Off the Beaten Path
As I looked through the slides, one thing stood out: how often my parents took us camping and picnicking—not just casual Sunday outings to a local park, but hours-long treks down gravel or dirt roads to far-flung parts of Alaska.
They’d pack up us kids, the Coleman stove, and the canvas tent, and off we’d go—overnighters into the wilderness just to see what was out there.
No GPS. No guidebooks. Just curiosity and a willingness to rough it.
Worth noting: the Interstate Highway System in Alaska consists of just four highways covering 1,082 miles. The rest? Smaller roads, often rough, sometimes seasonal, and occasionally questionable. But my parents didn’t shy away. They loaded up the car and just went.
Pollards Lake – Kasilof, AK
Knik Alaska
Palmer Highway
Camping off Richardson Highway
Worthington Glacier
Bootleggers Cove – Anchorage
Homer, Alaska
Willow Road
Girdwood
Girdwood
Meiers Lodge Richardson Highway
Polychrome Pass in Denali National Park
Marvin McNutt’s cabin & plane-Lake Hood
Tangle Lakes along Denali Highway
Ruth and children dragline bucket – Ester, AK
Homer Spit
Heading to Kenai Lake
Fish Creek
Portage Glacier
North Pole Alaska
7-up, yellow mustard and olives – quite the spread!
