Traveling to Alaska 2026. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Since we use to full time in an RV for a total of 6 years, we never have quite gotten rid of the "hitch itch", that urge to travel in an RV to see and explore this beautiful country. Eldo decided it was time to whisk Sparky away to Alaska for another visit to the state for a change of pace. We both LOVE Alaska, the mountains, the wildlife and the summer climate. We LOVE renting an RV to travel all around Alaska, as we have done a cruise or two. So once again, we turned to Great Alaskan Holiday rentals for our sixth time renting. We went back and forth on size, comfort, and pricing. They were offering 15% off as the season has started slow and late due to a bad winter and tourism being down. We have rented a 25 footer before and found it too small for trips longer than just a few days. As we were going to be spending 11 days out on the road this time, we decided to go with a 31 foot class C. That has the overhead bunk over the cab, and the model we picked, a Winnebago, the "Minnie Winnie"--model 31 H,  had bunk beds and TWO slideouts. It has a strong engine, the Ford 7.3L V8 gas engine, so cheaper than diesel. Average price of gas in May 2026 for us was anywhere from 5.09-5.69. The average rental price for Memorial Day through June 8th was 200.00 per day, a bargain! We could cook our own meals (we did, a little, haha). We used the bunk beds to store luggage and other things, and the two slideouts made it a wonderful space to spread out and not get in each other's way! In Alaska, you don't have to have a campground every night. You can pull over to the side on the road on the many wide cement pullouts where you can camp for free...that's called "boon docking". There are large gravel or paved pullouts every few miles that are completely free to use and large enough to accomodate RV's. They are set away from the road, and the views are amazing. You simply run your generator for heat if you need it, and you are fully self contained with a water supply, shower, bathroom, and kitchen. We love it.

Ceiling of the restaurant

Eldy researched for months as he always does. He looks at all possible angles for best flight times, connections, and airport possibilities. He uses points for our air travel and so our airfare was paid through points. A bus option is offered from South Bend to Chicago as part of the plane ticket thru Alaska/American Airlines. Yay, no battling Chicago traffic! The bus takes you deep into the airport secured parking area compound and it's a LONG walk to get to the ticket counter. After we arrived in Chicago, we stayed the night at the Embassy Suites in Rosemont as we had an early flight the next morning. We had a delicious dinner at McCormick's and Schmick. The restaurant was beautiful!

Day 1....Sparky LOVES the scenery change from the air as you move out of the midwest, west and to the far north. As we arrived at the airport, a shuttle from Great Alaskan Holidays picked us up, we picked up our rental and after going over it with a fine tooth comb, and signing papers, we were on our way! First stop, Fred Meijer groceries, in Anchorage to supply our food needs. The RV comes with basics--dishes, utensils and all the basic needs, we added extra toilet paper, paper towels, and quick to eat meals that are easy to prepare. It's easy to overbuy as if you were buying groceries at home. You can't buy anything in very small quantities so we did our best to use up cereal, milk, butter, bread, and things like that during the week. Our first stop, K'esugi Ken campground, in Denali STATE Park, a distance of 138 miles. K'esugi Ken sounds like a person's name but it is Athabascan for Curry Ridge or "Base of the Ancient One".

The view along the drive to Denali State Park...

The mountains are heavily snow covered still....

This view was really something! We stopped often along pullouts and views to take in the amazing mountain scenery. The clouds were dissipating, and we started having sunny days....Temps were in the fifties during the day, and mid thirties to low forties at night most of

fiddlehead ferns

our stay. We really love those cool temps! Unfortunately, the wildflowers like the lupines, were not blooming yet. They come out full force in late May or early June. What was growing everywhere were fiddlehead ferns and dandelions, big ones.....

on the way to our first campground stay

K'esugi Ken campground is fabulous. There is a beautiful trail all around the campground. Sites are easy to pull in or pull through. There are 32 campsites, paved roads, three public use cabins and a beautiful interpretive center. We had electric but no water. No matter, we have a water tank in the RV! The price was 30.00 night. It IS in dense bear country, we did not see any bears but we did see this on the campground check in kiosk so be bear aware! Bear spotted two days before we arrived. Eldy thought he saw a wolf in the woods!

