ALCAN Days 24 (23 June Sunday); Juneau and...

It rained most of the night but we stayed (mostly) dry in the tent.  A warm shower was a treat.  Across from our campsite, we saw a duck and ducklings on the pond the first night.  We saw a Bald Eagle as we were leaving but no sign of the ducklings (circle of life?)

Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls

After packing thing up we went to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center and adjacent Nugget Falls.  It was a small world moment to find out that that Erin's Aunt and Uncle and cousins (Brenda, Mark, Anna and Lauren Brust) were at the glacier the day before while we were camping across the lake.

Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls Panarama

In downtown, Randy and Cate enjoyed the Russian potato dumplings with Jane going for the trusted Kettle Corn before going back to Alaska Robotics to get the girls some local artist tee shirts (Shruggy Squid and Murder of Crows) instead of "Alaska" wear everywhere else (They were ready to buy them on Friday but Randy urged them to think on it for a day or two before making a spur of the moment purchase.  At the end of the afternoon, we each got a large Dominoes’ Pizza for the ferry through the Inland Passage.



At 6:16 pm, we boarded the Malaspina (named after the largest piedmont glacier in the world) for our "cruise" along the Alaskan Inland Passage from Juneau to Prince Rupert, BC.  By cruise, I mean our passage on the AMHS car ferry (28 hours plus). 

We made our nest on the Bridge Deck Recliner Lounge (indoors behind the Bridge).  The signs clearly state no food or drink but everyone was flouting those rules.  In no time the girls were reading their books, and couldn’t be less interested in exploring the boat, or seeing the mediocre Transformers sequel showing on the lower deck.  There were a dozen or so folks bundled up on the top "sun" deck at first moved in later.

Curti nest on the Bridge Deck Recliner Lounge of the Malaspina

The Malaspina was a different experience than the AMHS Tazlina two days earlier.  The Malaspina is as old as Randy and designed for a time before cruise ships changed how people toured this area There were only 6 people in the 118 seats lounge, we camped out in and very few people opted for the pricey cabins.  We figured we were floating with 5-10% of passenger capacity on this 500-person capacity ship during peak travel season.  No wonder the ticket prices are so high ($516 for the people and $425 for the Cheverse), the state funded AMHS is in the hole and the State is threatening to defund it.  It's a shame because it is a nice way to travel albeit outdated compared to airfare.  My guess is the smaller new ships make more economic sense but this one would if it was near capacity.  Not having "free" highways to get from place to place is expensive.

Sunset off the Malaspina

ALCAN Days 25 (24 June Monday); Inland Passage

I felt semi-obligated to whale watch but moose eyed Curtis is not the person to be doing that (moose have horrible far distance eye sight).  Our location was updated by GIS updated on navigation chart which was cool and something not experienced on the last cruise ships.  Randy woke up for the Petersburg stop at 0345; 4 vehicles got off and a group of ~girl scouts.  It was nice sunrise before the fog rolled in.  The girls didn’t budge. 

0345 Sunrise at Petersburg

When we rolled into Wrangell at 0830 and most everyone was awake and moving (multiple loud horn blasts in the Wrangell Narrows to warning to smaller craft they were going to get squished will do that).  We stayed on the ship as the turnaround was supposed to be fast (it wasn’t).  At 1130, I coerced Jane to walk around the ship with me; no such luck with Cate.  At Ketchikan, we docked between 1510-1600, Unlike the cruise ship port, miles away, the dock there isn’t much action where the ferry stops.  Still I made the girls get off the boat and we got some frozen yogurt at the local A&P.  The large pizza from the night before long gone, Randy got the grilled halibut dinner with mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner at the ship's café.  It was great!

Ketchikan ferry port (Compare the szie of the ferry to a cruise ship)

Barge outside Ketchikan (Note: the trucks and pre-built house)

br> At 8:22 pm we crossed into Canada which meant the return of Sprint cell phone data service and there was rejoicing among the teenage Curti who were no longer sleeping the rest of the ferry ride, which still had 3 hours left until we arrived in Prince Rupert.

