About 3 weeks ago, the sun finally melted all of the snow and we were on our way into Spring. I could actually see the grass (no mean feat, I tell you). And then this happened.

Nani wondering what all this silly white stuff is.

Huh. Here’s a fresh new 6″ of snow. I was really, really excited to see the snow all disappear only for it to come back. Again.

I know, I know. I live in Alaska. There’s supposed to be snow. But doesn’t Alaska know it’s May? By now it’s supposed to be Spring (yes, that’s Spring with a Capital “S”. I take Spring very seriously, thank you).

It may just be true that in Alaska, there may or may not even be a Spring. In fact, it may just jump from winter straight into, well, winter again.

Summer, Schmummer

It’s true that “summer” is used very loosely here. In Anchorage we’ll rarely see a 70-degree+ day and that would actually be considered hot. Go figure. But sometimes summer never really comes and all there is is rain and chilly temps. Kind of like a continuation of Spring. That is unless Spring was really just a continuation of winter, which would then mean that summer isn’t like Spring at all.

The funny thing is, I actually found myself getting excited when the temperatures – though only temporarily – reached into the 40s. For those of you who rarely, if ever, experience temperatures in the 40s lemme just tell you that it’s still quite chilly. Actually, that’s not true. Temps in the 40s are still cold.

I know Alaska is in the far north and I should expect cold temperatures. It literally goes with the territory. All I’m sayin’ is that it’s an adjustment learning to type with perpetually frozen fingers and being cold all the time. Maybe I just need to accept that that may be my constant state of being up here. Perhaps I can be that person wearing long underwear year round. That might work.

Take a couple of weeks ago, for instance. It was freezing. No, really. It was 32 degrees outside. And that’s freezing by any normal standards, right? It is, after all, the temperature at which normal things, like water, freeze. But never mind scientifically-proven things…

Anyway, after weeks of sub-freezing weather (we’re talkin’ like 10-degree days), the moment it hit “freezing” there must’ve been some city-wide signal that went out that said it was time to strip off those extra layers because woo-wee! It’s warm! Apparently freezing means it’s tank-top weather. And shorts weather. And no-jacket weather. Apparently it’s a regular heat wave. Who would’ve ever thought 32 degrees constitutes a heat wave. It’s all relative, no?

I would have photos as proof, but I think those would-be photo subjects may not have fully appreciated the point I was about to make about them being ever-so-slightly crazy wearing next-to-nothing on a freezing cold day. So you’ll have to take my word for it and settle for this lovely landscape photo, instead.

Which brings up another funny story. On another one of the coldest days we’ve had up here so far (it seems there are quite a few of these, now that I think about it…) Tristan and I ventured up to the Chugach mountains to take some photos.

The light and snow was just beautiful. But it was cold cold cold. And I even had on layer upon layer (I’m also beginning to learn you can never have on too many layers up here).

Suddenly I hear the awkward kind of laughter that teenagers are so good at and I spot a group of kids in fancy prom dresses & tuxedos. Sans jackets, of course. They clearly wouldn’tve done it any other way. And because wearing a jacket, quickly taking it off for photos and then putting it on again when it’s 10 degrees outside would just be silly.

At that point I wanted to chuckle and feel proud of myself for having outgrown the age when I was too cool to put on layers to keep myself warm and then I remembered that even though I did put on a bazillion layers I was possibly just as cold as them. *Sigh.* Either these Alaskans are damned hardy or I’m a real wimp (probably both).

So, what do you do if it’s technically Springtime, but doesn’t feel a bit like Spring?

There are no April showers. No green grass. No warmer days.

Just snow, snow, snow.

That means you need to get creative. That means you do what the kiddos do and you go sledding! Maybe it should be “I ain’t too proud to beg,” but “I ain’t too old to sled!”  :)

Photo I took of a moose on the Hillside of Anchorage in the fall a few years back.

It’s not every day you have a mama moose and baby calf in your backyard.

This weekend as I was reliving my nerdy days as a CS major and messing around with my site’s SQL database, I looked up and saw two moose bolting through the yard.

The snow is still pretty deep, so the baby was hugging the side of the house where the snow is shallower and easier to navigate. The mama, about 30 feet away, stopped to watch her baby and make sure it caught up to her okay.

The moose seemed a bit edgy and not quite sure of themselves. I guess I would probably feel a bit apprehensive if I were a moose winding my way between these strange human buildings and wide-open paths with fast-moving, noisy and polluting metal on wheels.

