped around in the mud puddles. Good thing we had those rain boots on :/ He was eventually sitting down in the middle of the puddle and you could hear the water with every step as it burst out the tops of his boots. He loves himself a good puddle! Canada is all we will see for the next few days and we’ll have some long driving days ahead of us. The next post might not have a whole lot to talk about but we’ll see what happens along the way :)