2nd Sunset on the Malaspina

br> After clearing the hour plus wait at Prince Rupert border at midnight, we pulled into our friend Timmy's for a few hours of sleep in the car ("like a HOBO!" - Emily Gilmore).

Customs line off the Prince Rupert Ferry

ALCAN Days 25 (26 June Tuesday); British Columbia

After waking up at dawn and getting some coffee and doughnuts, we headed out of Prince Rupert for a long driving day, only to stop at the McDonald's a few minutes later as "some people" decided they actually did need to use the rest room after all. 

Breakfast at Timmys B&B

The drive on the Yellowhead Highway (Trans-Canada 16) along the Skeena River was another delight.  The girls were still sleepy and Randy got in a listen of Cat Stevens Tea for Tillerman without the usual groans of agony from the teens.

Driving past massive stacks of lumber that made us think of French Fries and lunch

At the crossroads of Prince George in the BC interior that afternoon, we figured we’d grabbed some veggie burgers at Burger King.  Unfortunately they were sold out (and this wasn’t for the Impossible Whoppers, this was just for the run of the mill veggie burger that BK has been selling for over a decade..  After some hangry wrangling over the options and using Google map restaurants guide, we settled on another McDonald's outing, even though that involved back tracking a few miles.  Since there was an Old Navy on the other side of the parking lot and it had been since Fairbanks since we last visited one…

We took Canada 97, roughly following the Fraser River southward.  The Milepost once again helped us locate camping along the way (10 Mile Lake PP) about an hour south of Prince George.  Definitely closer to population centers as this merely OK location was at near capacity.

ALCAN Days 27 (26 June Wednesday); Vancouver

At Cache Creek, we turned onto West (i.e., south) Trans-Canada 1, which is a gorgeous 2-lane route generally paralleling the Canadian Pacific Railway through the Thompson and Fraser Rivers canyons (rafting them could be a new bucket list item).  That this wasn’t earmarked a scenic route on the AAA maps was certainly an oversight but on the adjusted Canadian Rockies scale maybe not.

Trans-Canada 1 West

As with many of our long driving days, we kept going until hanger pervaded the car.  We arrived in Hope, BC with the girls envisioning (daring we say Hoping for) grilled cheese sandwiches at the DQ, but that wasn’t an option there.  Randy excused himself from the ensuing bickering to use the restroom and let the girls figure it out.  In the interim, they used Google to determine that the local A&W had a veggie burger and the problem was solved (Road travel with picky vegetarians teens is frustrating and picking out where to eat became Dad's #1 grip).

Fraser River Canyon

Grooving out to the serendipitously playing of Canada's own Gordon Lightfoot's singing "Carefree Highway" on Trans-Canada Highway 1 outside of Hope was an iconic moment, except for the less than enthused teenagers about the song or an initially pleasant photo request to the person riding shotgun to capture the moment.  The driver responded with a more assertive request (Do I need to pull this car over to get the GD picture?!).  Moody shifts can happen quickly on the Open Road.

Carefree highway, let me slip away...

We got to downtown Vancouver (near Yaletown and the 2010 Olympic Village) and stayed with former Devil Dog / Sunday Dinner Group friend Bob Becker.  Bob lives in the middle of a hip and happening part of town but the first night there we opted to get some groceries and make a meal on in his kitchen.  It was the "least" healthy meal we had on our trip to date, and by least, we mean most healthy.

Vancouver Dinner Group

We hunkered down on our camping air mattresses strewn in every 3 by 6-foot space in Bob's apartment and were serenaded by the street sounds from 6 floors below, including a group singing "O’ Canada" very loudly at 11 PM.  It appears they may have had some refreshing beverages beforehand.

ALCAN Days 28 (27 June Thursday); Vancouver

Bob took the day off of work and showed us the sights around Vancouver, including: the leftover Olympic venue recreation complex where he curls with a rec team; a trip to through the University of British Columbia; a reccy around Stanley Park to see the Lions Gate Bridge, the Totem Poles and great views of the city and North Vancouver.  That nigh we introduced Bob to the joys of Blaze Pizza which was a couple blocks away but hadn’t discovered yet.

