The Road Trip of a Lifetime!

Here's a blog post I wrote for another site back in October of 2008.  The post is about my move to Alaska back in mid August of 2008.  Approximately 4,000 miles from my parents' home in Maple Lake, Minnesota to Fairbanks, Alaska.  Enjoy!

Hmmm... where to start...

I guess first of all some reflections on Alaska.... It's Beautiful! I love the landscape! The drive up here on the Al-Can was nothing short of the road trip of a lifetime. I love my dad sooooo much! We had a lot of really interesting and deep conversations on the drive, I am so greatful for that time we had together now that we're so far apart. We drove around 1,000 miles a day for 4 days to get from my parents house in Maple Lake, Minnesota to Fairbanks, Alaska. That's like 10-12+ hours a day... haha... so lots and lots of time together in my lil Corolla. 

The first part of the trip was through western North Dakota... which I was shocked to learn had a lot of oil drilling going on... we saw lots and lots and lots of fields.... and the same landscape of oil drilling and fields continued well on into Canada. We made it about 3-4 hours into Canada on our first day and found a campground to spend the night at. Both of us in my lil 2 man tent that I had just bought at Cabela's. We had cots that barely fit into the tent so it was a very very tight fit... haha... but all that more entertaining when dad started snoring... haha. I actually didn't mind the snoring though... it was just normal for me to hear it because growing up we'd always here dad snoring at night.... haha... kinda reminded me of those good ol days. 

Towards the end of the 2nd day of our trip we started to get to the pretty landscape... some of the beginnings of the mountains... there was a TON of driving the 2nd day because we wanted to get further along so we're have time for sightseeing in alaska before dad had to fly home. Did you know that gas is Sky High in canada... like seriously... we were paying (converted to US dollars) any where from 5.50.... to 7.50 a gallon... lol... it was insane... The second night we stayed at a hotel... Dad said we had earned it for all of the miles we had put on... and it was nice to have a hot shower. 

Come morning we were back on the road again now into the Alaska Range... SOOOOoooo beautiful! Around every bend whoever happened to be in the passenger seat at the time just kept clicking away with the digital camera.... lol.... We also made it to the official start of the Al-Can (Alaska-Canada Highway) and the whole time during this trip we were following along with "The Milepost" magazine/book. They have lil tidbits about every 10 miles or so about a steep road ahead or watch for wildlife... or beware of Bison on the road... yes Bison... crazy enough there are a lot of them wandering along the roads in canada. So the end of that night we made it to a nice sized town and headed in to find this awesome place for dinner that we had read about in the book. We waited outside on the street for about an hour before we were seated... haha... but it was well worth the wait. We had the Bison Steak and Moose Stew...and of course some Alaska Beer....mmmmmmmmm sooooo good! After dinner the sun was starting to set so we hurried to try to find a place to camp for the night... the one we had staked out was really really weird... Nothing but crazy Hippies!!! I SWEAR!!! Oh my gosh it was insane I don't know how else to describe it.... dad was like lets just find a spot here but i was tooo weirded out... lol... so we drove around and eventually found another campground with a spot open. When we tried to set up the tent the ground was rock hard and the stakes wouldn't go in and dad was getting very very frustrated... which never happens... i think the hours on the road were getting to him... so i tried to make light of the situation... haha... we ended up moving the tent into the woods... haha.. kinda funny... guess you had to be there. 

Next morning ... up bright and early again... and started as always with our morning stop at the gas station to fill up the tank.... debug the windsheild... lol... and fill up on Coffee... MMmmmmm I love my coffee!!! This leg of the trip was amazing too! We started to see more hitchhikers which i guess is a common scene... kinda weird to me though... We eventually crossed into Alaska and made the treck up to Fairbanks... at this point I was starting to get that nervous feeling... I was extremely anxious to arrive and a lil sad too. We eventually made it into town and found my new house. We pulled up to the house and met Steve my landlord/owner of the house. Then after lots of akwardness we headed to Sourdough Sam's for something to eat. After some interesting dinner chat about Steve and fairbanks we stopped at the store for some local beer and went back to my new place. 

