Alaska Trip - Day 14

We have traveled nearly 6,500 miles in 14 days. Still hating your commute to work everyday? Actually, it hasn’t been so bad, because we have seen some of the most beautiful places on earth.

Today was no exception. In fact, today we took the most scenic route I have taken in my entire life.

But first, we had to get out of Chetwynd. There were trucks everywhere. I think we might have been the only ones in town without a truck, as matter of fact. From Chetwynd to Prince George, we continued to encounter mostly trucks on the road. No surprise, as the two cities are very industrial. There were especially a lot of logging trucks.

We went through the Rockies again on our way to Prince George. Prince George is about the size of Lawrence, and I liked what I saw there, but we couldn’t stay long because we had a lot of driving to do today because of the lack of driving yesterday.

The drive from Prince George to Quesnel was fairly boring (despite passing through a town called Stoner), but Quesnel was a hilly, very nice little town.

As we drove southwest, we saw mountains again, and by the time we arrived in Clinton, they were huge, baby. This was the Northern Cascades.

Soon after, we turned onto highway 99, also known as “Sea to Sky Highway,” and this road, by far, was the most scenic road I have ever seen. Before you die, you should travel on this road. No joke. It was simply amazing. There was just too much scenery. The drive had literally everything: mountains, hills, valleys, meadows, canyons, glaciers, rivers, streams, creeks, lakes. That’s about it.

Not that it was an easy drive. The road was rougher than a lot of the roads up north at times. Most of the time we were driving under 30 mph because of the potholes, winding curves, and lack of guard rails. I counted 9 one-lane wooden bridges that I thought we were going to drop through as we went over them (thankfully, this did not happen). Through all of these conditions, many locals sped by us as if they were NASCAR drivers. It was an adventure, and certainly worth it.

After that drive we arrived in the picturesque town of Pemberton, British Columbia, which is about two hours northeast of Vancouver. Pembleton is a ski town that really becomes sleepy in the summer. We are staying at a very nice hostel there tonight, after eating our first nice dinner of the entire trip at a local restaurant.

Today was our last full day in Canada. Tomorrow we hit Vancouver and Seattle, and maybe Rosyln, Washington? We have a lot more driving ahead of us in order to get back by Sunday night!