It's a big state

I just got back from the other part of Alaska...the part where you have to drive about 800 miles, go through 2 Canadian provinces and cross two borders to get there. It's well worth the effort in my opinion, the trees are bigger, the weather milder and the people friendlier. Southeast Alaska is where it's at for me, and I'm hoping to be a home owner there in a relatively short while.

This is the second time I've made the journey this summer, love that Subaru wagon! It can be a tedious drive at times especially when you're weaving around miles of frost heaves*, but the scenery is heart-breakingly spectacular. (hmph, blogger spell check doesn't believe me) The part that always gets me is the stretch between Haines Junction (Canada) and Haines Alaska... miles and miles of mountains rising up out of the tundra. Or maybe it's just that the road in that area is smoother and there's less construction.

There were lots of bicycles on the road, most of them headed into Canada on the southbound journey. Some of them were going solo, nothing like being alone with your thoughts for miles and miles of 'middle of nowhere'. I can't imagine what my brain would come up with after a few dozen hours of peddling slowly across Canada. I did see a bear run across the road behind one of the bicyclists...he didn't even know it was there until I told him.

*a frost heave is when the ground under the road freezes and expands then thaws and collapses causing the road to subside. The road becomes like a roller coaster if the heaves go cross ways, but sometimes they go long ways parallel to the road...