Our Drive To Alaska Blog

Our Travels in Summer 2007

2011-12-27T08:30:00.000-05:00

In the Summer of 2007 Matthew Ray and Bryan Carey decided to take one last big road-trip before starting their career out of college. The trip would be to Alaska, from Rochester, NY and was expected to take over 6 weeks and over 11,000 miles. In the end, they traveled 50 days and over 14,400 miles through Canada and back across the Great Plains of the United States, documenting their journey along the way.

In years prior, Matt and Bryan had taken smaller road adventures to Newfoundland as well as to Yellowstone -- So with this big trip, the both of them have traveled the further EAST and furthest WEST that one can travel by road in North America.. a goal only desired the year prior when planning for the 2007 roadtrip to Alaska.

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Look for more updates to this site as thousands of pictures will be added to each blog post. We had a website (http://ourdrivetoalaska.com) as we did the trip, but unfortunately lost all my web-work.

If you have questions on traveling, we will be happy to answer all that we can!

Experiencing difficulties with the site..

2007-08-01T13:28:00.000-04:00

Error on the home page (JULY 29th*) - and edits and pictures to come - but the hosting company is down and I cant make edits at this time.

Thanks for your patience - I should be able to get the rest up this afternoon (or so they tell me). If not, it's going into escalation.

Pictures, personal blogs of the trip, and videos will be up soon.

We are home in Rochester, NY

2007-07-30T12:08:00.000-04:00

After spending time in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, we headed for a night at Kent State, then home.

Indianapolis was a really nice city, we met up with a whole crew of young professionals that showed us around the city and shared stories of travels. Not being on any rivers, Indianapolis had it happening – with a center round-about in the middle of the city – which was more of a social gathering section for lunch and weekenders. Cincinnati was also a very nice city – we were driving down there from Indianapolis and noticed all these Illinois and Iowa plates following us to Cincinnati – there was a Chicago game there, and these fans were driving their few hours they had to, to go to their beloved game. Cincinnati did not have much to offer directly downtown, so we headed across the river to Kentucky that night with another crew of friends that Bryan has met along his travels. We went to Abrams Hall where and 80’s cover band played all night and being able to sit outside on the river-front – we had the Cincinnati skyline highlighted by the setting sun. Again, another great time in a city we have never visited before.

We then drove up to Kent State University, where I went to school for my first two years of college. It was good to be there, but at the same time, it wasn’t. There was a reason why I left, and I found it when I went back – there is just nothing there and I wanted more. But it was great to see old friends that I haven’t seen in a few years – and those that I talk to here and there. We had a bon-fire and reminisced of our first two years in Terrace Hall – and wondered where others ended up. They ended up tearing down our dorm this year…all the better though – the school front looks much more inviting now, and Terrace may as well have been a crack house. Half the showers worked half the time, the carpet was stained in various spots, and each room only had two outlets. That’s right, 4-sockets for two individuals supplies (refrigerator, hair dryer, phone charger, computer, stereo…the list can go on). So of course, that means everyone had a power strip or two – which is a total fire hazard, not to mention the electric bill climbed every year from what the building’s output was designed for. So in all – all the better.
We then made our 271 mile drive to Rochester. It was a pretty boring drive – I have done it many times before; and being so close just made us want to be home that instant. As we pulled off the interstate, we couldn’t help be go to the Pontillo’s Bushnell’s Basin Pizzeria. We had worked for for many years and still still frequent the place. Not to mention it almost like family there – they treated us well while working there – and still treat us well today. We got our slice and headed to Bryan’s house where we started this Journey to Alaska. As we pulled into his driveway and pulled the vehicle into park, the ending mileage was 14,418.2 miles. That’s one heck of a ride if I do say so myself. We traveled 3,000 more miles than we originally planned for as well as five more days on the road – but due to our contingency planning from the start, we were still able to stay under our budget that we had set back in December.

We are are glad to be home, but at the same time as we hit the NY border we sat there at realized, Whoa, we just drove to Alaska…and back. We survived the ALCAN. We flew over Mt. McKinley. We caught 42lb King Salmon on the Kenai. We saw Grizzlies 30 feet from us. The abundance of Eagles was like crows back home. People are really nice in Canada. And Canadian cities are litter-free and environmentally conscious. We saw 370’ Redwood trees. We hit 15 states and 6 provinces. We drove the furthest west you can possible drive on the North American highway (furthest east back in 2004). We planned, saved money, and followed through with something that we have a passion for – good road trips where you can not only go to point A and point B but also see everything in between.

As the weeks continue, we will re-organize www.OurDriveToAlaska.com into an easier to view format as well as shout-out to everyone that has left comments on our page, and to those that made this trip possible for us – we couldn’t have done it without the whole team that was both directly and indirectly involved.

Please stay tuned and visit back in a week to view a site where you can click on an area of map and be able to see pictures and videos and routes from that direct area. There are still 20 videos to add to our 70 (which I hear make people LOL). And we still have 200 pictures to add to our 1500 that are currently on the site.

We will, in a few days, add a personally written set of paragraphs from both myself and Bryan Carey detailing on what we learned on this trip, what our favorite park was, what our worst part was, what’s next for life and what’s next for travels.

Thanks again for the support and enthusiasm,

Matt & Bryan

SLC, UT to Indianapolis, IN - Day 47 on the road

2007-07-26T19:53:00.000-04:00

We left Salt Lake City getting ready for our over 1500 mile journey through Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa; full of flat land and wheat and corn fields. Oh, and cows…

We’ve done the Great Plains drive on two other occasions on our Road trip out west back in 2002, but on I-90 heading west through South Dakota and Wyoming, and on I-70 heading east through Kansas and Colorado. I-90 was a good drive and South Dakota and Northern Wyoming had a lot to offer as far as scenery and things to do. I-70 was just as nice, with the Red rock Arches NP in Utah on the way to Colorado, and greener fields through Kansas. I-80 is kind of blah all the way through Wyoming. After playing Oregon Trail back in grade-school, we were looking for Chimney Rock – but by the time we found it – we had already passed (I hear its smaller than you think – so go to Arches NP if you want to see amazing red rock formations.

Actually – the best scenic ride would have to be from Badlands, SD to Yellowstone – south through the Teton Range to Bear Lake, Utah – then to Arches NP to hit I-70 through Aspens green mountains in Colorado. We have photos from that trip as well – and I will post them within a few days of getting back to Rochester on July 29th. Also check out our 2004 Newfoundland road trip pictures that are on our current site as well as the route that we took.

We spent a night in North Platte, Nebraska on the way to Iowa, stopping in Lincoln to visit the University of Nebraska. This school was massive with two campuses’, one in the city and the other eastern campus filled with large courtyards, much like Rochester’s Rochester Institute of Technology; but with less brick. We also visited Des Moines, Iowa briefly – but it wasn’t much of a tourist town. Iowa however, was wonderful to drive though compared to Nebraska, with greater variation in the land that we were driving through; also known as the “Land of the Tall Corn”. Davenport Iowa was a nice little city as well, located on the Mississippi and known as QUAD CITY, sharing the name with Bettendorf, Rock Island and Moline; http://www.quadcities.com/. It was pretty nice there, with casino boats on each side of the river – we visited the one in Davenport and lost five bucks…and ran into folks in the casino that were young at heart, playing their penny slot games with smiles from ear to ear as the music chimed to their winnings.

After a quick stop in Peoria, Illinois for an iced mocha from Portland Roasting Coffee. With a $10 minimum on cards and having no cash on me, the kind bistro server gave me my coffee on the house – THANKS AGAIN!! – and with it being 93 degrees outside, it was the best tasting iced mocha I’ve ever had; putting on shorts this morning instead of pants would have been nice too…

Thanks to Dan Agnew, from Rochester, we got a tip that Bob Lonsberry on 1180 WHAM was looking for ideas for road trips on his show. We called in and were able to get on the air for a good 20-30 minute conversation about our journey from Rochester to Alaska and back. To the listeners that heard us this afternoon, thanks again for the comments! We are happy to hear from you – feel free to tell your friends and family, even though our trip is almost complete, this site will be continually updated in the coming months with even better organization and fluidity within the site.

We are on the air again tomorrow around 11:30AM EST to further discuss our travels. Listeners may even be able to call in and ask us questions. Visit the site on our homepage to find the streaming connection to 1180 WHAM. And thanks again to Bob Lonsberry, 1180 WHAM, and Clear Channel for this opportunity! I would also like to thank RNEWS and Kris Dreessen from Messenger Post News for doing articles on our trip before we left Rochester on June 10th.

We will be in Indianapolis tonight visiting Bryan’s friend Sarah that he met in Germany while studying abroad at the Richmond University – The American International University in London back in 2005.

Keep posted as we update some pictures and videos tonight and tomorrow morning.

Cheers!

