---

Curious how a roadtrip from Alaska to Michigan that crosses two countries, three Canadian Provinces, nine National Parks, and eight States goes with two kids under two and being 27 weeks pregant? Surprisingly well. Read on if you’re curious for more!

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew moved back to Michigan! After spending two years in Seward, Alaska they decided to move back home. During their time in Alaska we’ve been able to go visit them twice, falling in love with Alaska’s beauty each time. For the move, Samuel and Kara decided to road trip it across Canada back to Michigan. The two of them have made the drive from Michigan to Alaska once during Covid, but due to the restrictions, they were not able to visit any of the National Parks. For the return trip they would now have not only a second vehicle but also Tyson who had just turned a year old. Luke and I volunteered to drive one vehicle with our Quinn who was two, so that way they wouldn’t have to worry about driving separately. 

Flying into Alaska, we landed around 2:30 PM and Samuel, Kara, and Ty picked us up at the airport and we immediately hit the road. The roadtrip itself was rather ambitious with us driving on average around eight hours a day for ten days, with usually an excursion planned. Our first travel snafu happened a few hours into our drive when Quinn puked everywhere. We attributed it to a long day of travel but little did we know what we were in for. Being around 26 weeks pregnant, certain smells were brutal for me, vomit included. I have to give Luke all the credit for being the only adult in our car to be able to keep it together while cleaning Quinn’s vomit over the next few days. 

---

Wrangle St. Elias National Park

We stayed in cabins that are in Wrangle St. Elias National Park that first night, along Nabesna Road. This road is unpaved, and rather rough, with it taking us almost an hour to drive back to our cabin. Despite the slow going the views in the park were stunning. It was dusk by the time we got to our cozy cabin at Wrangle Mountains Wilderness Lodge. The cabin was really nice though it did not have indoor plumbing. There was a club house on the property that we could go inside to the bathroom or take a shower. There was also an outhouse behind the property, though it was quite chilly.

The next morning we got an early start as we had almost a ten hour drive ahead of us to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. While this drive might have been one of my favorites I’ve been on, it was also utterly remote. We would go so long without seeing another car and had not cellphone service for most of the day. To communicate with Samuel’s car, my brother had the brilliant idea of using walkie talkies. They worked so well and offered a wonderful link of communication whether to point out wildlife or let the other car know if a stop was needed.

When Samuel and Kara first made this drive from Michigan to Alaska, they saw dozens of bears emerging from hybernation along the Alaskan Highway. Our trip was set for the end of April, a few weeks earlier in the season than their original trip, and Kara had been monitoring the websites that track when the bears emerge with hopes we would catch the beginning of the window. We ended up missing the bears waking up by only a few days, though we ended up seeing several throughout the trip, especially in Jasper National Park.

The drive through the Yukon offered very little in the way of food options. We stopped at Haines Junction for dinner where we ate at the delicious Mile 1016 Pub. From here we had just over a two hour drive to the bed and breakfast we were staying at for the night at Whitehorse. 

Toward the end of our first full day driving, Quinn threw up all over the carseat, with Luke again coming to the rescue. At this point we were convinced she was motion sick from the mountains so we turned around her carseat to face forward, hoping that would help.

Relieved to arrive at Whitehorse, the bed and breakfast was so cute, nestled in the woods, surrounded by mountains. The next morning we had a delicious breakfast before getting the cars loaded up. In a totally crazy sequence of events, after getting Quinn buckled into her seat, I was getting in the front passenger seat when Luke just happened to spray the windshield wiper fluids, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect for the excess fluid from the blades to splash me right in the eyes. Bizarre. It stuck terrible. I ended up taking out my contacts that were instantly dried out and after washing out my eyes, thankfully everything was ok but it delayed our start a bit. 

After the delay, we were treated another long day (7 hours and 45 minutes) of amazing views and ultra remote driving, though it might have been one of my favorites of the trip. We had a seven hour drive with very few towns to break it up. I have to confess that my pregnancy hanger might have bubbled to the surface a few times on this trips as I ran out of snacks and the stops were far and few in between. We ate lunch at Teslin Lake at the Nisutlin Trading Post. It might have been because of my pregnancy sensitivities but they might have been the worst hotdogs I’d ever had. Samuel ended up eating all of mine. Regardless, it was a great spot to stop and stretch our legs. We also tried to stop at the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Center but they were unfortunately closed due to being on the shoulder season.

We had dinner at Watson Lake at Nugget Restaurant, which specialized in Chinese food. Watson Lake is also home to the Sign Post Forest, which is a unique stop that is comprised of over 100,000 license plates from all over the world. It was originally started by a GI in 1942 who put up the first sign to his hometown in Illinios.