Our site faced away from the mountains, but on the trail, you can see the K'esugi Ken Ridge mountains. (Sparky did a mile hike while there.) There are interpetive signs along the trail and Sparky got a chuckle out of this one! "Have you ever noticed....

...that hair like growth hanging from the trees? It's a lichen, and Alaskans often call it "old man's beard". Lichens are together with a fungus and an alga. Their rustic romance goes something like this: Freddy Fungus and Alice Alga took a lichen (groan) to each other. In this case, they drove each other up a tree, but don't let that fool you--they are perfect partners"...etc. etc. Well, Sparky thought it was funny at the time....

more lichen

Here is part of the beautiful interpetive center in the campground with fabulous metal art sculptures on the wall.

The next morning, Sparky hiked two miles on the trail with her head on a swivel looking for bears. No scat spotted, all good...It was a dreary day the first day (and that was the only day!) so no great photos.  

muskeg

Sparky learned a lot from the trail signs...a new word--muskeg--which is a common feature in a boreal forest--It's wet ground, like walking on a waterbed with the added danger of getting your shoes/boots sucked off the bottom of your feet..composed of partially decomposed plant matter, peat-which becomes overgrown with sphagnum moss, which can hold up to 30 times its weight in water!

After Sparky's two mile hike, we set off further north to Denali National Park, a distance of about 102 miles.

Dall sheep--from the internet

Day 2...We drive to Denali National Park. We see Dall sheep along the way! Moving 55 mph, we couldn't get a photo, but here is one from the internet as to what they look like. Sparky says they look like bighorn sheep but they have a different physical appearance. They are all white. Their horns are longer, thinner, and yellowish than big horned sheep.

Riley Creek site 22A

We are going to spend two nights at the Riley Creek campground, no water, no electric for 27.00 a night with the senior pass. Beautiful wooded campground, you can take a shuttle bus into town and around the various campgrounds in the area. They have a camp store there, but prices were ridiculous. NINE DOLLARS and FIFTY CENTS for a roll of paper towels. GEESH! There were a few mosquitoes, but not bad at all. That's another reason we like visiting Alaska at the end of May into early June, the skeeters are not too bad yet. And they are VERY bad during the summer months and HUGE we hear.

We had our first snafu at the campground. Midday, the carbon monoxide detector went off. UH-OH! Gas propane leak somewhere. We turned off the gas at the switch outside, we opened all the windows, turned on fans and proceeded to try and find the leak. Sparky discovered a stove knob had been bumped when she leaned upwards to get something in the microwave. The knob was so loose, it turned on the gas supply with a bump of her stomach,  and that was the leak! Yikes! 

this is what moose poop looks like

Day 3...Sparky heard there had been moose active on the bike path, so she hiked it to the visitors' center, where we have always seen moose moseying around the brush near the center in years past. LOTS of moose poop on the trail, but no moose on the bike path or the visitors' center. Phooey! Sparky walked 3.4 miles that day. We wanted to eat pizza at the well-known Prospector's Pizzeria, but they had inexplicably closed for the day so Lynch's pizza was the alternative...bleh. Sparky found a beautiful yarn shop in town, Polychrome Fibers and bought some supplies to knit a national park beanie aptly named "Denali". After dinner, we took a drive deeper into the park to Savage River, that's as far as you can drive your own personal vehicle into the park. We saw caribou from far away. (sorry about the poor iphone photo--Sparky didn't bring a regular camera on this trip!)

caribou-iphone 16

We did not take a bus trip deep into Denali while we were there. There was a landslide about a year ago, and they are building a bridge to circumvent the slide. The project is still ongoing, and the busses are not able to get as deep into the park until that bridge is completed, about another year. We felt the trip would not be as worth it if we couldn't go deep into the park. We did hear about some excitement at the Savage River Campground, however, just beyond the point where we had to turn around. A dead moose calf was found in the campground area, a grizzly bear was spotted, attracted to a possible meal along with mama moose in the area as well, so they evacuated the campground.

