The Alaska Highway: Day 1: Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson

by Richard Quinn | May 9, 2023 | Alaska Highway, Canadian Road Trips, Road Trips, Travel

When I arrived in Dawson Creek, I was dog tired from driving. I’d pushed it almost 500 miles that day, all the way from a tiny town called 100 Mile House, where I’d stayed in a cheap motel after crossing the border north of Seattle. According to my...

The Alaska Highway: Prelude: The Road to Dawson Creek

by Richard Quinn | May 9, 2023 | Alaska Highway, Mountains, National Parks, Road Trips, Travel

For anyone living in the United States, a drive to Alaska on the Alaska Highway is the ultimate road trip, the longest point-to-point journey you can undertake without leaving North America. A lot of people talk about making that drive, but there are relatively few...

Canadian Road Trips: Jasper and the Icefields Parkway

by Richard Quinn | Mar 9, 2021 | Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, National Parks, Road Trips, Travel

When you start a Canadian Road Trip in Edmonton, your Rocky Mountain adventure will almost undoubtedly begin in Jasper National Park, some 200 miles west on AB-16, the Yellowhead Highway. Beginning from Calgary, or points further east, your fun will more likely start...

Canadian Road Trips: Glacier and Mt. Revelstoke National Parks

by Richard Quinn | Mar 4, 2021 | Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, National Parks, Road Trips, Travel

Traveling west from Calgary on the Trans Canada Highway, you’ll drive straight through the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage site known as the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, a contiguous assemblage of no less than four of Canada’s most spectacular National...

Canadian Road Trips: Yoho National Park

by Richard Quinn | Mar 1, 2021 | Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, National Parks, Road Trips, Travel

Beginning from Calgary, the town of Banff is less than 80 miles west on the Trans Canada Highway, and Lake Louise, the most famous attraction in Banff National Park, is just 35 miles more, still on the TCH. Banff and Lake Louise get four million visitors in an average...

Canadian Road Trips: Banff and Kootenay National Parks

by Richard Quinn | Feb 28, 2021 | Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, National Parks, Road Trips, Travel

One of the best places to begin a Canadian road trip is in Calgary, the largest city in the Province of Alberta, and just fifty miles from the front range of the Rockies. If you aren’t planning to use your own vehicle for your adventure, you can easily rent one...

Canadian Road Trips: Rolling through the Rockies

by Richard Quinn | Feb 10, 2021 | Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, Road Trips, Travel

The Trans-Canada Highway, designated Canada Highway 1 in the western provinces, stretches more than 4,800 miles, from Victoria, on Vancouver Island, all the way to St. John’s, on the easternmost tip of Newfoundland. It’s one heck of a road, among the...

A Sunset at White Sands

by Richard Quinn | Nov 20, 2020 | Arizona and New Mexico, National Parks, Photography, Road Trips, Travel

I’ve always been a big fan of sunsets. I grew up in the southwest, where we have big skies that are just chock-full of particulates like sand and dust, coupled with auto emissions that pour into the air from the regions sprawling urban centers. Throw in a few...

New Mexico’s Golden Autumn

by Richard Quinn | Oct 15, 2020 | Arizona and New Mexico, Photography, Road Trips, Travel

If I was to ask you to name your top five favorite destinations for viewing fall foliage, good odds that New England would make your list, and possibly New York, as in the Catskills and the Hudson Valley. But what about New Mexico? The Land of Enchantment won’t...

Follow the Fireweed

by Richard Quinn | Feb 3, 2020 | Alaska Highway, Canadian Road Trips, Mountains, Photography, Road Trips, Travel

One big advantage of travel on the two lane highways is the perennial presence of wildflowers.  Roads create clearings, especially in forested regions, with disturbed soil along the shoulders that’s perfect for the proliferation of flowering plants. That makes...