---

Laird Hot Springs Provincial Park

Just after Watson Lake, we left the Yukon and entered British Columbia. Two hours later we stopped at Laird Hotsprings Provincial Park. In recent years there have been two deadly grizzly bear attacks at this park, which kept us on alert, though the parking lot is closed off with electrical fencing for safety. To reach the springs you have to leave the fenced in area by opening a heavy gate and then hiking on a boardwalk 700 m before getting to the gorgeous hot springs. The parking lot and beginning of the walkway was surrounded by snow. It wasn’t long before the boardwalk back to the springs drastically changed scenery. The spring fed swamp was green and steaming, with a moose munching away on the foliage in the distance. Quite skeptical, only Samuel, who is the most adventurous of us, grabbed his swimming gear.  Leaving the swamp, we emerged through the woods into a newly built building that bordered the hot river. After seeing the settings and feeling the delightfully warm water, we all trekked back to the car to get our swimming gear. Quite pregnant at this point and reading conflicting guidance on hot springs, the guys scouted an area where the water was bath warm, so we could all enjoy along with the kids. Quinn and Ty loved it and had a lot of fun splashing each other. Getting changed, while pregnant in the unheated changing rooms was quite frigid but the water was so worth it. Granted, getting out and dressed again with a toddler was rather challenging. Quinn is still talking about it a year later though. 

Back on the road, we arrived at our lodging at Northern Rockies Lodge, which sits along Muncho Lake. Muncho Lake is in the heart of the Canadian Rockies and is seriously one of the most beautiful lakes I’ve ever seen, even though it was still ice covered. I wish we would have had more time to explore. As we were all starving we called ahead and had pizza waiting for us when we arrived before the kitchens closed. We were happily chatting away and eating when Quinn’s flu bug reached its climax. Despite having only vomited a few times in her life and she proceeded to projectile vomit everywhere. We got her showered, only to have her vomit all over again as soon as she got out. After their second shower, the cycle repeated until after three showers she seemed to get it out of her system. We were sharing a room with Samuel, Kara, and Tyson, so unfortunately for them, the whole room reeked of toddler vomit. I can’t quite remember now but I’m pretty sure there was one more middle of the night episode too. Thankfully the next morning, Quinn was back to high energy. We enjoyed a nice little breakfast at the Lodge restaurant before getting back on the road for another day of driving. We had a nine and a half hour drive to Grand Prairie, Alberta ahead of us. We stopping for lunch and dinner in Fort Nelson and Dawson Creek, respectively, but it was another day of very little in between those cities, except lots of stunning scenery.

---

Jasper National Park

The next morning was one of days I was most excited for during our road trip. We had planned to visit Banff and Jasper National Parks on Labor Day 2020, but the pandemic had other plans. Thankfully now we would be able to finally check these beautiful parks off our bucket lists.

We left Grand Prairie and headed toward Jasper and Banff National Parks, where we would be staying at the much lauded Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (6 hours 45 minutes). Through the heart of the Canadian Rockies, this drive is hard to capture in words as it is so very breathtaking. Unfortunately, Luke slept through most of Jasper National Park as he had started feeling sick so I look over driving for a few hours. The mountains on either side of the drive were unlike anything I’d seen before with their sharp, jagged peaks. Four hours into our drive, we stopped to get lunch at Jasper Brewing Company. Once we were in Jasper, Quinn’s stomach bug migrated to her bowels. I will forever associate Jasper National Park with Quinn and her stomach issues. At this point of the drive there were steep snowdrifts still on either side of the roads. We would be driving around gorgeous scenery before all of a sudden hearing a terrible noise from the back seat. Quinn was changed in Jasper at least five times, with a few of them requiring her to be propped up on snow drifts. 

So much of Jasper and Banff was still buried under deep snow so we could do minimal hiking and many of the main attractions were still closed for the season. We were able to go to the Columbia Icefields, though the wind was bitter and harsh so only Samuel and I ventured out for a peek. We had wanted to do the Skywalk, however this was also closed in April. Thankfully sights like Pyramid Island were open, and despite still being frozen the views from this short walk fall far short of any picture. We also saw the Athabasca and Sunwapta Falls, which were mostly frozen but still beautiful.

---

Banff National Park

Since first planning this trip back in the summer of Covid, I had wanted to stay in the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Samuel and I ended up splurging and we both used points to stay at the famous hotel. The views from the Fairmont were truly stunning, with our rooms overlooking Lake Louise. While we were visiting during the shoulder season, we were able to book our rooms at a reduced rate and were upgraded for free to the lake view rooms. The lake was still ice covered, though they had shut down the ice rink for the season. We, along with many of the other guests ventured out onto the ice despite signs posting warnings. We were fine, until we felt our heels sinking into the ice and snow, so we soon turned around and ventured back. The hotel itself is elegant, though it did feel a little used and dated. That said, we had one of the most amazing breakfasts ever overlooking the lake the next morning. 