But still the moose seem to be doing okay here in Anchorage. I’ve seen quite a few out and about, and spotting them in the yard was quite a little thrill. Though here for but a moment before they hurried away to some unknown destination, I was happy the moose chose my yard to traipse through.

I’d welcome that kind of trespasser any day.

An Adorable Porcupine

I have to say that while seeing the moose was fun, and all, the animal I was really stoked to catch a glimpse of last week was a porcupine!

Sure, you can see the little creatures in a zoo probably any time you want. But I’m not a fan of zoos. And anyway, seeing it in the wild? That is just so much more amazing.

I’d never seen a wild porcupine. But last week when we went skiing at Alyeska (now our “local” ski area/resort), we spotted one chillin’ in the tree.

I honestly don’t know if rodents can get much cuter than a porcupine.

Sadly, I didn’t have my DSLR so I had to take the photos with my phone, but they didn’t turn out very well at all or I’d show you (doesn’t help that phones take really crappy photos when you zoom).

And that’s not all…

And then, as if seeing two moose and a porcupine wasn’t enough, we saw a bald eagle soaring high above our home. Really, really cool.

Anchorage Still Has Some Wild in It

Even though Anchorage is a pretty big metropolis (at least by Alaskan standards) and nearly all the land that can be developed in the area has been, it’s just cool to know critters like Mama & Baby Moose, Mr. Porcupine & Sir Eagle are all finding ways to co-exist with us humans who are taking away their habitats.

Let’s hope they can continue to survive.

What’s the most interesting wild animal you’ve seen on your travels?

Turnagain Arm seen from Alyeska: the best view from a ski area?

Some ski areas you go to because the terrain is just your speed – perhaps steep runs with cliffs or easy, meandering runs.

Some you go to because it’s convenient. A 45-minute drive versus 3 hours? Could be a no brainer.

But normally you don’t go just for the view. But in this case maybe you should make an exception…

Alyeska Resort

I first skied Alyeska about 7 years ago. It was in the middle of winter so sunlight was practically non-existent this far north and the flat light made the entire slope appear virtually featureless.

I wasn’t a strong skier, so skiing Alyeska was a challenge. But despite that, I couldn’t believe the view of the inlet – it was gorgeous.

Up until skiing at Alyeska, I’d say maybe Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia or Homewood Ski Area in Lake Tahoe offered skiers the prettiest view in North America. But now I think they’ve been bested.

Alyeska is in Girdwood, a small town about a 45-minute drive from Anchorage. The town is surrounded by beautiful mountain peaks, and you’ll get views from all angles.

We tend to take the tram up the hill because it’s warmer. Here’s a shot of the hotel through the tram window.

View of Alyeska Hotel from the Tram.

Our first day at Alyeska this season was stormy, but the snow was awesome. Got about 14″ inches of powder!

Snowy ski slopes of Alyeska.

Skiers making their way along High Traverse. It was the best way to score a fresh line that day.

Skiers on High Traverse at Alyeska.

I haven’t had much experience skiing in powder, but it was fun!

The second day I went up, the skies couldn’tve been any bluer.

Amazing Views of the Chugach Mountains.

The ski season is coming to a close at the end of April, which is fine with me because that means soon it’ll actually feel more like Spring. I’m ready!

I had no idea how good it would feel to be on Day 5 of our journey.

You know how they say it’s not just about the destination, but the journey, too? I agree and all, but after 40+ hours of sitting on your arse, with few breaks in between, sometimes you’re just ready for the journey to be done.

And so needless to say, by Day 5 I was more than ready to be there already.

Sunrise in Whitehorse

I loved our morning view. This is what we saw when we woke up:

The view from our cabin in Whitehorse, Yukon.

This is the kind of view I could get used to in the morning.

But there was no dilly-dallying today. It was time to get a move on. We loaded up the car and set off on our last leg. Whooot!

Leaving Whitehorse, Yukon, along the Alaska Highway.

Ahhh, Mountains

Most of the day we were spoiled with great views. It was kinda like Day 2 in Banff and driving along the Icefields Parkway.

I’ll just let the scenery speak for itself.

Kluane Lake in the Yukon Territory, Canada.

The road gets a bit snowy – the most we’ve seen yet (but still not much).

Oh, happy day! We’ve reached Alaska!