On our way back, one bull moose spotted off in the wood, foraging! Yay!

So that is our first three days in Alaska. C'mon back and see us again for more adventures and more wildlife and more Alaskan scenes such as this one....

Next post later this week. Thanks for reading along and following us on our journey!

 

                                    Sparky and Eldo

Last Day in Yellowstone Part 4

Canyon Lodge Inn restaurant

Day 4....We are on our last day in Yellowstone, October 24th. The inn closes in just a few days, on the 31st, to get ready for a changeover in tourists from fall to winter, then the park and the inn will reopen. The night before, we ate at the 50's style restaurant in the inn as it was the only place open. We tried both breakfast and dinner there the two days we stayed. The food was meh, some of the items were cold on the buffet and Sparky got food poisoning that night. It was touch and go whether we would be able to explore on our last day in the park, but Sparky was determined to get out for one last drive to see Grand Teton National Park. We had never visited there. After popping some immodium AD, she was good to go the next morning, despite being up half the night.....She was bound and determined we were going to visit Grand Teton National Park!

the porch

Canyon Lodge-Rhyolite section of the hotel

As an aside...the lodge was beautiful. We picked a nicer room with a porch that we thought would be a nice addition. If you get a ground room, the porch has such a big overhang, it's very dark. We were disappointed in that part, but the room itself was gorgeous. We think an upstairs room would have a prettier porch based on some web photos we saw.

Off we went.....our wildlife tally for our last day in the park was: 5 elk along the river, and 4 separate bison sightings of lone ones out in the fields. The low last night was 20 degrees so it was frosty cold out there! It's a 1.5 hour drive from Canyon Lodge to Grand Teton National Park which is worth a trip while in the area. We stopped at beautiful viewpoints along the road into the park, (route 89/191/287 South) but nothing was open, everything was closed due to the government shutdown. The road through the park is a loop of about 42 miles and takes about an hour to an hour and half to drive if you are stopping here and there.

T.A. Moulton Barn

Sparky wanted to see one of the most famous sites in Grand Teton National Park and that was the Moulton Barns on Mormon Row. These are two iconic barns constructed in 1908, by John Moulton and T.A. Moulton, and they are close to Jackson Hole, in an area called Antelope Flats between the towns of Kelly and Moose, Wyoming. The John Moulton Barn has a four sided roof, and the T.A. Moulton Barn has a triangle shaped roof. Because of the setting of the Tetons in the background, it's a VERY popular place for artists, photographers and tourists who try to capture THE perfect photo of the setting. Note: the roads into Mormon row are full of potholes and just dirt road. The barns are closed so you can't go inside.

John Moulton Barn

After exploring Mormon Row and the barns a bit, we headed into the town of Jackon Hole. Sparky loves the antler covered arches in each corner of the park in the middle of the town. 

Such a cool town with unique shopping and stores galore. Sparky loved a store that was loaded with mostly cowboy hats and boots. We were hungry so we stopped at the Roadhouse Pub and Brewery and had a great lunch. Eldy had fish and Sparky had Chicken Tingo Tacos. Yum!

There was a National Museum of Wildlife that Sparky REALLY wanted to stop at, on the outskirts of Jackson Hole, but it was late in the afternoon and we were running out of time...Next time, for sure! The outside of it was very very cool. Also for next time, we hope to see three other famous landscape photo op sites. They are: Schwabacher Landing, Snake River Overlook, and Oxbow Bend. 

By the time we arrived back at the inn, it was snack time and we headed to the bar area of the restaurant. There we met some great people and had a wonderful converstation with a fireman who now does snow removal and readiness for the winter season of the park and a couple from Hawaii with whom we shared RV information and travels. The fireman told us some great stories about winter rescues, animal sightings, and how the park gets ready for the influx of winter tourists with the use of special snow machines that level and pack the snow to establish a base layer for snow machine and snow mobiles. There is about a six week interval between the fall closure of the park and the winter opening. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting other people and conversing with them that night!

