In 2016 we took a two month odyssey through Alaska, Canada and mainland U.S.A. with two other couples. One couple (who we’ll call ‘TeenyPeeny’ and ‘Cankles’) traveled with us from Australia and the other couple (who we’ll call ‘Pachos’ and ‘Don’) were stationed in Washington D.C. at the time through work. For the sake of fairness, we’ll refer to ourselves by our Team Alaska names (Jo was ‘Pretzel’ and Rob was ‘AndRob’).

Looking back…this turned out to be one of, if not, the best trips of our lives. It had been eighteen months in the planning when Pachos and Don moved to Washington D.C. for their posting. Pachos put it out that she was going to do the Rocky Mountaineer and Alaska Inside Passage cruise for her 50th to cross it off her bucket list. She asked if anybody was interested in joining them. TeenyPeeny & Cankles jumped on board and so did we. Team Alaska was born.

Team Alaska

The magnificent ‘Team Alaska’. From left to right: AndRob, TeenyPeeny, Cankles, Pretzel, Pachos & Don.

The Itinerary

Organising a group trip where one couple is overseas required a fair bit of emailing but we finally settled on the following basic itinerary:

• Meet in Anchorage Alaska
• Spend a few days in Anchorage and surrounds
• Alaskan Inside Passage cruise to Vancouver, B.C.
• Travel on The Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver to Banff
• Road Trip to:
  • Chateau Lake Louise
  • Explore the Icefields Parkway and back to Calgary
• Fly back to Washington D.C. for mid-trip break (Don resumes work)
  • Explore a bit of Washington D.C.
  • TeenyPeeny, Cankles, Pretzel and AndRob spend a week in New York (Pachos joins later)
  • TeenyPeeny goes to the U.S. Open in Philadelphia
  • Pretzel and AndRob go to Lancaster, PA
• TeenyPeeny, Cankles, Pachos, Pretzel and AndRob fly to Las Vegas for a few days.
  • TeenyPeeny, Canklesand Pachos take a short road trip to San Francisco via Mammoth Lakes and Death Valley before TeenyPeeny and Cankles fly home and Pachos returns to Washington D.C.
  • Pretzel and AndRob take a two week road trip to:
    • Grand Canyon
    • Yosemite National Park
    • Lake Tahoe
    • Sequoia National Park
    • San Francisco
    • Fly home.

The Route

Alaska

Anchorage

Team Alaska’s arrival in Anchorage and exploration of the city and surrounds.

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Talkeetna

Team Alaska’s day trip to Talkeetna including a hike at the Eagle RIver Nature Center.

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Whittier Transfer

Taking a half day coach tour from Anchorage to Whittier via the Alaska Wildlife Conservation…

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Canada

Coming Soon

U.S.A

Coming Soon

Photo Albums

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