Beautiful Alaskan mountains along the Glenn Highway.

Snowy Alaskan peaks.

Day 5 Stats

Total Drive Time: 11.5 hours

Total Miles Driven: 750

Closing Thoughts on Driving to Alaska

I had mixed feelings on doing this drive to Alaska in the early Spring. Would the roads be passable? Would we be stranded in the middle of nowhere in -50 degree weather? Would it be dark?

Thankfully, all my worrying was unfounded.

The Roads

I was seriously impressed with the conditions of the roads. Almost every mile was fully paved and there were only a few somewhat iffy spots where the pavement was out and potholes were more common. I would even say that the roads were in better shape than many you’d find in a major city.

The Traffic

You don’t want a lot of traffic because passing on a 2-lane highway can be a real pain. Especially if the line of cars is deep. But on the flip side, you also don’t want it completely deserted so that in an emergency you’d have to wait hours before seeing another car.

There was a good mix of traffic – not too light, not too heavy. Very just right – at least traveling North. Might’ve been a fluke, but I couldn’t believe how much lighter traffic was heading North than heading South.

The Weather

March can be a sketchy time to travel. In many places, it’s one of the snowiest months of the year.

We initially planned to head up in the beginning of March, but kept pushing our departure date back due to other trips around the US. I’m thankful we did. There were times we checked out the temperatures in Tok and they were getting highs around 11° Fahrenheit and lows as cold as -31°. YIKES!

Other than the blizzard Denver got the day we were supposed to leave (better delayed in Denver than any other city, I suppose), we had excellent weather. We even got daytime temperatures as warm as about 50° in the middle of northern Canada. Not too shabby.

The coldest I think it got was about -9° in Whitehorse. That wasn’t much fun.

On the bright side (literally) we had a lot of light. The difference in daylight in Anchorage from the beginning of March as compared to the end of March was substantial. We gained almost 3 hours just by waiting a few weeks. That was really helpful since we were on the road until 8 or 9pm some nights and it was just getting dark.

The Hotels

Because we were traveling with our dog, Nani, we were pretty limited on where we could stay. When I was planning the drive, I made sure all of the places we stayed allowed dogs. They weren’t all that hard to find, but at the same time some of the more highly-rated hotels didn’t allow dogs.

Overall, the quality of the pet-friendly rooms was fine and in most cases seemed like a normal room (as opposed to the stinkier rooms where you can totally tell pets are allowed).

I will say, though, that in smaller towns where there aren’t a whole lot of options, you’ll definitely be paying more. We were off-season, but when the choices are slim you’re probably gonna pay more than a similar hotel would cost in a city.

I think we averaged about $125/night, including the extra pet fee (which ranged any where from $5-20/night for our 1 dog).

The Border Crossings & Pet Documentation

We didn’t know what to expect for the border crossing. We worried there was a chance they’d take everything out of the car and we’d have to find a way to fit it all back in. Luckily, both going into Canada and back into the US was a breeze.

As far as bringing our dog into Canada, I initially thought we’d have to get a health certificate in addition to the Rabies document. That was not the case.

There are a ton of websites that say you need to have a health certificate for your dog if you’re crossing the border into Canada, but I made a lot of calls to different border crossings and they all confirmed that when crossing overland (by car) with your dog who’s over 8 months old, all you need is a signed rabies vaccination that is up-to-date. (There are different requirements if you’re flying.)

As far as the health certificate is concerned, here’s the wording from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s website:

“Only dogs less than eight (8) months of age that are not accompanied by their owners require a signed veterinary certificate of health.”

Read more here:

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/imp/petani/canqueste.shtml

The Schedule

I would’ve preferred we do this drive in the summer, or at least late Spring. And had we gone when it was warmer, we might’ve taken a bit more time.

But Tristan wanted to get up to AK to get some heliskiing in before the season was over, so early Spring it was.

We debated taking a longer time to do the drive even though it would be cold, but in the end decided to drive fairly long days so that we could get it done in 5.

The long days didn’t actually feel so long until the 5th day. And by then we were sooo ready just to be in Alaska. I think 5 days was a good pace for us.

The Total Time + Mileage

Drive Time (including stops): 54.5 hours (estimated with online maps to be 60)

Miles Driven: 3,250

Next Time…

When we leave Alaska, which will likely be some time next year, we hope to take the Marine Highway down the panhandle of Alaska to Vancouver or Seattle. Since most of the towns along the coast aren’t accessible by car, Alaska has a ferry that substitutes as a road to those places. Though I have been on an Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver, I’m super excited to do the reverse trip.