Matt & Bryan

Reno, NV to Salt Lake City, UT

2007-07-24T04:42:00.001-04:00

After getting the hotel and relaxing for a bit we decided to go out and see what our casino as well as the the others had to offer. After getting a beer from the bar at our casino, Circus Circus, we went on a quest to find Matt’s favorite game, Lobster Mania. We searched Circus Circus but no luck, time to move on. As soon as we stepped outside we realized this was no Las Vegas. Unlike Las Vegas, Reno only had 5 or 6 medium to large casinos on its small strip. It does make sense as Reno does call itself “The Littlest Big City in the World”. We wandered into Harrah’s which we quickly left, as there was nothing but smoke. Next stop was Fitzgerald’s, where of course we had luck in finding Lobster Mania. Luck of the Irish we thought. Matt played and won about $10, a big score as well as a free drink from the sassy cocktail waitress. We decided to explore some more and found the next casino which had a great brewpub in it which we decided to sample some great wheat beer. The band was great, and so were the people watching. We had a great time laughing at some of the patrons in the bar. Unfortunately there was a group of marines in the brewpub who became a little too rowdy for the management and they shut it down. We were pretty bummed but moved on. The last casino we decided to check out was the classiest and we found another live band in a lounge. They looked as they were still living in the 80’s as they had long blonde hair singing Eagles songs, it was still a good time however. Once their set was done we decided to call it a night.

We woke up to a gorgeous morning in Reno; the casino was bustling with people as was expected. We had our first car trouble of the trip as we attempted to drive away from the casino parking garage. We turned the key only to find that we had a dead battery. After a quick trip to the security office an officer followed us to the Subaru and in a matter of seconds the car was running and we were off. Next stop Jiffy Lube. We hadn’t had an oil change since Anchorage so it was time. There was no line and in a matter of 25 minutes and a great conversation about Alaska with some other customers who had seen the sign on our car we were off to our next destination, In-N-Out Burger. For those not familiar with the chain, it is a burger chain and only located in California, Nevada and Arizona. If you have not tried one please do when you go to one of these three states, they are delicious. From here we finally made it to the highway for our 500 mile journey to Salt Lake City.

The journey on 80 going east through northern Nevada is a trip through pure desert. There are a few small towns, the largest boasting a population of around 18,000. Other than these small pockets of humanity it is basically just sand, sagebrush and Small Mountains for about 5 hours in Nevada. The minute we crossed into Utah it became a different world. We had never been to a salt flat before and we can defiantly see why they would hold speed trials for the worlds fastest on wheels here. It is unbelievably flat and barren. Nothing can grow; salt just builds up on itself.

After spending the night at Jason True’s house (a friend from Rochester, NY who now resides in SLC for skiing and biking and school) we will be heading to Cheyenne, Wyoming real quick then onwards to somewhere in Nebraska.

You’ll hear from us again in Indianapolis, Indiana when we stay with a friend of mine from Tampa University on Wednesday or Thursday night – depends on how fast we get there….

Bryan & Matt

We left Portland, Oregon Friday afternoon and now reside in Reno, NV.

2007-07-23T13:07:00.000-04:00

We headed north one last time to Astoria, in the northwest corner of Oregon where you might be asking yourself, “why are they going up there?” Well, two reasons: (1) it is the start of the Pacific Ocean Scenic Highway; (2) it is the place where movies such as, The Goonies, Kindergarten Cop, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, among others, were filmed. We stopped by the Goonies house, where the map leading the Goonies on their adventure, was found in the attic. It was pouring when we arrived and only shot a quick video clip of the house. We then started our long scenic journey down the Oregon Coast to the Redwood forest – which will take two days.

Even though there was overcast and rain the whole way down to the Redwood Forest, just being along the coast was enjoyable. Large rocks jutted out of the sand as they are still being worn down by earth’s elements, wind and water. The surf here was very strong, tides rippingin and out every 12 hours or so. We would totally go back to the Oregon Coast - especially to see it when the sun in shining!!

The drive along the coast was amazing, and the drive through northern California was just as cool; curving roads that made ‘S’s across the state al the way to Reno. I will say that I have never been car sick before, but these roads were starting to get both me and Bryan a little queasy. We decided to take I-5 south and I-80 east to get to some straight roads and a chance to stop by Sacramento. It’s hot there, but still a nice looking city and suburbs.

We then made our way to Lake Tahoe where large desert mountains surrounded this large blue lake. Bryan compared the area like the Adirondacks, where the population triples in the summer months and little shops and homes are filled with people. From there, we were only 40 minutes from Reno, the “biggest little city in the world”. Nice city and all – old casinos…we stayed in Circus Circus for 60 bucks (well worth it right there). We didn’t gamble more than 10 dollars between the two of us as our funds are running rather low. To us, this seems more like a town that got what was left over from Vegas – no offence to those of you that live here. But we visited Vegas last year and it blew our minds with the amount of lights and casinos and people around – and smack in the middle of the desert.

We are leaving Reno right now and headed for Salt Lake City. It’s going to be a long day on the road – but on the highway – it may go faster than we think (we haven’t been on a straight highway since Alberta, besides yesterday. I’m sure we’ll be in SLC in no time.

Stay posted for pictures and videos. Thanks for your patience!

Once we are home – updates, ‘what’s next’ and a special thanks page will be added.

Word from Reno!

Matt & Bryan

Portland, Oregon - Two great days! Today is day 41

2007-07-19T22:00:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

Updates have been made to British Columbia Photos - Seattle and Portland to come in a few days, as well as with Astoria and Redwood Forest. Videos will be uploaded as well - we have more - and still some with bears from Alaska that we found. I'd upload now, but the page times out due to small connection.

Portland - 2 days of pleasure in this little big city.

I didn't know it, but Portland is quite the bustling American City. It's like Seattle with it's fashion, techies, and transit system, but Portland seems more reserved.

Known for being green, this city has trees on every street, parks every few blocks, metro station to take you in and around Portland (free ride in downtown area), and that attitude that today will be great. It rains here a lot, but not as much as in Seattle, but many of the buildings have overhangs, and the trees on the streets also shelter from the rain.

We spent the first night at a place called Momo's; a cocktail bar with a pool table and patio. We met up with Khary and Lucy who just moved here a year ago. Khary is a producer/director/writer for Good Habit Productions and Lucy is a new media artist. Both came to Portland looking for opportunity and change; just like I can see myself doing in the next two years as I graduate college, save up money, and job hunt. There seems to be a lot going on in this city, and we were only here for two days. The prices for living are cheaper than Rochester and there is no sales tax here either.

The next day we roamed around town hitting street vendors for lunch and walked over to Summer as the Square for a free Noon show. Bryan had bbq pulled pork and I munched on a chicken ceasar wrap as we listened and people watched, again pondering what life would be like in Portland.

We walked all over the city stopping in a book store and Nike World, where Bryan picked up a US Soccer jersey - last one left on the rack, "What a steal, and its my size!!", Byran proclaimed. We made it back to the hotel that afternoon taking the MAX metro transit a few blocks then walking the rest. After a nice two hour nap we headed to Todai, a sushi and seafood buffet that Bryan had the experience of enjoying in Hawaii earlier this year. He said we had to go and that I could find something on the menu that wasn't sushi; I did and it was great.

We exited an hour or so later into this plaza. It looked like the Gueggenheim Museum in NYC with 5 floors of circled hallways, open in the middle to a plethora of light and escalators transending from floor to floor. We made our way to Kell's Irish Pub for the night to enjoy a few drinks and live Irish Music. Portland has lots of music, and something new you can enjoy everynight in this town.

We love Portland and have put this city on our where to live in the future list. Few hours from beach and mountain, and Seattle and California, its a nice central location for weekend getaways.

We are headed to Astoria this afternoon to visit the Goonies house as well as the setting on Cresent Beach. Should be interesting - its a little out of the way, but it does take us straight on the Pacific Highway that we will follow all the down to the Redwood Forest in Northern California.

Many updates to come by Sunday as we will be in Reno for the night there. Unless plans change - but thats what we are aiming for. Back in Rochester looks to be the 30th of July...this adventure is coming to an end soon - but only to inspire and spawn more adventures for us and others in the future

We are out,

Matt & Bryan

Victoria (BC), Vancouver Island (BC), Bellingham & Seattle (WA)

2007-07-18T23:29:00.000-04:00

Hello,

Here is the update from British Columbia - more to come tomorrow as we visit Portland this evening and tomorrow.

After leaving gorgeous Stanly Park in downtown Vancouver, we rushed over to the ferry port at Tsawwassen, we didn’t think it would take that long to get there, but without a highway going in the direction that we were going it took much longer and barely made our ferry. The ferry ride to Victoria was great. They sure run a tight shift at BC Ferries. A ferry leaves on the hour every hour. We drove up at 2:30pm and were on and moving by 3pm. The ride was around an hour and forty five minutes and the views were gorgeous. The ferry weaved its way through the Canadian gulf islands, and at one point in the journey we we able to catch a glimpse of a pod of killer whales.

