My grandfather and grandmother documented over 50 years of their travel stories and adventures. After each trip, they would diligently write their travel stories, creating magazine-style travel booklets filled with stories and photos. All of their adventures are printed into mini-booklets and given to family members as gifts. Growing up reading my grandfather’s travel stories from around the world, and listening to my father’s tales across Europe, not only encouraged me to explore and adventure, but taught me that the entire world is home. I find myself eagerly exploring unfamiliar places and uncharted experiences, always with an air of optimism and hope.
As I reflect on my own travels, I realize that at times I’ve accidentally followed in their footsteps, sometimes traveling to the same places they did.
Family Travel Stories in Alaska
My grandfather and my grandmother traveled to Alaska for 2 weeks in 1996, calling it the “trip of a lifetime.” Grandpa also drove the Alaska Highway with my Uncle Andy on a separate trip. My parents, sisters, and I took a cruise to Alaska in the 2000s, and visited many of the same cities my grandparents did. To be honest, it was the best family vacation we ever took together.
Traveling to a new place can feel both uncomfortable and intimate, strange yet entirely familiar. Growing up with travel stories taught me to feel a sense of home even when I’m worlds away from where I grew up.
“North to the Future” we go…
Travel Stories: Visiting Alaska
Everyone needs to visit Alaska at least once. Nicknamed the Last Frontier, it’s a land completely separated from the lower 48 states of America and unique in its striking Yukon terrain. From the expansive forests, the Northern lights, the mammoth glaciers, to the abundant wildlife, visiting Alaska with your family makes for unforgettable travel stories.
The best time to visit Alaska is during the summer, from mid-June to mid-September. The sun stays out for 20 hours a day in July, and it won’t be as frigidly cold and dark as the winter months.
Travel Stories on the Alaska Highway
”Miles of splendor and adventure
Become a vein of northern gold.”
–Rae Crothers, The Alcan Highway
One of the most legendary highways in North America, my grandfather and Uncle Andy drove the 1387-mile-long Alaska Highway together in a 2003 Dodge RAM and 845 Lance Camper.
My adventurous Uncle Andy drove the trip solo from Michigan to Alaska, so my grandfather joined him for the return trip back home. Together, they camped, visited hot springs, and ate plenty of bacon and eggs at Andy’s favorite greasy spoons. Under moonlit campfires, they took turns reading Robert Services’s poetry about the Klondike Gold Rush.
History of The Alaska Highway
Built in 1942 in just eight months, the Alaska Highway was a critical transportation link for the United States during World War II. Considered a historic engineering feat and built by thousands of soldiers on rugged terrain, the highway provided a way for the US to aid the Soviet Union during the war.
The Alaska Highway is the only land route that connects the lower 48 states to Alaska, making it a bucket list travel destination for many travelers.
A symbol of exploration, the Alaska Highway endures today as a top travel adventure, with ample opportunities to see bears, eagles, moose, and bison.
The Drive from Anchorage to Tok
According to my grandfather, the 250-mile drive from Anchorage to Tok, Alaska is one of the most scenic exciting drives in North America. He shares a bit from his recorded travel story:
“The road winds and twists, paralleling the northern slope wilderness of the Chugach mountains. My son Andy and I ‘ohhed’ and ‘ahhed’ at the glaciers, snow-capped mountains, pristine lakes, wild life, wilderness, and extensive conifer forests, and we savored the solitude.” – Thomas Overmire, Overmire Travel Adventures
From Tok, the Alaska Highway continues through the Yukon Territory and British Columbia.
Driving the Alaska Highway
They began their days between 5 am – 11 am, but it really didn’t matter what time they started driving since it was “daylight all of the time.” Nights would bring them to a national provincial park, or a commercial RV park.
At first, the road wound “through miles of Sitka spruce,” but later on, the dominant tree species was Lodgepole pine. My grandfather witnessed many areas where “skeletons of dead trees had been killed by insects, dominating the horizon as far as we could see.”
Poet Robert Service’s Connection to Whitehorse
Both the Laird River Hot Springs and Whitehorse were memorable stops on the trip. Whitehorse was the home of British-born Canadian writer and poet Robert Service from 1904 to 1912, also nicknamed the “Bard of the Yukon.”
Every night on the drive, my grandfather and Uncle Andy would take turns telling travel stories and reading Service’s poetry by the campfire. Much of Service’s Yukon poetry and stories describe the rugged life of the frontier and Gold Rush era in the late 1890s.
“This is the Law of the Yukon, that only the strong shall thrive; That surely the weak shall perish, and only the fit survive.” -Robert W. Service
Robert Service’s Travel Stories to Alaska
Robert Service moved from Scotland to the frontier town of Whitehorse as a bank clerk. Whitehorse, as a center for the Alaskan Gold rush, provided rich inspiration and a lively atmosphere for many tales. He had dabbled in poetry his entire life, and decided to finally put pen to paper. He “dreamed and listened to the stories of the great gold rush” and eventually met the editor of the Whitehorse Star.
Inspired by gold rush yarns, Service wrote “The Cremation of Sam McGee” and “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.” In 1906, he collected his Yukon poems into a book called Songs of a Sourdough, catapulting him to worldwide success.