We left the next morning at 8:00 AM for Bozeman. We saw a lone bison with a very frosty back laying in the field waiting for the sun to warm him up. We saw more elk by the road. We had a wonderful trip with wonderful weather and think mid October is a great time to visit the park. The number of tourists was WAY down. There was never a time where we had trouble finding a place to park nor were any sites too congested. It was really great! We really lucked out on the weather, nasty winter weather was predicted and arrived about two days after we got back home to Indiana. 

Thank you for following along with our travels and best wishes for a Happy New Year!

Bozeman to Dallas to Indy-this is Dallas at night

We Take a Fall Trip to Yellowstone N.P. Part 3

 

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Day 3....Today we moved from the Kelly Inn and Suites in West Yellowstone to the Canyon Lodge located inside the national park. We had reservations for the Rhyolite Lodge, one of the buildings in the Canyon Lodge complex. Until we could check in mid afternoon, we were back out on the roads heading in a northeast to southeast direction today. On the map, the area we were exploring is called Canyon Village. There are waterfalls there, and the not-to-be-missed Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, an amazing geological feature within walking distance of the lodge IF you were up for about a mile hike. 

the hike to lower falls

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is spectacular in its own way, with a BIG waterfall in the middle, and viewing points at the top of the falls and towards the lower falls. You can hike your way up or down, they are short distances of less than a mile. What Sparky forgot is the elevation factor of 8,000 feet. While hiking down to the lower falls from the parking lot, which was a steep decline and NOT wheelchair friendly, she neglected to think about hiking back UP. Needless to say, for a 3/4 mile hike, it was arduous coming back up but well worth it to see the falls and the canyon. She thought her heart was going to beat right out of her chest! She stopped many times on the climb back up. Whew! The falls were spectacular whether you were looking at them from up above or down below.

Here is another view....

A view of the canyon from higher up at the falls viewing platform...

We hopped back into the car and continued our drive south towards Fishing Bridge. On the way, we passed through Hayden Valley which Sparky remembered reading some blogs about the foxes in that valley and the Lamar valley. Sure enough, we saw a red fox. Look-- a coyote photobombing in the meadow! Coyotes do kill foxes sometimes for food or to eliminate competition for resources. Hope this pretty fox was not going to be dinner!

Lots of bison along the way, crossing the road with their calves...

We arrived at Fishing Bridge, which is a historical area and facility complex inside the park. There is an RV park there, a visitor center, and a store. It's named for its famous old bridge but fishing is prohibited now. Maybe because of this? Haha...This big guy passed right by our car on the bridge. Eldy could have reached out and touched him easily. A "Touron"--a tourist who is a moron, on the other side of the road coming towards us, actually reached out his window and touched another bison following behind. The bison startled and jumped back in defense. Sparky yelled out, "YOU DUMB****!!!" (She's not holding back in her senior years, explains a sheepish Eldo.) Luckily, for the touron, nothing happened. He's lucky the bison didn't head butt the car!

right next to our car!

After exploring the area, we headed further south, past West Thumb, which includes more mudpots, boiling springs, and geysers, heading back to Canyon Lodge. It was a beautiful day, full of wildlife, and wonderful weather. One more day to go....see you tomorrow!

We Take a Fall Trip to Yellowstone Part 2

Day 2...Here is the map that shows where we started the first two days while we stayed outside the park. We entered Yellowstone National Park through the West Yellowstone entrance each day as shown on the left side of the map directly west of Madison. Today we were headed north to Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner, a very small town just right outside the Custer Gallatin National Forest.

We left early in the morning, around 8:00 AM.

The temps were in the twenties, the trees and brush were coated with frosty ice crystals. It was beautiful!

Along the way were many wonderful geysers and wildlife....And a lovely river running alongside the roadway, the Gibbon River. The bison were often spotted alone and not with a herd. 