Victoria was billed as the most beautiful city in Canada, and this is extremely true. As we entered this little European looking city we walked along the water front area where people would be selling their art and trinkets. As we walked towards downtown, the Royal BC Museum and Parliament Building started to hide behind the brick and mortar city buildings with tight allies and small stores, café’s and restaurants. We visited Sticky Wickets, a large Irish pub that turned into a night club at 10:30pm. A little different than the traditional Irish joint, but still worth a stop; two floors up you could play sand volleyball and next door was the game room with pool and darts, each having their own separate bar. We ended getting into a foosball match against two Canadians. It was a good match all the way to the end, with a score of 7-6; the Americans won this international tournament.

The next day we went through the town one last time before we headed toward Sooke and up to Sombrio Beach. This area was beautiful, with twisting roads that ran through the island’s temperate rainforest. We spent a good hour or so hiking through the beach rainforest on the southwest coast then again the next morning at Golden Creek before our ferry back to mainland. We met a good group of people in Sooke Flats campground who talked with us about our trip and even cooked one hell of a meal, way better than our camp food we have been preparing. They all lived in Victoria and gave us the history surrounding the island, its border with the US and we also found out that there is strong tension between the cities of Vancouver and Toronto. We have to say, both cities have their share of entertainment and tourism, but Vancouver has the outdoor life that surrounds the area out there; it’s wild.
Thirty minutes after getting off the ferry that evening we were across the border and back in the United States, bidding farewell to the amazing time that we had all across Canada (Rochester to Alaska and down through BC). Again, we reminded ourselves of our time in the Canadian Maritimes a few years back – we give Canada two thumbs up as a place to live, as well as a vast place to visit the many destinations and history with friends and family that this country has to offer.

As we enter the States, we have yet another round of adventure. We spent our first night in Bellingham, Washington – a medium-sized town 1-hour away from Seattle and home to Western Washington University. We actually spent the night with a group of students that we were introduced to on our Facebook Group for this trip. A friend of Bryan’s from Tampa had a cousin who offered his couch to us for a night in Bellingham. After dinner we took a night-ride on bicycles for a 5 mile round trip to the docks and back. Everyone bikes in this town, and the guys we stayed with were able to give this experience to us with the 20 collective bikes they have in their garage. It was nice to see the non-city side of Washington.

We then headed towards Seattle that morning, hitting up the Seattle Center where the Space Needle, Experience Music Project and other entertainment sits on the north end of Seattle. We met up with Keith Navidi who showed us around Seattle’s Pike Market, where the daily catch is tossed in the air for the people’s entertainment. This market has everything you would want in fresh produce and meats, as well as holding the birthplace of Starbucks; a guy was playing the didgeridoo on the sidewalk in front, Bryan was tempted to join in, but left his wind instrument at home. The city sure was bustling this Monday afternoon as we drove through Belltown, Pioneer Square, and on to Hiram M Chittenden Locks where we were able to see steelhead salmon make there way from Puget Sound to Lake Union and into to Lake Washington. Keith told us to get ready to catch some salmon because the next morning after a night in North Bend, we were headed to Puget Sound to go fishing on his buddy’s boat at 5am; another early morning for fishing, but totally worth it. We probably would not have been in the water without this little adventure; I caught myself a 17 lb King Salmon as we enjoyed six hours on the water with our company. Later on, we took rest in a hotel room and went to the 7pm Mariners game versus Baltimore; they lost 11-3 – but still a decent game to go to.

We made our way to Pioneer Square after the game to go to Fado’s Irish Pub to plan our next few days on the road. We drive south on I-5 to Portland, passing the majestic Mt. Rainier standing at over 14,000 ft. high and the infamous Mt. St. Helens just another hour south. Both can be viewed from the right spot on I-5 on a clear day, but unlucky for us, it has been raining all morning and still scattered showers down to Portland.

We did go to the Underground Tours this morning, a 90-minute tour of the history of the City of Seattle. It was actually quite interesting, and comical, how they explained the historical lives, people, and buildings that were created on the tidal flats of the Puget Sound just 150 yrs ago. Interestingly enough, the city ran out of money, again, and in trying to solve a massive sewage and tide problem in the city, Seattle had 10-32 foot drops from street-curb to sidewalk. It’s a great story and a tour that is a must see when you visit Seattle. As the rain continued, we hit the highway to Portland, where we currently reside meeting up with a contact that is going to show us around right quick as we spend two nights in the “City of Bridges”.

As we experience downtown Portland, we will update again with our experiences before we head to Astoria (the house where the Goonies took place) then down the Pacific highway to the Redwood Forest.

Thanks for those individuals, friends, and family that we have met over the past week that have made our experiences complete in the Pacific NW.

Cheers and thanks again for checking back on the progress of our travels,

Matt & Bryan

Vancouver, Victoria, & now Seattle!!

2007-07-17T21:22:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

Sorry about of the lack of posts, but we have been having quite a good time in the Pacific Northwest – with full days and when it comes time to get internet access we are so worn-out that we just crash for the night.

We’ve been quite busy in the outskirts of Seattle - Bellingham the night before visiting some chill friends of friends that let us crash on their couch for the night and gave us a midnight tour of Bellingham by bike. Last night, we were just outside Seattle in an eastern suburb of North Bend, staying within the comfort the Navidi's home. We talked about Seattle and the area; they had grown up in the area and have made this part of Washington their home. Surprised that it doesn't snow here as much as we thought; maybe only a week out of the year some years...

Anyways, we went salmon fishing this morning in Puget Sound; caught a 10-minute fighter worth 17 lbs; it was a native (with the fin) so we had to throw her back in. We have a nice video of that and will post by morning. We are headed across the street to the Mariners game right now, then headed downtown to Pioneer Square (probably with the rest of the game attendees); should be an interesting Tuesday Night in Seattle; Bryan and I never having to been to a Mariners game (and my first Major League game).

More to come and a better recap of our last 4-5 days from Vancouver to Seattle in the AM.

Stay tuned!

Matt and Bryan

July 13th – Stanley Park Vancouver to Victoria, BC (Vancouver Island)

2007-07-14T05:13:00.000-04:00

Stanley Park, which is as large as downtown Vancouver was originally home to the Musqueam and Squamish First Nations people until 1886 when it became the 3rd largest urban park in North America. We spent just a few hours here, parking on the east side to view North Vancouver across the bay and to observe the Totem Poles that shot our of the ground 30 ft high. We walked the northern part of the park, looking out at North Vancouver as we had some coffee and walked past a few statues, including one called, girl in wetsuit, which we though could have been named a bit better. We then took a leisurely drive around and through the park viewing the tall redwoods and large ferns that have auspiciously been growing here for centuries. The views of the beaches along the west coast of the park were astonishing, and so where the residential buildings that overlooked the park. This area of town is called the West End – a neighborhood that we had yet to visit – and it sure was the most beautiful.
As we bid farewell to Vancouver to take the 3pm ferry to Vancouver Island, we sat pondering what the 2010 Olympics will be like in Vancouver. Construction is currently observed all over the waterfront as they have started to prepare their city for the World Games that they will host three years from now.

We barley made it to the ferry for our 3pm departure getting there around 2:30 pm. The ferry was extremely efficient and our Subaru and us were on the ferry a little before 3pm. It was a huge ferry, over 2 football fields in length. The ride to Vancouver Island was around 2 hours. For those that don’t know, Vancouver Island (which Victoria is located) is huge, over 12,000 square miles. It is the largest island on the North American west coast and has a population of 600,000. Victoria, the capitol of British Columbia, is located at its southern most tip. Tonight we stayed at the Best Western Victoria Downtown, a very nice hotel. From what we have seen so far of Victoria, it is by far the most gorgeous city in our travels. It has a very European feel to it.

Tomorrow, we will go out and explore the city a bit more before we head off to the west coast of the island and find a beach to camp on and hike through. Vancouver Island, as well as the gulf islands of British Columbia and well as the San Juan islands in Washington State are just gorgeous and we sure will be back for a visit in the near future.

Bryan & Matt

Vancouver

2007-07-13T14:21:00.000-04:00

July 11th – Funny thing about going from five days of camping in the woods – jumping down to the southern part of the province where population boomed – you almost experience shell-shock. It’s not huge, but when it’s just you and a friend for five days straight – it’s overwhelming to jump into a bustling downtown metropolis like Vancouver.

And as we arrive in Vancouver – we are set for the city scene once again for the next week. Victoria, Seattle and Portland are our next destinations. Again, there is no time to really relax, as we want to experience the entirety of each city that we will explore. For me, this general area of the Northwest Pacific yearns for my attention. It is one place that I have never been to in the U.S. that I have always wanted to visit and maybe live near one day.

