Chena Hot Springs: A Fairbanks Original

by Richard Quinn | May 11, 2023 | Alaska Highway, Road Trips, Travel

With just 32,000 residents, Fairbanks is a mid-sized town by most standards, but in sparsely inhabited Alaska, it’s the largest community in the interior of the state, its population second only to that of the much larger city of Anchorage. It was founded in 1901 as a...

The Alaska Highway: Day 4: Beaver Creek to Fairbanks

by Richard Quinn | May 11, 2023 | Alaska Highway, Canadian Road Trips, Road Trips, Travel

Click Maps and Photos for an expanded view. After a restless night in my funky motel in Beaver Creek, Yukon, I was raring to get back on the road. Fairbanks was only 300 miles away. Delta Junction, the end of the Al-Can, was only 200 miles away, and the border? Twenty...

The Alaska Highway: Day 3: Whitehorse to Beaver Creek

by Richard Quinn | May 9, 2023 | Alaska Highway, Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, Road Trips, Travel

Click Maps and Photos for an expanded view. Most travel guides divide the trip from Dawson Creek to the Alaska Border into four segments, allowing a full day for each. I went a little crazy on my second day, driving from Fort Nelson all the way to Whitehorse, instead...

The Alaska Highway: Day 2: Fort Nelson to Whitehorse

by Richard Quinn | May 9, 2023 | Alaska Highway, Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, Road Trips, Travel

Click Maps and Photos for an expanded view. The sun was up and pouring through my window at 4:30 AM, so I arose early and rolled out of Fort Nelson at 6:00. The plan was to drive at least as far as Watson Lake, 319 miles and about 7 hours away, but clear over on the...

The Alaska Highway: Day 1: Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson

by Richard Quinn | May 9, 2023 | Alaska Highway, Canadian Road Trips, Road Trips, Travel

When I arrived in Dawson Creek, I was dog tired from driving. I’d pushed it almost 500 miles that day, all the way from a tiny town called 100 Mile House, where I’d stayed in a cheap motel after crossing the border north of Seattle. According to my...

The Alaska Highway: Prelude: The Road to Dawson Creek

by Richard Quinn | May 9, 2023 | Alaska Highway, Mountains, National Parks, Road Trips, Travel

For anyone living in the United States, a drive to Alaska on the Alaska Highway is the ultimate road trip, the longest point-to-point journey you can undertake without leaving North America. A lot of people talk about making that drive, but there are relatively few...

Canadian Road Trips: Jasper and the Icefields Parkway

by Richard Quinn | Mar 9, 2021 | Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, National Parks, Road Trips, Travel

When you start a Canadian Road Trip in Edmonton, your Rocky Mountain adventure will almost undoubtedly begin in Jasper National Park, some 200 miles west on AB-16, the Yellowhead Highway. Beginning from Calgary, or points further east, your fun will more likely start...

Canadian Road Trips: Glacier and Mt. Revelstoke National Parks

by Richard Quinn | Mar 4, 2021 | Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, National Parks, Road Trips, Travel

Traveling west from Calgary on the Trans Canada Highway, you’ll drive straight through the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage site known as the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, a contiguous assemblage of no less than four of Canada’s most spectacular National...

Canadian Road Trips: Yoho National Park

by Richard Quinn | Mar 1, 2021 | Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, National Parks, Road Trips, Travel

Beginning from Calgary, the town of Banff is less than 80 miles west on the Trans Canada Highway, and Lake Louise, the most famous attraction in Banff National Park, is just 35 miles more, still on the TCH. Banff and Lake Louise get four million visitors in an average...

Canadian Road Trips: Banff and Kootenay National Parks

by Richard Quinn | Feb 28, 2021 | Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, National Parks, Road Trips, Travel

One of the best places to begin a Canadian road trip is in Calgary, the largest city in the Province of Alberta, and just fifty miles from the front range of the Rockies. If you aren’t planning to use your own vehicle for your adventure, you can easily rent one...