Lions Gate Bridge at Stanley Park with Bob

Downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park

ALCAN Days 29 (28 June Friday); Everett/Seattle

The trip turned southward and the goa; shifted from an ALCAN Road Trip to visit Randy's Dad / Grandpa Curtis in Monterey, CA mission.

On Friday we crossed over the US border and the radio serendipitously played the love, brotherhood and Coca-Cola anthem "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" while we waited in line at the Peace Arch crossing ("May these gates never be closed").  A good vibe.  In keeping with the perfect soundtrack karma of the moment, as we left the border guard check point for the sixth time, the speed limit sign read 70 mph (a rate not seen since North Dakota on Day 2 of the trip) and Chuck Berry was singing Roll Over Beethoven.  We punched the accelerator with a loud "WOOOOO! Roll Over Canada, we’re in the USA!". 

It was a short driving day to stay with old WGHS, UMR and Pi Kapp pal Steve Swaine in Everett, WA.  After an oil change on the Cheverse and a fill-up at an Indian lunch buffet, Steve took us on a day of sightseeing: • Funko Pop figurines of pop culture flagship store and HQ, which the girls absolutely LOVED (Great call Lisa Swaine)

Everett Funko POP store

At Funko Ice Planet Hoth	To the Batmobile

• Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour to see the 747, 767, 777 and 787 assembly plant at Paine Field (a FUDS).  The largest building IN THE WORLD by volume covering 98.3 acres.

Cheesy picture at Visitor's Center as no pics allowed in the factory

• Pikes Place Market (Seattle Underground tour sold out by the time we got downtown)

Pikes Public Market

• Space Needle with plexiglass floor and viewing platform

Seattle at dusk	This Space Needle isn't big enough for both of us...

• Fremont Troll under the Aurora Avenue Bridge in Seattle

Fremont Troll

ALCAN Days 30 (29 June Saturday); I-5 through Washington and Oregon States

The agenda for the day was heading south on I-5 with a vague idea of camping in southern Oregon, roughly halfway to San Francisco.  We had to go through the notoriously bad Metro Seattle traffic but on Saturday morning, it was no problem.  NOT.  It was horrible, all the way downtown even in the HOV lanes (Gay Pride Parade) but then it opened up.  NOT.  It was horrible, all the way to the split to Tacoma but then it opened up.  NOT.  It was horrible, all the way to Joint Base Lewis McChord but then it opened up.  Sort of.  I-5 south of Everett never felt carefree in Washington on a SATURDAY.  Lovely place to live if you stay put but going north-south on the population corridor is painful.  Portland was the expected level of busy and I-5 didn’t get to be pleasant until after Salem, Oregon.  We grabbed a late lunch at a Panera's at a shopping exit off the high and hey, look over there, another Old Navy…

There was a state campground outside the Mount Ashland Ski Area a few miles off I-5 that on the map that became the planned nights destination.  After a half hour drive around 8 pm, we reached the idled ski resort which had a definite Scooby-Doo abandoned haunted resort feeling to it before continuing on to the campground on the backside of the mountain.  There was no assigned sites but just an open area on the side of the mountain around pit toilets.  The temps were in 50s but the 10-20 mph constant winds made it feel much colder.  There were a handful of folks milling about but the whole thing had a real negative vibe.  After an uncomfortable joke or three about all of us getting murdered and eaten but the cultish creeps, we all agreed it was a good idea to GET OUT (que the Scooby Doo chase music).  It was another half hour back down and near twilight.  The first town of any size was Yreka another half hour further in the dark.  We found a cheap family run motel with a couple dozen rooms that would normally would have seemed sketchy but didn’t seem too bad after our NEAR-DEATH experience (all in our imagination).  We microwaved our dinner and called it a night.