June 13th
We arrived late in town on the 11th and headed downtown Granville for dinner and drinks then headed in for the night. We awoke the next morning to sunny skies and took to the streets heading down Granville to the other Vancouver neighborhoods of Gastown, Yaletown, and down to the waterfront near Cordova St. We ate lunch at a place called Moose’s Down Under, where we tried some Australian Beers with the office lunch crowd. After a good match of Rugby on the tele, we headed out towards Gastown. This neighborhood reminded us of London with the black posts and chains on the sidewalks, and the small quick bite eateries and shopping stores that gave this part of town a comfortable look and feeling. From there, we headed to Irish Heather, a local pub fashioned with Irish culture – icluding their own shebeen; a whisky bar. We didn’t try out the whisky bar, but they do have over 150 kinds of whisky, scotch, etc in the bar – impressive. We headed to the Yaletown next, the cosmopolitan area of Vancouver. Fashion was no doubt part of this district – all the way to the modern rental living spaces that shot up 15 stories into the sky. We walked around but didn’t buy anything – little to expensive for our tastes.

Last night we spent the night at Doolin’s Irish Pub enjoying the live band, Halifax Wharf Rats. The lead singer and the drummer are from Nova Scotia, the bassist from Vancouver area, and the wind instrument player, Michelle is from a little town in East Saskatchewan. We enjoyed the 3 hours of irish jigs that they played, and even got to know a few of the band members. They were intrigued by our trip and introduced us to another woman that has been to Newfoundland, like us, reminiscing of our times there. She also gave us tips for Vancouver Island, where we head to today.

We bought the ferry ride to Vancouver Island this morning – and head over there at 3pm – giving us a few hours to roam Vancouver one last time. On the island, we place to visit the city of Victoria for one night, then head northwest to hit up the beaches, totem pole field, hike through the pine forest, and spend a night camping on the beach. We aren’t sure where to camp yet, but there are a few ideas in mind. From there we head to Seattle and Bellingham for two nights – to enjoy the American side – just miles from Vancouver. We’ll let you know if there is a difference in the two cities on the bay later this week.

Time to check-out! Keep posted as we arrange the new video page and add an affiliate page – a tribute to the pubs, restaurants, bands, and people we have met along the way! 15 videos and a picture gallery will be added in Victoria as well!

Cheers!

Matt & Bryan

Tok, Alaska to Prince George, BC - Day 32

2007-07-11T13:14:00.000-04:00

Driving from Tok back to Whitehorse to Kinaskan Lake

We bought internet connection, though too slow to upload half of a video. Sorry guys – they’ll be up soon enough!! Vancouver is hooked up for sure. Well, this morning, I rushed with my backpack and laptop to do a quick update on the site, then took off towards Canada. I was in the car looking for my cord to upload pictures to my computer when I realized that I didn’t have my bookbag with me. Luckily we were only 10 miles down the road, and luckily when we went back to camp, it was still under the table.

90 miles later we were in Canada again, passing by a miles worth of RVs lined up to get into Alaska. Boy, we came at the right time to Alaska – no one was at the border when we came through at 7pm, 10 days ago. We had an amazing time in Alaska, as you have read, and will be visiting again in the future.

As for today, we head to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. We lose an hour of time today as we cross back into Pacific Time. Tomorrow we head toward Prince George, British Columbia – just 8 hours from Vancouver – our final destination in British Columbia before we head to Seattle a few days later.

As far as bears go, we have not had any close encounters, and these next few days camping through BC will prove that we are proper campers. We’ve come to the conclusion that bears really aren’t the problem when it comes to close encounters and attacks. For the most part, as long as you aren’t sneaking up on a bear with a peanut butter and salmon sandwich, it’s not going to bother you. A clean campsite and cooking your meals up-wind from your campsite is also a good idea to keep the bears out of your area.
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July 9th from Whitehorse, YT to Prince George, BC

On our way to the Cassiar Highway that heads south through British Columbia, we stopped by Watson Lake one last time to view our Rochester Signpost that we put up 12 days ago and stop for lunch. Our sign was still intact, but the signs that were posted 15ft high post two weeks ago were now on the ground and new posts were being put up. We are glad we got to see the originals (see our pictures) before they were taken down. I would be really disappointed if my sign I put up when I passed through in 1977 wasn’t in its original spot. It was probably some liability issue – they erected newer, shorter posts this afternoon.

As we started on the Stewart Cassiar Highway (hwy 37) we were greeted by a flag guy telling us about the construction along our route to Vancouver – and that there were a few spots further down the road with a wait of 20-60 minutes…which almost made us turn around…but we wanted a new route back through – so we stayed on. Now, driving down this road is something else. There is nothing, barely a paved road at that. It’s just wide enough for 2 cars to get through, followed by a 2 ft ditch on either side of the road – and no median line. Now get this – we just stopped for gas - $1.29 a litre…that’s about $4.90 a gallon; equivalent. If you thought we had it bad in the United States…just take a look at Canada. We have a good 450 miles of this until we hit highway 16 – then 300 miles to Prince George.

We spent the night on Kinaskan Lake - The views past Kinaskan Lake were beautiful, even beyond the windy road we were on. Between the blankets of clouds were 8,000-10,000 foot mountains layered in their summer snow coat amongst the green spruce, birch, and alder trees. This is why they call it Beautiful British Columbia! We stopped by Bear Glacier – Not as cool as the one we saw on Kenai Fjords tour, nor Matanuska Glacier...but the scenery there was beautiful – and we were then 20 miles from the US border of southern Alaska.

We’ve seen some wildlife on this road. Yesterday, a scared young squirrel on the road just stayed put as we drove over it, tires on either side of the little guy, and then he scurried off. His parents taught him well, usually they run in circles in the middle of the road to distract you..but you can’t distract a 1-ton chunk of metal traveling 60 mph 10 ft away from you…That’s like the guy in Jurassic Park, where he is running from T-Rex and throws the lamb leg in the other direction to distract him - but that T-Rex running like he was wasn’t going to stop for a lamb chop...just like we aren’t going to risk running into a tree…On a brighter note, we saw some wolf pups in the middle of the road, three of them – the mother must be close – we slowed down – but nothing – the pups ran into the woods playing with each other, and we drove on waiting for our next encounter with wildlife, other than a human being.

The Northern 250 miles of Cassiar Highway are bumpy, covered in dirt and gravel, and littered with construction – but soon, that will all be nice and paved like the southern 200 miles of the highway.

We saw a little black bear running down the road thismorning, we drove right behind it as it galloped down the same side of the road we were on for a good 60 seconds before it jumped into the shrubbery to our right.

We made it to Prince George and camped out just outside the city. We will stop by there this morning as we head 500 miles south to Vancouver. We are going to get this show on the road now – we’ll talk to you in Vancouver!!

Matt and Bryan

July 7th – Almost out of Alaska- Yesterday we flew over Denali…

2007-07-08T03:23:00.000-04:00

It’s Day 28 of our trip and it’s a beautiful morning once again in Alaska; we are ready to make the best of our last full day here.

On Thursday, we went to Seward, Alaska to take the Kenai Fjords Tour to some glaciers. We spotted Orcas, birds, and sea lions on this trip, as well as enjoyed the green and blue scenery of the coast clashing with the quick moving clouds in the sky. On the 6-hour tour we talked with many friendly travlers and caught the glacier caving into the Pacific Ocean on video - both times!! It was definately a site to see - and those videos will be up as soon as we have a quicker connection. Check back every few days as we find hotspots along the way.

Yesterday we drove from Girdwood’s Alyeska Ski Resort just south of Anchorage, to Denali National Park. We’ve seen the wildlife all throughout Alaska and we were looking forward to a new perspective on things – a flight over Denali. It even more amazing than it sounds – flying up the Spine of the Northern Rockies Range, just a few thousand feet from the ground viewing glaciers, moraines, and hundreds of mountains. After a 5 hour drive from Girdwood, we made it to Denali and the Denali Air Flying Service. When we arrived we found out that we were the only ones on the flight. The flight was amazing, seconds after takeoff on their own private runway we were already over the mountains. We flew into valleys, and over glaciers, spotting sheep as our captain pointed out all the mountain ranges. As we neared Mt. McKinley every mountain became snow capped, and before we knew it there it was before us, the highest peak in North America. It was an amazing site to see. We were able to fly all the way around the mountain, its rare to be able to do so, and were able to see mountain climbers as they made their way to the summit. As we flew back to the runway we learned of the history of the climbers as well as the area. All in all it was an amazing experience.

We then entered Denali National Park and walked through the visitor’s center to learn more about the park as well as have a great lunch. As we were leaving we decided to have one more picture with the park sign and ended up running into the Smithers family from Texas. They were pretty impressed by what we were doing, we also learned of some great rafting from them that they had just experienced. It was great to meet them; hopefully we will run into them again in the future. From Denali we made the drive back to Anchorage to drop my dad off in the morning.

Today after an oil change and a quick stop at the grocery store we will soon be near the border once again. Alaska has been everything we have dreamed it was going to be and more. The fishing, mountains, glaciers, wonderful people, it has just been amazing. We highly recommend visiting the 49th State of Alaska. Its going to be sad leaving. From here we start our drive south toward the bustling city of Vancouver, and at 2200 miles, its going to be a long drive.