But until then, it’s time to enjoy Alaska!

You know what’s funny? While I had been looking forward to this 5-day drive, I can’t deny that I was dreading sitting for 60+ hours in the car. It’s the longest road trip I’ve been on by far, and 5 consecutive days of driving felt like it might just be a bit too much. How do those long-distance truck drivers do this daily? I wondered.

But, I’m happy to say, it actually wasn’t that bad at all. At least into the 4th day, time was going fairly quickly and the scenery kept us occupied most of the time. It was almost all new terrain for the both of us and exploring new areas is one of the things we like to do most.

Anyway, back to Day 4.

Crossing the Canadian Rocky Mountains

The biggest highlight of the day would be crossing over the Rockies.

The Milepost describes in decent detail what we could expect in terms of mountain passes, road traffic and road conditions. Because of this, we knew that this day we’d be driving over Summit Pass, which is the highest summit on the Alaska Highway at 4,250 feet.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts about our drive, the roads overall have been in excellent condition. Short sections of icy puddles is about the worst we saw over all 3,000+ miles:

Large ice puddles on the Alaska Highway in British Columbia, Canada.

Puddles of water and ice occasionally crept onto and took over parts of the two-lane road. But since there was virtually no traffic and the puddles were never large enough to cover both lanes, it was basically a non-issue for us. Thankfully.

Summit Pass was quite beautiful and did actually remind me quite of parts of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

Going over Summit Pass in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Canadian Rocky Mountains along the Alaska Highway. (Photo: Kim Olson)

The snowy Rocky Mountains along the Alaska Highway.

The Canadian Rocky Mountains right before crossing into BC.

I missed the BC sign (sad face) but at least I got the Yukon one. It’s one (of many) Canadian Territories I hadn’t been to yet so I was stoked to get my photo!

A sign for the Yukon! Our last Canadian Territory before we reach Alaska!

The Signpost Forest in Watson Lake

Not long after crossing into the Yukon, we stopped for gas in Watson Lake and tried to visit probably their most “exciting” attraction, the Signpost Forest.

This is as close as I could get, though, since the snow banks were taller than me.

The Signpost Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada.

The Forest was started by an engineer working on the Alaska Highway back in 1942 and signs have been added ever since. According to The Milepost, there are over 72,000 signs. I wouldn’tve gone out of my way to see this, but since it was on the side of the road it was kinda cool to see.

After gassing up, it was onwards to Whitehorse!

I always thought Whitehorse seemed like a cool place to visit. And the Yukon, too, actually. They both sound so remote and exotic.

I had a feeling it was probably lightly populated being so far north and away from most civilization, but I couldn’t believe just how few people live out there. Whitehorse is the largest town in the Yukon with about 23,000 of the Yukon’s total 34,o00 people. It definitely felt remote.

Welcome to Whitehorse, Capital of the Yukon.

To celebrate our last night on the road, we opted to stay in a nicer place. I chose the Sundog Retreat just outside the town of Whitehorse.

We had our own cabin in the woods that felt comfortable and cozy. It was a great way to unwind from our day and prepare for the last leg of our trip.

Our log cabin for the night in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Total Drive Time (including stops): 10 hours

Total Miles Driven: 600 miles

Canada’s big. It’s the 2nd largest country by area in the world, in fact. (That is if we don’t count Antarctica, which evidently isn’t a “proper” country. It would come in 2nd if it did.)

We anticipated a long 3rd day of driving, mainly because:

1) We were leaving the more populated southern regions of Canada and heading north into the unknown depths of wilderness.

2) After the ridiculous beauty of the Icefields Parkway – probably one of my top 5 most scenic mountain drives in the world – we knew the scenery probably wouldn’t be quite as good. Okay, definitely wouldn’t be as good.

At least the morning started off well. Just outside of Jasper, it was still as impressive as ever.

Mountains outside of Jasper, Alberta, Canada.

Because we were taking the slightly less-traveled tourist route along the Bighorn Highway (cutting off Edmonton), we weren’t quite sure if we’d feel like we were in the middle of nowhere.

We couldn’tve been more wrong. This stretch of highway was actually super busy with logging trucks carrying loads to and fro (though I know it doesn’t look like it in the image below).