Dad and I had a few beers on the deck and watched the sunset and made plans to go to Denali Park the next morning. The next day we got up early and drove down about 3 1/2 hours to Denali Park. We ended up getting on a bus into the park... it was about 9 hours round trip. The park is BREATHTAKING! A must see at some point in your lifetime! We really lucked out because we had a clear morning and were able to clearly see Mount McKinley aka Denali... aka highest mountain in North America. We also saw Tons of wildlife... and dad... being the hunter he is... was able to spot Tons! We saw over a dozen grizzley bears... they're Massive! We even saw 2 of them fighting... and a few mama bears with cubs. We saw caribou aka reindeer, moose, and doll sheep. It was a Great Day! One that I'll never ever forget!!! On the drive back at the end of the day Dad told me how nice it was to go on the trip with me... mom would have never been able to sit for that long... and dad also said it was the first trip he's been on in a long time where the passenger wasn't sleeping or reading or something while he was driving... I'm so glad he was able to come with me!!!

So the next morning was a lil bittersweet... we slept in and it was the last day he was here with me. In the morning we drove up to see campus... which was kinda neat. I'm glad he was able to see where I work. It makes it a lot easier to talk about people and work when he know's what and who I'm talking about... haha... After that we drove around and explored town a lil before coming back to the house to grab his things. We were both really sad but trying to hide it. Dad went out on the deck for a long time facing away and just looking at the landscape... Eventually I went out there too and we were both trying to choke bad the tears and be strong. That only lasted so long.... he came over to my side of the deck and put his arms around my shoulders and said... "I'm so proud of you Becki".... I lost it. We stood there hugging and I was crying so hard I was shaking and he was crying too. I've only seen my dad cry 1 time in my life and that was when his mom (my grandma) died.... we stood there talking and crying and hugging for like a half hour. He told me he was so proud I had the guts to come up here and try this and reach for my goals... and he also said that no matter what happened I always had "home" in minnesota. Before you know it ... it was time for him to get to the airport...

That was the hardest drive ever.... dropping him off and giving him that one last hug.... man I swear it killed me.... we were both sobbing once again as we let go of each other... him heading into the terminal.... and me driving away alone.... I cried and cried and cried the whole drive back to the house...

I tried to distract myself but it didn't work... That night and the next few nights I cried myself to sleep... It was so weird to get so close again and share such an amazing trip with my dad and then have to say goodbye for 4+ months. I was also coming to the realization that I really was Alone.... and I really needed to get out and meet some new people... which leads me to my next section...

Man sorry this is crazy long... but it's been a long time since I've blogged so I guess it's due....

I'm alone up here... it's insane... I slowly started to meet people in the department I work in but people up here aren't like the people in Minnesota and North Dakota. Everyone pretty much keeps to themselves and/or has a really tight group of friends to stick with... which has made fitting in up here really really difficult for me. 

I've started to learn to just kinda do my own thing. I spent my birthday alone at home in my room with a bottle of wine and a few good disney movies... nothing close to the fun last year out with my Amazing friends in North Dakota... but I guess it's time to grow up and move on too... i dunno. Sometimes I just get kinda bummed out up here... it's hard but hopefully things will get better... 

I know I CAN'T WAIT for Christmas break.... I miss home and my family... and my friends... more than I ever thought I would... Sigh... I'm all talked out for now... write more later...

So that's the roadtrip in a nutshell... sorry about the sad part at the end.  I didn't want to edit this though because it's something I want to be able to look back and reflect on in the future.  My first semester here was pretty hard... it's breathtakingly beautiful up here but it took me some time to "find my feet" up here.  Now all is well so no need to worry ;)  Happier posts to come soon!