Bryan and Matt

July 5th – 2007 – Day 26 of Our Drive To Alaska

2007-07-05T18:59:00.000-04:00

We are in Seward, Alaska! Glaciers Whales, etc today!

We had an amazing few days here in the Kenai Peninsula, and more locally, Soldotna. We spent June 30th through July 4th at the River Raven Lodge – Owed and operated by Dick and Stevie Erkeneff – followed by a housing and cooking staff that do a fabulous job at making you feel at home. The food was amazing – waking up to fresh coffee, a dozen varieties of tea, fresh fruit, a plentiful serving of pancakes and the best bacon we’ve ever had – crisp and full of flavor. When we arrived at the River Raven, we were greeted at the door by their granddaughter, Emma (10) who is spending her summer up in Alaska – her forth consecutive year. We stepped into a welcoming atmosphere as soon as we stepped into the door, stone fireplace and the log cabin structure caught our eyes right away – we knew we were going to enjoy our time here no matter what. During our stay, their daughter Pegge Burnecker helped with serving and making our stay most memorable – and their son Rickie was also up visiting the family and his daughter at the time – Rickie is a lifetime California Surfer and Traveler, an artist, a sculptor, a father, and does design work for companies around the world. Meeting this family and hearing their stories and about their life in Alaska was one of the most memorable events on this trip thus far. They made our dream road trip come true – first by introducing us to Hobo Jim, setting up Halibut, King Salmon, and Red Salmon Fishing – and shooting us all sorts of information for our trip to Seward this afternoon – we are looking to do a Kenai Fjord tour to view the glaciers cracking and falling into the sea – as they normally do during the summer months. The Erkeneff’s will be part of our life for the rest of our lives. And thanks to Bryan’s father, Dave, for visiting and making all of this happen – we couldn’t be more thankful for the events that we have experienced in Alaska – and our trip to Denali on Friday will finish our trip off.

Now down to Fishing Details…

Well, after our exhausting day of Halibut Fishing, we had another early morning at a 4:30 breakfast and a 10 hour ride up and down the Kenai River to fish for King Salmon. Boats were littered everywhere, and the Kenai River is known for the biggest King Salmon in the world – so we were definitely in for a treat. It started out with Bryan, Dave, Pegge, and myself on the first 5 hours – with our expert guide, Reuben. He showed us a great time fishing, brought us to the killer spots, and was even able to keep us entertained for 10 hours straight. I started off with the first fighting catch – turned out to be a trout – but exciting nonetheless. Not 10 minutes later I got a large zip ad my line pulled the boat toward the water – I grabbed my pole and was ready for the fight. He sure gave me one – Rueben said he had to be a killer – because that zip was the biggest he’d ever seen. 3 minutes into my fight, my line went limp…my King Salmon got free – it sure was a rush – but not a disappointment – it was an experience. Dave was next with a fight of a larger trout. We kept neither. Pegge, sitting in front of me hooked a salmon!! – it was jumping left and right, swimming under the boat, and giving Pegge a good fight. We pulled aboard a Jack (a young King Salmon), and under 20 inches, so we were able to keep it – we had it for dinner the next day. It’s now 8:30am, and Bryan has yet to have a bite. Almost snoozed off we all of the sudden hear a quick screeching “zip” as Bryan’s pole bent over and into the water –“ we have a big one!” The adrenaline rush kicked in as Bryan leaped 5 feet into the air to grab his pole. And boy did this fish put up a fight – Bryan is reeling in, letting him run, reeling back in – you should have seen his face – not to mention everyone else’s. As the fish is trying to get away from the hook that is jabbed in his mouth, he gives us a run for our money as we dance around the boat to make room for Bryan and his catch. Twenty minutes later and two loops around the boat we have him close enough to try to net him – and man, that first time he breached – we all yelled out, and more prominently, Reuben, “Yeehaa!!!”. It sure lifted the spirits for our boat, and the other around us – as this was the only large fish caught near us. Too bad for Bryan that he was done fishing for the day after that due to the law – and also good news for him, none of us were able to catch a King Salmon – Bryan was the winner that day!!
So now we’ve gone Halibut and King Salmon fishing – Dick set us up with Red Salmon Fishing over at Wolverine Creek. We drove 30 minutes out to a float plane lake. The site of the float planes put smiles on our faces as we geared up and got ready to fly over the Cook Inlet to the pools of red salmon just 50 miles west of take-off. We flew to no-man’s land – where you can only fly in or boat in – setting down on a smooth lake to our motor boats. As we raced to the best fishing spot for 20 minutes, we spotted eagles in their nests every 1500 ft. Within 15 minutes of us arriving at the shallow fishing hole, a grizzly bear introduces itself to us a mere 50 ft away; his nose up in the air scenting the arriving black bears and the salmon on the shallow lake shore that were packed up to 5 fish deep in spots. He makes no hesitation to grab his easy meal, and dives into the water, snagging a large salmon on his first attempt. Minutes later he was on shore devouring his easy meal and moving on. He came back a few minutes later to chase the black bears away – but soon vanished for the day – and the black bears came back to say hi another half a dozen times that morning. Bryan caught our first salmon this morning – and the deal with these reds is that they don’t and won’t go for bait like the King Salmon and Halibut will. You actually have to snag these guys. Mouth catches are keepers, but if you snag them in the tail, a fin, or the back, you have to throw them back – kind of like a carnival when you think about it…

It was fun though – they put up a large fight, and we each caught 6-8 fish – only being able to keep 3 a piece. The fish were at this spot because they scented the water from this creek in the ocean. They were born here years ago and have come back to spawn – swimming up stream for 10 miles, dodging seals in the rivers that followed the school up, and dodging metal hooks at the pool where they wait to make the last flop up the creek. It is really quite amazing that these fish make it all the way back to their home just by the scent of the water hundreds of miles away – they really have a “scent for direction”. It got better too – as we finished up at the pool and took our pictures and videos of the bears – we headed off to a sandbar beach to clean and fillet the fish. While Nick, our veteran guide, cleaned our meal, we explored the area where bear, moose, and eagle tracks littered the beach. Wildlife is so abundant here – it really blows our mind – sure the Adirondacks near us in Rochester have tons of wildlife, but Alaska has more – much more. We landed back at the float plane airport around lunch time to conclude our amazing adventure out – and just another day to the week that just keeps getting better as we go along.

We ended our day with a trip to Anchor Point, AK – North America’s most Westerly Highway Point – concluding one of our missions on this trip!! Three years ago we did a road trip to Newfoundland, making it to Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America.
We will be coming back to Alaska to go through more adventures that there are to do. We brought back 22.9 lbs of red salmon, 16.6 lbs of King Salmon, and 50 lbs of Halibut; total of 88.5 lbs being shipped back to Rochester.

All in all – we had the most amazing time that we could have in Alaska – and these experiences
will last a lifetime. Today we are in Seward, Alaska – heading out on a boat to view the glaciers crashing into the waves of the cool waters of the Pacific Ocean – and hopefully viewing belugas and Orcas and others as well. Tomorrow we head for Denali – Depending on weather, we are either flying or driving out that way; we won’t know till tomorrow morning.

We are soon headed down through British Columbia and look to be in Vancouver, BC on the 11th of July. Keep posted as we update. We have over 300 pictures to share (more after today) and a good 10 videos as well. We look to having them up tomorrow as we get a steady internet connection.

Cheers again the people we have met along the way and the friendships that will last forever!!

Matt & Bryan

We’ve never caught bigger fish than we did today!!

2007-07-03T02:53:00.000-04:00

We went Halibut fishing today – they taste much like cod – but much better!! It was fantastic. Pictures have been added to the site. We headed down to Deep Creek on the Kenai at 10:30 sharp to grab our guide and our boat – meeting 3 older gentlemen, Larry, Gary, and Harold that have been Halibut fishing before. We were rookies, but easily trainable but our pro-guide, Rod, and his deckhand, Tim.

The weather was more than perfect – “It’s a blessing today”, said Rod, as we boated 45 minutes into the Pacific Ocean to find our sweet spot for the day. We dropped our lines in 235 ft of calm salty water with 4-5 lb sinker and 2-half haddocks attached to our hooks. Twenty seconds later, our lines were bouncing along the bottom of the sea as we drifted east at 2-3 knots - stirring up silt and waking up the awkward looking Halibut. Within 15 minutes, we found ourselves in a “chicken nest” (a patch of non-trophy sized fish) and all six of us had gotten bites and hook on. It was really quite exciting, reeling in your first sea fish ever caught. Bryan yells out, “FISH ON!!”, as you do when you’ve got a good hold of one, and reeled in our biggest catch of the day. We had to have caught at least 30-40 fish between the six of us – only keeping the biggest 12. At a mere 20 pounds – we were able to get the best tasting meat – and all 12 fish ranged between 14-21 lbs – we took home our share of 51 lbs of fillet – telling the fillet processor that we would be back with more come the following two days of salmon fishing.