“There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold.”
-Robert Service, The Cremation of Sam McGee
I can only imagine the ghostly mood my grandpa and Uncle Andy felt as they read Service’s poetry in the heart of the Yukon, where many gold rush prospectors found a perilous end.
Alaska Highway Travel Tips
Get Milepost
My grandfather mentions in his travel diary that he would read the guide MilePost everyday, to keep track of where they were on the route and where to go. Other travelers from 2025 still recommend Milepost for its detailed tips on gas stations, bathrooms, garbage cans, and best stops for cinnamon buns and salmon dinners. Hard copies of Milepost are recommended as some spots on the Highway have weak cell phone data.
Fill Up On Fuel
Keep your gas tank full! It may be a while until you see the next gas station.
Don’t Travel The Alaska Highway at Dusk or Dawn
Avoid traveling at at dusk or dawn as there are many moose on the road!
“So come drive the great highway, give thanks for those By days,
Don’t complain, till it’s explained, how the whole thing was done.
Take the trip of your lifetime, celebrate the grand northern lifeline.”
– Rae Crothers, The Alcan Highway
Our Favorite Family Vacation: Travel Stories in Alaska
When you’re stuck on a boat with your family (we didn’t have wifi or cell phone service), all you can really do is get to know each other. We played cards, we laughed and ate, we staged silly photo shoots on the ship’s balcony, we had real bonding time.
Our family travel stories in Alaska are our simply our favorite. Alaska was so different from anything else we’d ever seen, and the time we spent together on the trip created the unforgettable travel stories.
Kayaking Beyond the Limits
In Ketchikan, Alaska, our family embarked on a group kayaking adventure with other travelers from the cruise. My sister Michelle and I decided to kayak together. I was thrilled to feel so much freedom after being stuck on the cruise ship for a few days.
All I could see was the open sea. “Let’s just keep rowing out to the ocean… Look there’s a big rock!” I really didn’t want to stay with the group, and was far more interested in creating my own path.
We kept rowing, venturing far from the group and shore. I felt such exhilaration as a light breeze encouraged us along. I no longer felt anchored to the ship.
After a while, we realized the wind was much stronger the farther we got from the shore. As we turned the kayak back around toward land, the winds became our adversary. The forceful, inescapable gusts beat against our kayak and faces. We saw our group of kayaks pleasantly rowing near the shore. We felt it would be nearly impossible to rejoin them.
As panic began to set in, we relied on adrenaline. We had no other choice but to try our best to get back. We rowed and rowed against the wind as hard as we could.
After some time, we did make it back to the group. My sister wasn’t exactly thrilled that my adventurous streak had taken us straight into the ocean gusts, but in the end, it turned into a bonding memory we will never forget.
Salmon Barbecue in Alaska
One of the most eventful travel stories of the trip was an authentic Alaskan salmon BBQ. An experienced group (definitely not us) caught salmon straight out of the river, and barbecued it for the group! Truly some of the best salmon I have ever tasted.
As we all ate inside the lodge, we noticed something strange through the window. All conversation stopped. We watched a baby black bear climb up the outdoor BBQ, ravenously licking the remaining salmon remnants.
“Oh my goodness, a bear, we can’t go outside!” My younger sisters and I were a little scared, but at the end of the day, the bear just wanted to eat the salmon, not us.
The bear’s appearance did not stop my sisters from having the time of their lives finding bugs to swat with their newfound electric bug swatters.
We were lucky enough to share dinner with Mr. Bear that night, and it makes for a good travel story.
The Breathtaking Alaskan Ocean Views
One day, I woke up at 4 am. Everything was silent, but the early morning light spoke loudly through my window. I stepped onto the balcony, uncovering a true treasure. A serene ocean landscape, filled with colors and glimmering with peace. In that moment, Alaska became forever a part of me.
It was truly the most beautiful moment I had ever seen, a gift, an accident of waking up too early. My dad happened to be awake at the same time in the room next door. I will forever treasure that we saw this together.
Why Take a Family Vacation to Alaska?
Alaska is one of the most beautiful places in the world. While my family took a chance traveling there, it turned out to be one of the most unforgettable family vacations we’ve ever taken. Much like my Uncle Andy’s trip on the Alaska Highway with my grandpa, it’s the shared moments in conversation and adventure that make the best memories and travel stories.
Generations Connected by Travel Stories
My heart warms remembering the Alaskan forests, the glaciers, the open ocean. Knowing my grandparents and my Uncle Andy loved Alaska so much too adds a powerful serendipity. Generations of our family are deeply connected through our shared Alaska travel stories.
Maybe my love of Alaska is entirely my own, but also inherently passed down. The land of the midnight sun, where my spirit could wander freely, uninhibited, yet magnetically pulled by the enchanting mystery of unknown terrain.
All along, I thought I was following my own spirit of adventure. Perhaps it was the roaring winds of the ocean telling the tales of my ancestors, hinting that our paths may have crossed.
A family vacation to Alaska might be one of the best bonding experiences you’ll ever have.