Deserted Mt Ashland ski resort

ALCAN Days 31 (30 June Sunday); San Francisco

We slept in until 9, missing the motel breakfast which consisted of a choice between no name brand cornflakes or cereal loops in the 12-by 12-foot lobby.  We got on the road for another day of driving, skipping potential detours at Lassen Volcanic NP or Mount Shasta in order to keep moving.  Ca-Ca-Ca-Ca-Come On, Ca-Ca-Ca-Ca-Come On, Go Go

We got to the Mission District of San Francisco in mid-afternoon, while our hosts for the next couple nights were at a youth birthday with son.  We hung out in the sunshine at the Mission Park amongst the dwindling crowds of the of Pridefest Celebration Weekend festivities but was still a clear ambiance of gender and sexuatlity and acceptance that Cate and rest of us enjoyed.  We also did some shopping in the Mission District including Paxton's Gate (natural history taxidermy and curiosity shop), 826 Valencia (pirate store/writng lab).  We stayed with another of Randy's old WGHS/UMR/Pi Kapp friends (and roommate for 3 ½ years) Jake Keklikian his wife Andrea and son Milo near 20th and Valencia. 

Cate at Delores Park

The Curti at the Curtis Hotel at 559 Valencia

ALCAN Days 32 (1 July Monday); San Francisco

Monday was tourist day after we finally got going, we spent a few hours at the Exploratorium, the SF hands on science center, relocated from the former World's Fair Palace of Fine Arts next to the Presidio to a bay side location on the Embarcadero. 

Enjoying a refreshing drink at the Exploratorium

This was followed by the obligatory visit to Fort Point and Golden Gate Bridge on a gorgeous summer afternoon.

Golden Gate Bridge

We had dinner on Valencia at Mexican restaurant with Jake, Andrea and Milo flowed by ice cream.  Always a pleasure visiting SF.

Fort Point and Golden Gate Bridge

Dinner with Jake, Milo & Anndrea

ALCAN Days 33-35 (2-4 July Tuesday- Thursday); Monterey/Pacific Grove

On Monday we had to make room in the Cheverse for another person as we were picking up Bethany from SFO at 1 pm before heading south to visit Randy's Dad in Pacific Grove, CA.  This required tying a number of bags of clothing and other things on the roof. 

Cate as the WWI Flying Ace atop our bags of clothes on the roof

Everyone was glad to see her again after over a month apart but the dynamic of the three Curti against the ALCAN reverted back to the normal family dynamics of shifting alliances depending on the circumstances of getting one's preferred choice in regards to food, activities, time to sleep, etc.  Dad got the short end for a few days.

It was a couple hours drive from SFO to Monterey/ Pacific Groves following a lunch at Denny's in San Mateo.  Ron has lived in Pacific Grove, for over decade but has been in the area much of the last 25 years with the exception of a few years in Brookings, OR. 

At Pacific Grove shoreline

Ron had planned on giving his beloved Chrysler Sebring convertible to the girls and Randy for the last year as he was no longer driving it anymore and insuring and paying the taxes on a car, he wasn’t using didn’t make sense.  This was Bethany's main reason for joining us so late in the trip as we needed an extra driver to bring home Ron's car.  The planned visit took an added dimension turn as he transitioned from his longtime home at 700 Rose Ave to a skilled nursing facility (Cypress Ridge Care Center, 1501 Skyline Dr, Monterey) on a permanent basis. 

Ron, Randy & the girls

The next two and half days were spent visiting with him and helped some with the downsizing of his home where we stayed.  We didn’t take into many of the surrounding sights like the Aquarium, Carmel or the Bay except at sunset.

Jane at sunset	Randy and Bethany at sunset

ALCAN Days 36-38 (5-7 July Friday-Sunday); ~2,000 miles Homeward Bound via "Route 66" on 11 + 9 + 10 ¾ hours days

Del Taco Chili Cheese Fries in CA

Despite all the National Parks treasures and sites, the three Curti vagabonds were done sightseeing and wanted to be home, so we took the shortest route back over three long days (despite Bethany incredulous pleas to the girls to see the Grand Canyon ~25 miles of the road; it would have to wait for another road trip).  We primarily followed the interstate replacement of "Route 66" as we traced much of the song lyric towns in reverse: Barstow, Kingman, Flagstaff [Greentree Inn], Winona, Gallup, Amarillo [Fairfield Inn], Oklahoma City, Joplin and finally St. Louie.  The only non-gas/bathroom/sleeping stop was at the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert for a couple hours as I-40 goes through the park.