These next two days are really going to be something else as we wake up tomorrow morning at 4:15am for breakfast and float down the Kenai River hooking King Salmon – a first for all of us.
Bryan’s dad, Dave, saw his first moose ever today; not only one, but two and two of the little ones. That was quite the surprise for him, as well as for Bryan and me. We took a trip 3 years ago to Newfoundland and back (view our photos in the photo gallery) and came upon a moose one morning – a good 12 feet tall; but that is nothing compared to the moose in Alaska. The wildlife here is so abundant, that where ever you look, you’ll see something that will blow your mind. On our trip today – we saw birds that migrated from southern Australia relaxing on the weathered kelp floating in the water nearby our boat. It just amazes me, and that I’ve never stopped to actually think about it, but birds migrate from all over the place – as do many other sea life. You know, you are always reading about it and seeing in on TV, but to actually see it first hand really puts you in-touch with what’s around you.

Alaska has proven to be the land that is one of the last to be touched by modern-man. The roads in this state are only so long – the wilderness here is just too huge to imagine. And I will probably say this a few times this trip – but if you haven’t been to Alaska – You have to visit. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves whether they are here to fish, hunt, bird watch, hike, bike, camp, or just on a relaxing cruise ship to few the mountains and the glaciers. I would totally come back here to do something that I have not done – and better yet, do something that I really enjoyed doing the first time around.

More to come – We have an early morning…G'night.

Matt and Bryan

Kenai Peninsula - Soldotna

2007-07-02T02:55:00.000-04:00

Last night was our first night at the River Raven Lodge in Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula which is about 185 miles southwest of Anchorage. Its a great bed and breakfast that they have here. Amazing small lodge and the food is just excellent.

Today we took a 7 mile hike up the Russian River to some falls and viewed salmon which are spawning this time of year. We were told that they would be jumping up the rapids trying to make it to a lake where they lay their eggs. The hike was pretty easy, it was drizzling a bit so we had our rain gear on. When we got to the falls we did see about 20 salmon, non were jumping, to our dissapointment, however it was still pretty cool to see them. There were sea gulls there flying around and literaly taking bites out of the salmon as they were only in a few inches of water. Salmon have a tough life, use all your energy and smarts to get around, birds, bears and fisherman, work your way miles up waterfalls, just to spawn and die.

We came back to the lodge for an excellent meal of prime rib, and baked potatoes, so so good. After dinner we stayed ound the table and told stories. Defiently a lot of fun. Tommorow we are off for our first day of fishing. Matt and I are very excited. We bought our Alaska fishing license yesterday and are hoping to put them to some good use. We still have not seen any moose or bear anywhere in Alaska, although the family that owns the lodge said they they had seen a moose right in front of the lodge in the morning. Hopefully we will see this when we wake up.

Wish us good fishing tommorow!

Bryan & Matt

Our Flight Over Denali - Day 21 Adventure

2007-06-29T22:05:00.000-04:00

Hey viewers,

We took it easy today - strolled around Anchorage, picked up Bryan's dad from the airport and grabbed a drink and lunch at McGinley's Irish Pub, dining on a plate of halibut, chicken, and potato patties.

Tomorrow morning we head out of the city and into the wilderness. We start out early and drive 2 hours north to Talkeenta to take an air taxi flight over the last vast wilderness untouched by modern man. We will be swooping over six million acres of open alpine tundra, wildlife, mile high granite gorges, blue glacier ice flows, giant icy peaks and North America's largest, Mt. McKinley. This was a last minute decision and Bryan and I are overwhelmed at the thought of flying over this vast land, just as we drove through it days before. We really are getting the full Alaskan experience!

After our 2 1/2 hour flight, we drive to Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula, the furthest west that we will ever drive - not to mention the furthest west one can drive on a paved road. We did what we wanted to do - drive the furthest east and furthest west in North America that we can possibly go. St. John's, Newfoundland is the furthest east that one can drive to on this continent. View our picture gallery to view those pictures and route taken. On the Kenai, we will be spending 4-5 nights at the Kenai River Raven Lodge fishing for Halibut and King Salmon, as well as viewing the amazing wildlife not seen here in Anchorage. It’s a fact that there are twice as many moose on the Kenai Peninsula than there are man that live there.

Be prepared for amazing pictures and stories to come in this upcoming week. This is what we drove here for – and our drive back will be just as amazing coming down the west coast through Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, and on the Pacific Highway to the Redwood National Forest. Our trip has just begun!

Cheers to the viewers! You are keeping us excited about posting new stories, pictures, and videos.

Matt and Bryan

Anchorage, Alaska

2007-06-28T17:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we drove into town from Fairbanks. It was 8 hours of winding beauitful road. We passed 2 Air Force Bases, numerous lakes, rivers and mountains. We also followed the Trans Alaskan Pipeline all the way down the road. This was an amazing site to see. Millions of gallons of oil was being transported next to us as we drove. We also saw numerous pumping stations which push the oil up hills, under rivers and across the state. All in all it was goregous drive. We arrived in in Anchorage about 7:30pm and after calling and visiting a few hotels finally found vacancy at the Days Inn. It was amazing to sleep in the darkness after seeing the sun for 5 days straight. After settling in we walked to the Sleeping Lady Brewery and had dinner. Matt tried a salmon pizza, which after the first bite decided that it might not of been the best choice. I had the ribs which were excellent. They brew their own beers on site and we had 2 of the best. After dinner we went up to the 3rd story roof which looks out onto the harbor, it was goregous. After visiting another local pub, we came back to the hotel and had our first good sleep in days. Today we are headed downtown to eat some food, get some postcards, then off to the Peanut Farm sports bar to watch the USA take on Argentina in international soccer, go USA. There are 70+ tvs which will be a good time. We will be in Anchorage until Saturday.

We hope everyone is enjoying the site.

Bryan and Matt

433 miles - Fairbanks to Anchorage - it is day 18

2007-06-27T12:39:00.000-04:00

Today, we are the furthest north we are going to ever go in North America; Fairbanks, Alaska - just 3 degrees south of the Arctic Circle - Today, 6 days after the summer solstice, we will have 21 hours and about 15 minutes of daylight; the other few hours will be stuck in twilight. It feels very odd to be up at 11pm chatting with people as we do our laundry with the sun still halfway in the sky.

We passed the town of North Pole 10 miles south of Fairbanks, but no stop was made. We had yet to have lunch, it was 3pm, and the tourist girl at Delta Junction grabbed our taste with the tasteful phrase, "Salmon Bake". We were doing it - so we made camp near the Chena River and headed off to Pioneer Park. $31 dollars later we were in heaven - our first real meal in 4 days. Fresh King Salmon, Halibut, and Prime Rib topped off with sides of caeser salad, pasta salad, beans, and bread. This was a buffet - and we went back for more, plus dessert. After our meal that added 10 lbs to the each of us, we headed downtown to find a local pub - none were to be found - so we drove off to the University of Alaska. It was a beautiful international college, set atop a hill north of town. We made our way back to camp after a coffee shop break and an update to the site.

It's midnight right now, and back in Rochester, it would feel like 8pm. And we aren't the only people up - everyone seems to still be busy and not used to all this daylight. Tomorrow we head 433 miles south towards Anchorage for the night. We are taking a route that we won't be taking when we go to Denali in a few days - that we are traverse all of Alaska's highway on our journey. In Anchorage - depending on how many stops we make on the way down, we are going to either tent it or grab a cheap hotel. There will be lots of scenic photos if you are into that sort of thing. I am - and I'll be sure to take more than I need. We will sport a few people shots as well - but as for right now - we are ready to get to Anchorage.

We did meet some friendly folk from Chester, California who gave us some advice on Denali and who to get as a tour guide, 'Tim on the green bus', as well as the best route to take from Oregon to Reno on our way through California. Best of luck to you guys on your travels! And maybe we'll catch up again in the Kenai Peninsula next week.

Till Anchorage, gnight...

Matt and Bryan

Day 15 - We made it to Alaska

2007-06-26T01:55:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone,

Brighton Pitts post Article: http://www.mpnnow.com/news/view_story.php?articleId=9691&zoom_highlight=alaska

It's 10pm and the sun is still 10 degrees up in the sky (that’s two fists on top of each other from the horizon) --and tomorrow we head further north to a last minute game time decision destination of Fairbanks, Alaska - the end of the 1,563 miles of the ALCAN.

To start, Liard Hot Springs (190 miles west of Fort Nelson) is worth a stop. As you walk 700 meters along a boardwalk through the muskeg (bog) you may notice moose and their young feeding on the vegetation. You arrive at the hot springs just as your walk is getting exhausting and you change into your swimwear to take a dip in the over 100 degree pool of mineral water. Great place to camp out – and took us about 9 hours from Dawson Creek to arrive there.

From the hot springs, we made our way to Watson Lake to add our Rochester, NY sign to the Sign forest (over 61,000 signs here –view our photos). After lunch we camped out just south of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory in a pine forest. We experienced the land of the midnight sun today, being the furthest north we have yet to go. It was still light out at 11pm – and twilight for the remainder of the night. Whitehorse is the capital the Yukon Territory, a Canadian province of just under 30,000. The town was quaint and homey feeling – a place where everybody knows your name, if you live there of course.