---

Waterton Lakes National Park

Starting out on our six hour leg to Waterton Lakes National Park the next morning we headed south to drive through Kootenay National Park. It was another day of stunning scenery, with us getting into Waterton Park after dark, which is the town in the heart of the Waterton Lakes National Park. We stayed at the cozy Waterton Glacier Suites. As we were in a shoulder season most of this area was still closed. The next morning we woke, surrounded by mountains, with a herd of deer just wandering through the front yard.

---

Glacier National Park

On our way to Yellowstone, we officially left Canada, and took a detour to Glacier National Park. As it was still quite early in the year, we could only drive a few miles into Glacier before the road was closed.

---

Yellowstone National Park

Continuing on to West Yellowstone we got into our Explorer Cabin rather late. It was shocking how much snow was still in the area, with the piles reaching to our chest. 

We spent the next morning exploring Yellowstone where much of the park was still closed due to snow and Old Faithful had only reopened a few days prior. I’ve been to Yellowstone three other times, but this time was by far my favorite. Every other time I’d visited had been in the height of summer, with crowds overwhelming. On this visit, the crowds were minimal and with snow still covering everything you could truly appreciate the extent to the geothermal activity that was everywhere in the park. Open fields that in the summer would just look like meadows were billowing steam in the frosty morning. We drove straight to Old Faithful, where the kids were having fun running around the boardwalk while waiting for the geyser. Poor Ty fell and scraped his chin terribly while we were playing. We stopped along several key sites like the Artist Paint Pots and drove through the Lamar Valley. The East Entrance for Yellowstone was still closed so we had to backtrack to officially start our long drive back to Michigan.

---

Wind Cave National Park

For the first time on the drive, our focus really started leaning towards getting home. We make sure to drive past Crazy Horse Monument and Mount Rushmore as Luke had never seen them before. The last true excursion on our road trip home was at Wind Cave National Park. This was my first time at Wind Cave National Park and let me preface the experience by saying it might be the most memorable one of the trip.  We visited the park just when it was Quinn’s nap time. We hadn’t had lunch yet so we were all a touch hangry too. A perfect recipe for disaster. Thankfully we found some vending machines while we waited for our tour to start. We were on a tour with approximately 15 or so strangers. Just as we started walking down the long long long flight of stairs into the cave system, Quinn totally started freaking out. We’ve put her in countless new and unique situations, and she’s never reacted like this. She was crying, thrashing, and yelling. Utterly inconsolable. Of course the meltdown occurred just as the tour entered a large cavern that proved to be the ideal acoustics for Quinn’s echoing cries. The poor Park Ranger was simultaneously trying to tell her spiel while the sounds emanating from my tiny child were at their loudest. At one point I let Quinn sit on the floor to see if it would calm her thrashing, with my scientist self cringing at all of the foreign bacteria she was introducing herself to, not to mention any bat guano. I don’t think I felt clean the rest of the trip. The bacteria/guano introduction didn’t help as Quinn was still screaming. It was honestly one of the most helpless I have felt as a parent, though to be honest, I can’t say I was embarrassed as it more felt like we were going through a parenting rite of passage that most everyone experiences. As the tour continued on to the next level of the cave we let all the other people go first and we took up the rear. The older people all said kind words and had sympathetic nods as they passed. The younger adults were less understanding, though I can imagine how miserable the experience was also for them. Quinn continued crying as we walked to the next cavern, before she promptly fell asleep in my arms and thankfully slept for the rest of the tour before waking up happy as could be when we reached the car. In hindsight, exploring a dark cave was something totally different than anything Quinn had previously experienced, and we did not prep her like we normally would. Usually we talk through what we are about to do with her so there are typically no surprises. The second issue we’ve identified after talking more about it with her is that she genuinely thought we were going to see a bear. She loved the song “Going on a Bear Hunt” at that stage, which ends with the hunters finding a bear in a dark cave. We had actually listened to that song just before getting to the park. So Quinn was genuinely terrified. Needless to say, memories were made and Quinn still talks to this day about crying in the cave. I think Luke and I both exited that National Park in a state of parental shock.

---

Badlands National Park

Our last national park of the trip was the Badlands. We drove through the Badlands and it still holds so much nostalgia for me. As a kid this was the first time I’d seen landscapes that varied drastically from anything I’d yet experienced. We had so much fun as kids climbing all over the various structures and getting covered in dirt. This time, with everything we’d seen on the trip it wasn’t as awe inducing but I still loved the layered landscapes. We were supposed to stay in a cute little place on the eastern side of the Badlands National Park, but we decided to push through a few more hours to cut short our last day of driving. We were so ready to be home but thankful for a trip that Quinn is still talking about a year later and the memories made with Samuel, Kara, and Ty. Plus, we couldn’t be more thankful to have Samuel, Kara, Ty, and now little Kat home in Michigan!  

---