You can tell they make use of these densely wooded areas because there were tons of highly-stacked log piles all along the road.

Very wooded roads along the Bighorn Highway Alberta, Canada.

Dawson Creek – Mile O of the Alaska Highway

After passing through logging country, we arrived in Dawson Creek, officially starting the fabled Alaska Highway, or the ALCAN.

(And even though the real-life town Dawson Creek has absolutely nothing to do with the ’90s TV show “Dawson’s Creek”, I can’t help but think of that, anyway. And no, the towns look nothing like each other. Big surprise, I know.)

Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway (ALCAN) in Dawson Creek in British Columbia, Canada.

And then the flat begins.

It had been a while since we left the mountains behind. And now we had many, many miles of super long, and mostly straight, flat roads.

Long, flat road.

Did I mention the roads were long, and mostly straight and flat?

Another long, flat road.

Alaska Highway in British Columbia.

By the end of the day, traffic had almost ceased entirely. People traveling in our direction were nearly non-existent. But wide-load trucks continued to pass us going the other direction. I’ve never seen so many in my life.

Wide-load truck in Canada.

Home, Sweet, Fort Nelson

We made pretty good time this day, so we rolled into town about 7pm. We even had time for a sit-down dinner. A luxury on the trip so far (we’re pretty good about subsisting on very little during road trips).

But early or not, we were tuckered. After checking into our hotel it didn’t take long for us all to settle in for the night. Especially Nani.

Our dog, Nani, scrunched into a nightstand.

Who knew a nightstand could also serve as a den/bed?

It’s funny how dogs find ways to make themselves at home. I was chatting with fellow bloggers Lauren & Kenin who did an even longer trek from Florida to Alaska and they were talking about how their dogs did similar things. Silly dogs.

Day 3 Stats

Total Drive Time (including stops): 10 hours

Total Miles: 600ish

We had spent the previous night in Great Falls, Montana, and headed north towards the US/Canadian border which was a few hours away.

Before starting out on this 5-day adventure, I knew we’d be going through some beautiful country. I also knew that not all of it was gonna be pretty. And this view is what I feared we’d have to endure during many of our 60+ hours of driving:

Driving wide open roads in Montana.

And while we did get a lot of wide open plains throughout parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Alberta, I actually didn’t mind it as much as I thought. It’s kinda pretty in its own right.

Crossing the Canada/US border at Coutts & Sweetgrass

2004 was the last time I’d driven into Canada. It was from Washington state into Vancouver and was pretty painless.

This time, though, we had a car full of our belongings and our dog in the back (figuring out what documentation we needed for our dog when crossing the border was an ordeal in itself – more on that in another post). We weren’t sure if they’d want to take everything out or not, though we obviously hoped not. Re-packing the Thule box would require some serious skills and we didn’t know if we could make it all fit again.

After waiting in line for about 45 minutes (there was only one gate open), it was finally our turn. Luckily the agent was nice, asked a few questions, glanced at our paperwork and sent us on our way. We must look like upstanding citizens. (As we absolutely are, of course.)

We had reached Canada. Yay! Another milestone completed.

Our first Canadian Province – Alberta!

From the border to Calgary, there wasn’t much to see. It was again quite flat like northern Montana and you’d barely notice you were in Canada except for gas being sold by the litre and priced a bit more than in the US (though US prices are catching up).

It was after you reached Calgary and headed west into the Canadian Rocky Mountains that things started to get good.

Driving into the Canadian Rockies from Calgary.

Here’s what you’ll see driving into Banff National Park. Pure ridiculousness.

Towering Rocky Mountains in Banff National Park, Canada.

The quaint town of Banff.

Passing through Banff, Alberta, Canada.

A fancy bridge that animals use to cross over the highway. I’m guessing they work pretty well because I don’t recall seeing any roadkill along the highway (which I can’t say about Wyoming & Montana).

Bridge over the highway for the animals to cross in Canada.

Lake Louise

I was but a wee child the one and only other time I’d visited Lake Louise in Alberta, and it was in the summertime so the experience was different in so many ways.

I guess that’s why it felt almost like a completely different place when I saw Lake Louise this time around: it was frozen and so you couldn’t see the majestic blue-green waters that I remember so vividly from the past.

It’s still a gorgeous area, though I’d really love to come back in the summer when the snow is gone and we can explore the hiking trails in the area.

Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.