We left Whitehorse at lunch and headed towards Beaver Creek – 20 miles from the Alaska Border – then onwards to Tok, Alaska – just 90 miles northwest of the border, and known as the “Dog Capital of Alaska”. We are spending the night here at a campsite with wi-fi, hot showers (it’s been 4 days) and live music by the owners of the campsite. The place is called Sourdough Campground - just south of the "All Alaskan Shop" off of the Alaskan Highway. Ken and his family own the place, and have been here for four years, bringing back the good 'old camping days when there was more to do than park your RV's 4 ft away from each other and listen to your cable TV from inside. Ken puts on a show every night - with an hour of folk music and comedy as well as a comedic sourdough pancake toss. Winners get a free sourdough pancake breakfast in the morning; friends and family of the winners get to buy their own pancakes. Knowing us, we'll be up till twilight - midnight sun hours - and miss breakfast ourselves. But we'll let you know if we make it to those delicious sounding pancakes.

The site will be updated in the morning with pictures, videos, and updates to the Who Are We, Alaskan Stats, and a few other extras as well. Keep a look out for updates over this next week - as we will be able to have close to unlimited internet access (and phone access) till July 6th or so - we hope.

Tomorrow morning we head to Fairbanks Alaska - about 3-4 hours northwest of Tok, Alaska. Its just 3 degrees shy from being in the Arctic Circle - and we plan to spend the night there before heading for Anchorage the next day. From what we hear, Anchorage is like a little city - which we expected. On the 29th/30th, we will head to the Kenai Peninsula to spend 4-5 nights at the Kenai River Raven Lodge in Soldotna, Alaska. We will embark in Salmon and Halibut fishing (which are fish that can weigh more than both me and Bryan) as well as take trip to view grizzlies and a trip to Denali National Park.

Keep posted as we continue our journey into the Last Frontier of Alaska. We will make updates as best we can and as quick as possible. So shoot back here daily - and feel free to let your friends and family know about our site.

We plan to have Rochester links and facts up within the next week - to show those people around the world looking at our site, where Rochester is on the map.

Take care,

Matt and Bryan

Starting at Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway

2007-06-23T12:16:00.000-04:00

We woke up today about to get rained on so we packed the car in an extreme hurry, thankfully we are in a shelter that still allows us to do a bit more updating before we hit the road. We hope everyone enjoys the new content we were able to post, we are trying to put as many new videos on as possible, its difficult however because every video takes around an hour to load, and our time with the internet is limited.

Today we start our journey on the famed Alaska Highway. We had read that at some point it turns into a gravel road. Hopefully that doesnt happen till the Alaska border, we still have a lot of Canada to go through. Over the next few days we will be headed through Fort Nelson, BC and Watson Lake, YT. In Watson Lake we will be stopping to see the sign post forest which during WWII a homesick US serviceman posted a sign saying how far it was to his hometown. Over the past 60 years hundreds have followed his lead. We will post ours pointing back to Rochester, NY. From Watson Lake we will be traveling to Whitehorse, YT the capitol of the Yukon and its largest city. We will explore the city for a day before heading the the US boreder and Alaska. From the border it is a short 10 hour drive to our furthest destination of Anchorage.

Hopefully this rain lets up and lets us drive in sunshine today, or at least do us a favour (we are in Canada) and wash our dirty car.

Thanks again for checking the site, we look forward to hearing from everyone

Bryan & Matt

At Dawson Creek, British Columbia – It’s Day 13

2007-06-22T22:42:00.000-04:00

Yesterday – Day 12 - We drove to the west side of Edmonton to visit the largest mall in North America – West Edmonton Mall. Wow is all we can say. Over 800 stores and 100 restaurants and eateries set themselves on two gigantic floors; 4-5 hours for us to browse and walk the entire mall. Now that just sounds like a large mall in our area, but when you include an amusement park, water park, aquarium, sea lion aquatic stage (kind of like a small SeaWorld) , 2 mini-golf courses, one that is glow in the dark, game rooms, and a 21-theatre Cineplex – you fall into another world.

With Edmonton being the largest, most northern North American city, there sure is a lot to offer in this provincial capital. We enjoyed the people and entertainment yet again. We finally went to Earl’s Restaurant and Bar - which is found all throughout Canada. It’s a classy joint – set as a martini bar with great music from the 80’s and 90’s playing, and live music to boot. When then made our way over to Sherlock Holmes with a couple of Canadians that seemed to see Americans in a different light. We proved their stereotype wrong – and enjoyed a great night of live sing-a-long music and dance. Tony was quite the entertainer – and Bill and Jodi were very hospitable to us. Best of luck to you guys in the future!

This morning we did one last round through the city of Edmonton, and then started our last stretch to Alaska. This stretch is over 2000 miles to Anchorage, but we don’t have major cities to stay in – so it’s just about a straight shot. No major cities also mean less of a chance for internet access and updates – but we will do our best to keep our eyes open for those chances.
As you know, we made it to Dawson Creek, British Columbia today. Fort Nelson, BC and onward are on our agenda for tomorrow - then to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. We plan to be in Whitehorse on Sunday sometime – 1300 miles from Edmonton. At Watson Lake, we will be able to see an area filled with sign posts for visitors around the world; ours will state: Rochester – 3,453 miles. Granted, we will have driven over 4,500 miles by that point, but we have taken the time, and the route, to see as much as we can on our way to Alaska.

700 more miles west, and we will be in Anchorage Alaska – Shooting for the 28th of June – giving us 7 days to travel just over 2000 miles from Edmonton; plenty of time.
Stay tuned as we would like to update before Anchorage. Our hotel tonight shafted us on internet access – so we were unable to upload videos and pictures. I’ll do what I can in the car – and have items ready at our next hot spot. With eyes open – we hope to find a hot spot in the coming days. Lucky for us – our campsite tonight has internet available for us.

Take a gander at the places we have visited in our Travel Depot page. www.OutDriveToAlaska.com/TourismDepot - Maybe you have interest in visiting the wonderful places we have made travels to.

We are on our currently at Mile Zero on the Alaskan highway– see you in Anchorage!

Matt & Bryan

Edmonton, Alberta "Cool and Calm"

2007-06-21T01:53:00.000-04:00

Hey there,

Calgary was vast and wonderful. So much to do down there, that we couldn’t do it all in one day, or two. We spent another night in Calgary after Banff to rest up and move around the other side of town. It was a good time - tons of clubs and bars and high class restaurants.

The prices were high, and are still high in Edmonton. The standard of living is that of Philadelphia or NYC - nothing like Rochester.

An Alexander Keith’s and a Guinness go anywhere from a total (thats 2 drinks) of $10.50-$14.75 - which is even more expensive than in England...

Other than the prices, the city life is wonderful here. It's busy, fast-paced, smart, and colorful. Everyone has been hospitable towards us and we have yet to see anyone have a sour taste for anyone they come in counter with. We met this one chap Cam, originally from Vancouver, but now living in Calgary working at a great hotel and living it up at the local bars. He mentioned to us a Newfie bar to go to on Macleod St...but by the time we were ready to head there, it was 4 miles away...and our hotel was much closer.

As Cam said, "It's nice to meet dignified Americans"- and it was nice for us to meet someone from the area of Calgary as well as a city that we are looking forward to visiting (Vancouver). Cam gave us some thoughts on where to spend time in Vancouver, where he is originally from - Thanks Cam - We will keep your advice in mind.

Right now, we are in Edmonton. We arrived around 5pm - rush hour with construction; horrible. But it was only 3 hours north of Calgary, making Alberta a very nice place to visit. Banff National Park in the area - Glacier NP 3 hours south of Calgary, Edmonton 3 North. 8 hours away is Vancouver and Seattle. Regina is just 5 hours to the East. So far, we love this Province...and Canada in general.

It's been a friendly stay so far - and we hope to keep the encounters that way.

We have another day in Edmonton tomorrow before we make our way to Alaska!! We are going to go to the Edmonton Mall - largest mall in North America - and soon to be largest in the world after they add an addition...

That's going to be a day in itself - we'll probably head to the indoor water park for a bit as well...and get our hotel there as well. There will be video blogs.

Other than that, we are having a great time so far. Thursday marks our 12th day on our road trip. We plan to be in Anchorage on the 28th of June.

One more post tomorrow and Friday morning before we head further north.

Stay posted.

Cheers to the Rochester crowd. Cheers to the Tampa Bay crowd. Cheers to my GC people. And Cheers to those of you on the road visiting our site.

Matt and Bryan

We are in downtown Calgary, Alberta

2007-06-19T22:34:00.000-04:00

We woke up from our tent a little soaked, in Lake Louise, in Banff National Park today. Lake Louise is the most beauitful lake that we had ever seen. A bright blue lake surrounded by snowcapped peaks, just totally amazing. After we packed up and drove into dowtown Calgary we lucked out at the Best Western, getting basically an apartment for very cheap. We walked around Stephen Ave which is a big pedestrian walkway and saw Calgary tower which is basically Seattle's Spaceneedle except in Calgary.

