3-Day Road Trip

On Alan's birthday, Sep 24th, we set out on an 850 mile circular road trip to Fairbanks and back. We took the Glenn Highway out of Anchorage to Glennallen then the Richardson Highway to Delta Junction.

We left Anchorage in shirtsleeves and one hour into the journey, we were reaching into the suitcase for pullovers and thermals. This is me shivering near the Matanuska Glacier, one of the scenic stopping points on the Glenn Highway.

Coming into Glennallen, this is Mt St Elias in the Wrangell National Park. As you can see, Alaska is a great place if you hate traffic.There are not many roads in the interior of Alaska and this direction sign caught our eye, with a right turn for Valdez and left for Fairbanks or Canada.


Some spectacular stopping points on the way to our first stopover at Delta Junction.

This is Kelly's Motel, a bank of portakabins which served as a dormitory for tourists, hunters and contractors from the local miltary base. The picture of the sign is about the best shot we can offer. We breakfasted at the local diner, which offered local delicacies like burgers, eggs over easy, sausage patties, biscuits 'n' gravy, waffles, everything you could wish for to give you a coronary to start your day. Yum!

We also saw the famous trans-alaska oil pipeline which runs alongside the Richardson highway to Valdez, where tankers take the oil to refineries in the lower 48.


This is the pipeline crossing the River Tanana on its way through the Alaskan Interior.

We had beautiful cloudless weather most of the trip - a real treat after the rains of the summer. The first day was really windy and we had to contend with fallen trees in the road and huge dust clouds that reduced visibility to 100yds in places.

The temperature was below freezing for most of the morning - bit of a shock in September, but the chill factor is ably demonstrated here....
Next stop North Pole. Did you ever wonder where all the letters to Father Christmas went? Well here is his Post Office. It was not far from his house , a wonderful emporium of Christmas memorabilia, including toys, decorations, presents, etc.
We could not resist joining the tourists and getting some photos in his sleigh, which he had conveniently left outside his house.




We finally got to Fairbanks after 10 hours driving and went to the Museum of Northern Life, a display of life in Alaska and the North West. Quite a spectacular building as you can see in the picture we took on the way up to it.


A fascinating display of all things to do with life in these parts.

We stayed in Fairbanks, and woke up on a freezing cold but clear Sunday morning to have a quick look round the city centre.


The drive back to Anchorage down the Parks highway was again spectacular, and we had our first snow flurry of the approaching winter season. Ice floes were already accumulating in the Chena River, which was the one we went rafting on during our vacation in 2007.

We stopped for a late lunch in Talkeetna, at the famous Roadhouse. This is a bit of a spot for artists and hippies, full of tourist shops which were proper log cabins. This is the Susitna River, with Mt McKinley just visible in the background. It cuts off Talkeetna from the main North-South highway and it is only accessible via a spur road. Only the railway gets straight through on its way to Fairbanks.


We got back to Anchorage at 6pm on the Sunday evening, ready for a rest and recover and to prepare for work in the morning. A great trip and probably the last weekend we could do it before the winter sets in.

Alan & Sylvia