Driving the Icefields Parkway

We could’ve headed north from Calgary and gone through Edmonton – which would’ve been faster and more direct – but then we would’ve missed possibly the most impressive stretch of mountainous road I’ve ever driven: the Icefields Parkway.

Driving the Icefields Parkway in Canada.

I didn’t even know this road existed until we started planning our trip.

Having grown up in Colorado, I’ve seen and climbed a mountain or two in my life. And there are parts of Colorado that have spectacular scenery, like Southwest Colorado down near Telluride, Ouray and Silverton. And the Dolomite Mountains of Italy rank up there towards the top of the list for my favorite mountains anywhere.

But I’ve never experienced a drive quite like the Icefields Parkway.

Around every bend there was a new-looking set of peaks. The mountains were massive and impressive in their own unique ways. You were surrounded on all sides by these magnificent masses covered in snow and trees and it was truly spectacular.

Driving the Icefields Parkway.

The Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Icefields Parkway.

Icefields Parkway.

Sunset over the Canadian Rocky Mountains near Jasper, Alberta, Canada.

The Road Conditions

We were worried that we may encounter snowy and icy roads in March, but our timing must have been just about perfect because we only found small areas of patchy snow on the road. Most of the time, though, the 2- to 4-lane highways were in excellent condition.

Day 2 Stats

Total Time (including stops): 12 hours

Total Miles Driven: ~550

The time had *finally* arrived. After months of preparations, we were ready to head North.

North to Alaska.

Day O

We packed the car a couple of days in advance just to make sure we could fit everything in. And it did (just barely). I became an expert in filling any gaps because, as much as we had already downsized, we still had probably more stuff than we needed and what little space we had was precious.

We thought about strapping Nani’s crate to the top of the car a la Clark Griswold in Vacation, but figured she’d be a bit more comfy in the the back. (Only kidding, of course. Though I wonder if some people actually have strapped a crate to the top of their car…)

Moving with a fully-loaded car.

Day 1

Day 1 was actually Day 2, technically speaking.

The day we had planned to depart Denver, a storm decided to descend upon the city and dump heaps of snow.

We awoke to dark, menacing clouds, swirling gusts and streets loaded with snow.

Should we give it a go, anyway? We wondered. Since we’ve driven in snow a thousand times and didn’t really have a problem with it, we decided we would give it a try. But first we’d have to wait until our dog was dropped off from her overnight doggie care place (she was staying there while we were in San Francisco the week prior).

The problem was that I-70 was closed. Shut down. Impassable. And there was no way they could bring her to us until the following day. So, our decision was made for us. We would wait.

Turns out the next day was gorgeous. As often happens in Colorado, a big storm will sweep in one day, offload tons of snow, and then move on out. The next day was sunny with blue skies:

Fully-loaded car with Thule box.

Nani arrived safely in the morning, though not until about 8:30am. We were hoping for an earlier start, but got on the road by 9am. We were fully, fully packed. Lucky we had the Thule box on top which held all of our sporting equipment that would never have fit in the car: skis, golf clubs, tennis racquets…

As we left, I took a photo of the snowy Green Mountain near my mom’s place and off we went!

Leaving snowy Colorado.

Just north of Denver we saw remnants of the disasters that struck I-25 the previous day. There was a 30-car pileup that we might’ve been caught in had we left when we intended to. So glad we were forced to wait a day.

Overturned vehicle on I-25 north of Denver.

About 2 hours into our drive, we crossed into Wyoming. Progress!

Heading into Wyoming from Colorado!

Wyoming was funny because we kept going in and out of these snow storms that literally appeared out of nowhere. They lasted only a few minutes, though, and then we were back in the sun again.

Sudden, brief snow flurries throughout Wyoming.

Many hours later, we’d crossed the whole of Wyoming and made our way into Montana. 2 states down so far.

Crossing into Montana from Wyoming.

Funny how the southern part of Montana had a decent amount of snow, but then farther north it looked far more like late spring with nary a flake of snow in sight.

When you look at the photo below you don’t have to wonder how Montana got one of its unofficial nicknames “Big Sky Country.”

Clear blue sky & wide open fields in Montana.

Flat, open road. Montana.

Mountains in the distance across open plains.

And then the close of the day.

Sunset in Montana.

Total Drive Time: 11 hours

Total Miles Driven: 750

Day 1 was long, but we were excited about the journey, and even though we still had 4 full driving days left, we felt good at the end of the day.