The city of Calgary is goregous. It can be compared to Denver in which the rockies are to the west and visible. At the moment are back at the hotel and are updating a bit more before we go out on the town to an area called uptown. We are right along 17th street, also known as the "Red Mile". This area has many restaurants, bars and shops which will be great for people watching. We are having a great time in Calgary, the city is beauitful and defiently worth a visit.

Bryan and Matt

Headed to Banff National Park

2007-06-18T12:51:00.001-04:00

We are back in Alberta after been rained out in Glacier National Park yesterday. It wasnt worth the trouble of setting up the tent and not being able to do anything without getting soaked. But Glacier was definately a site to see, and we recommend that you come to this place sometime in your lifetime.

Last night we stayed in Calgary and relaxed. Today, we are headed to Banff. It's about an hour away from here. They say its like Aspen - so the views should be great, and the town will most likely be rich.

We are going to pitch camp in Banff tonight, exploring today and tomorrow afternoon. Then we head back to Calgary to jump around the city for the day.

Just a quick update as we are headed out the door...

Updates on photos and video blogs have been posted. More to come tomorrow night when we get back to Calgary.

Gotta run,

Matt and Bryan

Almost to Alberta

2007-06-15T21:46:00.000-04:00

After waking today and getting our power adaptor for the car from the "Future Store", sounds cool but is actually a best buy we explored downtown Regina. After exlporing Regina we drove about an hour to Moose Jaw, SK. There we learned that the city's nickname is Little Chicago because of their ties to mobster Al Capone. We took a Chicago tour in the Tunnels of Moose Jaw which told us all the history behind this bootlegging town, pretty nifty I have to say. From here we drove through Swift Current, SK and are now at a Esso truck stop. We have finally made it to the rolling hills that we had seen while traveling through South Dakota, it is beauitful out here. Tommorow we will be driving through Medicine Hat, AB and then down to Montana to Glacier National Park to meet up with our old friend Wes. We might not be able to post again until we reach Calgary in a few days but keep on checking the site. We appreciate all the comments.

Bryan and Matt

Downtown Regina onward

2007-06-15T14:49:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

Here we are in downtown Regina, Saskatchewan. Man, this is a beautiful city, with just over 170,000 for the population - this area downtown has a lot to say. The 2-story Cornwall Centre and outdoor shopping centre/walkway to boot, this city knows how to eat well and entertain. We are at an Atlantis Coffee right now putting in our last update until Calgary.

Today, we are going to grab lunch down in the eatery, then head to Moose Jaw and Swift Current to view underground tunnels of Al Capone and the Chinese immigrants and large 25ft living sand dunes.

We will then head towards Medicine Hat, Alberta for the night. This area is known as the Canadian Badlands; Bryan and I ventured there in 2002 on our trip to Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, and SLC. If its anything like Badlands, SD, I'm sure that Bryan and I will enjoy it.

We will be camping out near Medicine Hat, then headed for Glacier National Park in Montana. We are looking to meet up with a High School buddy of ours, Wes Dow, who moved out that way last year. Come Monday, we are headed for Calgary to spend the night and the follow day visiting around downtown. Day after that we are headed to Banff NP, then to Edmonton.

We have many more Video Blogs that we need to upload - but they take for ever to do so. I promise they will all go up in Calgary (early next week).

We will update Monday from Calgary - unless we get lucky and find a place sooner.

Email us and comment us -- we'll be updating massive amounts of pics and video blogs Monday - a whole day dedicated!!

Cheers!

Matt & Bryan

Regina, SK really is pronounced 'Re-jy-na'

2007-06-14T21:21:00.000-04:00

Today after posting pictures and maps on our site for the first time we left the city of Winnipeg, MB which we had a blast in. We visited the shopping district, The Forks, which is a great park down by the Red River and finally ended up in a steakhouse and bar called The Keg. At the bar we met some locals and a guy named Chuck from Pittsburgh, PA who loved our trip and gave us some great contacts for the rest of our trip.
All in all Winnipeg was a great city and we highly recommend it. We left Winnipeg at 12:30 pm and drove till we came to Regina at 7pm. No wonder this is called big sky country, you could see for miles in all directions. We did hit a lot of rain, but the drive went smoothly. We are staying at a Holiday Inn tonight, its quite rainy and windy so we decided not to spend the night downtown. Were going to go explore it in the morning.
As for right now we are going to get our first meal in a restaurant since the trip began, and will be posting new pics from Winnipeg as well as hopefully being able to get some video up. Adios for the moment from rainy Regina.

We made it to Winnipeg, MB (1,500 miles from Rochester)

2007-06-13T17:09:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

We've made it to Winnipeg, Manitoba on our 4th day! We spent 3 nights in the woods camping at various places around Lake Huron and Superioir. Beautiful sites and lots of history.

We've been driving an average of 400 miles a day. No too shabby.

At least we finally have internet access!! It's been a pain trying to find access. Not coffee shops anywhere...the truck stops don't have the internet like we planned, but our hotel does in downtown Winnipeg.

We will plan on updating blogs and video blogs at these times. Regina, SK, Calgary, AB, and Edmonton, AB are our next hotel stops that we will definately update in. If we get lucky to find a spot inbetween, we will do so.

We are headed out to roam around Winnipeg, grab dinner, and hit the downtown scene before things close. We will be back later tonight to finish up all uploads and updates on our trip.

I will post one video blog up right now to give you guys an idea of what to look forward to for the rest of our trip.

Glad to have a shower and soft beds for the night,

Matt and Bryan

2007-06-10T20:14:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

It's our first day in Canada. We are 400 Miles into our trip up in Sudburry, Ontario. We stopped in Toronto and Barrie on the way up.

I have limited access time right now - so I'm going to make this short.

We just finished our fine meal at our campsite with a nice sunset on Richard Lake, Ontario.

It's quite isolated out here - and our journey has just begun...but I'm sure we'll make the best of it.

Look for a video blog and update in the morning - as we are going to the visitor center to get some internet access.

If you don't hear from us for a few days - just wait longer...
It's very difficult to find access up here - no starbucks cafe's anywhere...lol

But we'll have it when we get to Alaska.

The site will be further updated with links, new pages, and photos so far...but not till tomorrow.

Have a good nite all - and keep visiting back.

Matt and Bryan

Leaving Rochester in a few hours...

2007-06-10T05:02:00.000-04:00

It's been a long week of packing and inventory checking to be sure that we have everything ewe need for our 6 week journey.
Our food supply will last us about a week or so before we need to fill back up on goods; we will always have staples handy.
We will take some pictures this morning of our departure and how we packed the car.

Lets see if this updating will work as planned.

We haven't road-tripped in 3 years since Newfoundland, and we have never gone on a 6-week road trip.

Stay tuned to our updates! As you know, internet is not everywhere yet, and especially not itn he wilderness - we will update that site as we can. When those updates are made, however, vast changes will have occured because of the time that we can spend updating without internet.

This is going to be the adventure of a life time and we feel fully prepared for our next 6 weeks!

To Prepare...

2007-05-20T20:49:00.000-04:00

We planned our trip to Alaska in 2006, but due to school and insufficient funds, we were unable to make our trip. Now that school is out of the way, we want to make one last big trip on the road before we start to settle down with the company that will hire our ever-learning minds.

In December of 2006 we complied our thoughts to create our route we would take, the places we would visit, and the budget we would need to save up. In recent months we collaborated on Google Docs to compile lists on what to pack, where we want to go, who we will try to visit, and what we wanted to show on our website that we want to continuously updates during our journey.

www.OurDriveToAlaska.com was then born. The site is currently under development, and we hope to spawn tourism in both Rochester, Alaska, and to the places we visit along the way there and back.

You may ask "why drive to Alaska"...but we ask you "why not?" We love great road trips. Not just any normal trip however, Bryan and I are of the notion that a real trip does not just include the destination, but everything there is to see on the way there. So we decided not to fly, but to drive to the last great frontier.

We are planning our road trip to Alaska to set out from Pittsford early Sunday morning on June 10th. Our 11,000+ mile road trip will take us through central and western Canada to Alaska Highway 1 - our route to Alaska's vast wilderness and adventure. We have visits planned along the way, camping each night on the road, and taking in night life in each of the bigger cities we reach. When we reach Alaska we will be spending a few days in the largest city of Anchorage as well as a week on the Kenai Peninsula southwest of Anchorage where we will be fishing, hiking, as well as seeing the great Alaskan glaciers. From there, we head down the west coast to Northern California and then back towards Rochester. We plan to be back in Rochester the week of July 22nd, but subject to changes.

Visit our site and our blog regularly to view the sites we've seen, the people we've met, and vast Canadian country that many of you have never thought of visiting.

Hope you enjoy our journey as much as we will!

-Matthew Ray & Bryan Carey