Devil Dog Road, AZ	Outside Kingman AZ

Petrified Forest NP Entrance

Painted Dessert Valley	Painted Dessert Inn Mural

Painted Dessert Panarama

Russell Travel Center Museum

I44 MO Rest Stop

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Following the Sebring on I-44 in Missouri

By the Numbers

9,924 Miles on the Traverse (Odometer 57,436 - 47,512)
412 Nautical Miles (AMHS)
38 Days
33 Nautical hours (AMHS)
15 Nights in Canada
12 Nights Camping
12 States
10 Nights in a hotel or cabin
10 Nights with family & friends
9 Nights in Alaska
6 Border Crossings
4 Providences
4 Time zones
1 Nights on a boat
1 Nights in a parking lot (like a bum)

Lodgings (25)
1. Four Points by Sheraton, 5064 23rd Avenue South Fargo, North Dakota 58104
2. Fairfield Inn & Suites Regina, 3915 Albert Street, Regina S4S 3R4 Canada
3. Courtyard Calgary South, 3750 Market Street SE, Calgary T3M 2P2 Canada,
4. Banff National Park of Canada site 448, Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court C, 2 nights
5. Jasper NP Camping at Wapiti, site W16, 2 nights,
6. Fort Nelson Super 8
7. Mould Creek Campground, private #4, ALCAN highway Mile 479 Hot Springs $25
8. Wolf Creek Provincial Park Camp Ground $12 ALCAN highway Mile 877
9. Yukon River PP
10. USAF Birch Lake Recreation Area – 2 nights
11. Fairbanks Super 8,
12. Denali National Park & Preserve, Riley Creek 2 Nights
13. Erin Sage & Roman Bakic, 11906 Wilderness Drive, Anchorage, AK - 3 Nights
14. Camp at Snag Junction PP outside Beaver Creek, Yukon site #9, $12
15. Million Dollar Falls Provincial Park Campground, Site 10, $12
16. Mendenhall Campground- 2 Nights
17. Alaska Marine Highway System Vessel - Malaspina
18. Prince Rupert Timmy's
19. Bob Becker Vancouver 480 Robson Street, # 602, Vancouver, BC, V6B 1S1 – 2 nights
20. Steve and Lisa Swaine in Bellingham/Seattle – 1 night
21. Yreka, CA Budget Inn motel
22. San Francisco at Jake and Andrea's, 3580 20th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110 – 2 nights
23. Pacific Grove 700 Rosemont Avenue, Pacific Grove, CA, 93950, 3 nights
24. Greentree Inn Flagstaff, 2755 S Woodlands Village Blvd., Flagstaff AZ, 86001
25. Fairfield Inn & Suites Amarillo Airport, 1740 Airport Boulevard Amarillo Texas 79118