The elk were plentiful....and could be seen in herds in the distance or in small groups close to the roads..

young bull elk

We stopped at Gibbon Falls, which had a beautiful stone cropped viewing point....The photo doesn't do it justice...It was a major, roaring waterfall.

We traveled through the Monument Geyser Basin, and the Norris Geyser Basin....

We passed Sheepeater Cliff (don't you just love that name? Is it because they fall off the cliff to their deaths sometimes?) No photo of that one, but on we went, continuing north....

We traveled the Golden Gate Bridge of Yellowstone, quite the engineering feat for its time. Bridging the canyon was one of the most expensive early road building projects back then. The view is of the canyon and Rustic Falls with pullouts to look for wildlife and mountain goats.

We arrived in Mammoth Hot Springs. There is a small local herd of elk in town that is supported with protective enclosures and here the elk lounge around town wherever they feel like it! Like this big guy. He was in somebody's yard for several hours, just soaking up the sun.

Right outside the town of Mammoth Springs, you can see a geological formations called the travertine terraces. Interactions of water and limestone coat rock cliffs that creat chalk white travertine. They are among the fastest changing features in the park. They emerge quickly and can dry up just as fast. They look like snow covered cliffs. 

In town you can see Fort Yellowstone and take a self-guided tour to see how the Army protected the park in the early days.

From there, we continued north to see the Roosevelt Arch which is the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park. There are two little doorways, one on each side for people to walk through and get their photo taken. 

As we drove closer to the north park entrance, we spotted herds of pronghorn.

Pronghorn are neither sheep nor antelope as people commonly believe. They are unique North American mammals. They do resemble both sheep and antelope, because of their deer shaped bodies and their speed. Their horns are different from deer antlers and they are more closely related to giraffes (!) than goats or sheep. Their antlers have a hairlike sheath called keratin, and they are shed and regrown annually. They are the fastest land animals in the western hemisphere! When Sparky kept seeing more and more of them, she just HAD to get out of the car and get just a LITTLE BIT closer to get this photo....At which point, a ranger came out of the Roosevelt Arch entryway and chastized Sparky (very nicely) to get back in her car and move along, much to Eldo's chagrin. Sparky knows better! (But you can't tell her anything when she's trying to get a photo! laughs E.)

Back in the car we went, continuing on to Gardiner, a very small town of about 750 people. There didn't seem to be much there to explore, so we headed back home as it was now getting to be much later in the day. We thought we would top off the day with a visit to Old Faithful, probably the most famous geyser in the world? which was south of Madison on the map. Back we retraced our drive with lots of wildlife along the way to keep the repeat trip from being boring. Eldy is so great about stopping frequently to get multiple shots of elk and bison, and he watches the landscape continually to help Sparky find photo ops. He's a great driver, too.

Old Faithful erupts about every 90 minutes, but can vary from 50-127 minutes or 60-94 minutes. The visitor's center posts on a board about when they think it will erupt. Longer eruptions lead to longer waits so the time predictions change often. The visitor's center was gorgeous! Old Faithful is visible through the main window if you wanted to stay inside. We went outside and sat on benches and waited. It was a chilly afternoon!

Twenty-three minutes later than the scheduled time, "thar she blows!"

There was another geyser that blew before Old Faithful, and it was a fairly big one farther away, so that was a treat as well! We think it was the Lone Star Geyser. 

It was getting late, time to find something to eat! The town was gradually closing down for the season, and a lot of places had closed. Bullwinkle's was a restaurant right downtown in West Yellowstone that was open and Sparky wanted to go there just because of the name. (She LOVED the show Rocky and Bullwinkle when she was young and she can do a mean imitation of Bullwinkle's voice.) The moose theme was everywhere, and a model train ran around the perimeter of the ceiling inside the restaurant. The food was very good, and we highly recommend it.

Tomorrow, we head into the park itself to stay at the Canyon Lodge for our last two days of exploration. We'll see you there! (Part 3)