Favorites

Favorite Music - The Book of Mormon (with a close 2nd of Be More Chill); lots of Queen too and Jonas Brother's new Sucker for You was the Popular music Bop of the trip
Favorite Music Moment - Roll Over Beethoven crossing into the USA for the last time through Gordon Lightfoot's Carefree Highway on the Trans Canada 1 was special; Dale Shannon's Runaway in the convertible on I-40
Favorite National Park - Banff National Park (with a close 2nd of Jasper)
Stretch of Highway - Haines Junction to Haines (actually the Icefield Parkway between Banff and Jasper, but that's everyone's answer so we gave a more interesting one)
Most Overrated - Lake Louise.  It's stunning but SOOO crowded with people angling to get their selfies Instagram posts.  It's also place we took the most pictures so…
Best Selfie / Instagram location - Banff and Lake Louise for mountains/nature; Golden Gate Bridge for city (Arguably most over rated for the same reason as Lake Louise)
Most Visited Store - Wal-Mart (8) and Old Navy (6)
Most Underrated - Muskwa-Kechika Management Area between Fort Nelson and Watson Lake.  You’ve never heard of it and we won’t remember the name either but it was some splendid country that remains undeveloped and will likely remain that way.  Whitehorse and all the Yukon were pretty cool too.
Best Value - Yukon PP $12 camping site Canadian with all the fire wood you could want (not that we made fires since we didn’t want to smell like smoke for 5 weeks).  Close 2nd- the three $8 twin size air mattresses from Wal-Mart
Favorite Hike - Lake Louise (there really wasn’t much hiking); walking on the Denali Road in broad daylight at 10 pm was pretty cool too
Favorite encounter with Wildlife - 6 ½ hour bus ride to Toklat River at park road mile 53 and back in Denali NP, we never saw the park's name sake mountain but 4 grizzly bears, several caribou and moose, lots of snowshoe hares and dozens of Dall sheep on the distant mountain.  The best was the group of 3 grizzlies a mama and 2 yearlings but the Mama moose with her calf nest to car when we wanted to go home at 1130 pm made for the better story.
Favorite Camping Comfort - Netflix downloads on the Chromebook, particularly in Canada where we could get Brooklyn 99 episodes (not available in the US)
Favorite Snack - Cool Mint Cliff Bar (Jane) Cheese Its and Kinder Eggs (Cate)
Favorite Meal - Fast Eddy's in Tok, AK because we had been deprived of fresh water for the last day but Bear Tooth Theatre Pub in Anchorage was probably better
Places to go again - Canadian Rockies of Banff and Jasper, but we could be talked into doing most all of it again
Meh Places (happy to see once but don’t need to go again) - Cruising the Alaskan Inland Passage; Fairbanks
Places Regretted - Dawson City, the brochure made it look like lively recreation of the Klondike Gold Rush bawdiness but the reality was more avenues of broken dreams, ghost town want to be.
Favorite Splurge - Banff Gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain though two pre-trip splurges were well appreciated: •
Sprint unlimited data and calling plan in Canada •
2 new 3-4 person Eureka tents with 2 poles and clips, 1 for the girls and 1 for dad.  They went up or down in less than 5 minutes
ALCAN versus Trans-Canada Highway 1 - Trans-Canada Highway 1
Favorite Museum - While the Alaska State Museum and the Yukon Transportation Museum were terrific, SF's Exploratorium is hard to beat
Favorite Unplanned Attraction - Funko Pop HQs store in Everett (Dad voted for Boeing Tour (747, 767, 777 and 787 assembly plant) at Paine Field, a FUDS
Favorite Unplanned Activity - Unstable Unicorns with Erin, Roman and Iris
Favorite Wi-Fi Pit Stop - Starbucks Banff and Juneau, Smithy's Jasper, Tim Horton's Whitehorse, Rusty Compass in Haines
Favorite Pit Stop - Russel Travel Center and Car Museum on I-40 at NM/Texas border

"There is no unhappiness like the misery of sighting land (and work) again after a cheerful, careless voyage." – Mark Twain

Biggest Regret – not spending longer in most places so we could more fully experience it and enjoy it.  Overall the trip compares to the Platte River: a mile wide, but only an inch deep.
Other regrets: •
not taking more video •
not taking more hikes.  I didn’t give the girls the gift of pure JOY of getting to special viewing points away from everyone else, to experience something stunning and that for one brief moment, was yours and yours alone of all the people in the world.

In retrospect was it everything I hoped it would be?

Of course not, what in life meets and exceeds one's hopes and dreams particularly when it comes to modeling a change in others, a doomed expectation.  But none-the-less there was some irrational disappointment this it wasn’t one epiphany and moment of enlightenment after another.  I know that's not how the world works and that this was irrational but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want it and was just a little let down that it wasn’t.  That's why I try to hold my expectation fantasies in check.  Cynical Aphorism: Expectations are the root of all unhappiness.

2019 ALCAN Roadtrip Part 3 (Days 24 Juneau - 38 WG & summation)

2019 ALCAN Roadtrip Part 2 (Days 11 Dawon City - 23 Juneau)

2019 ALCAN Roadtrip Part 1 (Why through Day 10 Whitehorse)