The drive to Stewart, BC (which is the southernmost Alaska crossing IIRC) isn't that great of a drive IMO, unless you detour greatly through the Canadian Rockies.
The drive from Vancouver to Prince George and then Prince George to Stewart, BC isn't really all that special and contains a lot of boring bush.
Cache Creek about halfway to Prince George is kind of neat. It might not be impressive to an American though since its allure is that it looks like arid desert hills like a Western set in the Canadian wilderness.
Smithers, BC is a neat little town, halfway between Prince George and the Alaska border. It's mostly a ski destination though, so less cool in the summer.
I've only been as far north as Dawson Creek, but it was similarly bush/oil country.
There's lots of other scenic things in BC and Alberta, but none of them are really on the shortest path to Alaska, which is still pretty damn long.
The Haida Gwaii islands are worth a detour. But they are hard to access and not really on the way to anything.
I refuse to use the "new" names for any of these places...
But yeah, otherwise, that sounds like... The reality of roadtrips in Aus, too. People have massive expectations of what they'll be like, but in reality... Most places away from the coast are pretty... Same-y.
Not completely dull, but same-y. And full of mining towns, which is our equivalent of your tar sands and the like, lol...
Admittedly, there's no national borders to cross, so... There's that, I guess. Though it feels like, right now... Each of the states is acting like a separate country, with all the bullshit that brings, including ramping up "nationalistic"/parochial rhetoric against "out of staters"... So that's... Fun. :-/
It's less about the drive and more about the story. I had intention to map out a longer, more scenic drive, with stops on the way and on the way back. I'm coming from the Midwest.
In particular, there is a particular car I want to take the trip in. It's a rarity.
The drive to Stewart, BC (which is the southernmost Alaska crossing IIRC) isn't that great of a drive IMO, unless you detour greatly through the Canadian Rockies.
The drive from Vancouver to Prince George and then Prince George to Stewart, BC isn't really all that special and contains a lot of boring bush.
Cache Creek about halfway to Prince George is kind of neat. It might not be impressive to an American though since its allure is that it looks like arid desert hills like a Western set in the Canadian wilderness.
Smithers, BC is a neat little town, halfway between Prince George and the Alaska border. It's mostly a ski destination though, so less cool in the summer.
I've only been as far north as Dawson Creek, but it was similarly bush/oil country.
There's lots of other scenic things in BC and Alberta, but none of them are really on the shortest path to Alaska, which is still pretty damn long.
The Haida Gwaii islands are worth a detour. But they are hard to access and not really on the way to anything.
*Queen Charlotte Islands, no?
I refuse to use the "new" names for any of these places...
But yeah, otherwise, that sounds like... The reality of roadtrips in Aus, too. People have massive expectations of what they'll be like, but in reality... Most places away from the coast are pretty... Same-y.
Not completely dull, but same-y. And full of mining towns, which is our equivalent of your tar sands and the like, lol...
Admittedly, there's no national borders to cross, so... There's that, I guess. Though it feels like, right now... Each of the states is acting like a separate country, with all the bullshit that brings, including ramping up "nationalistic"/parochial rhetoric against "out of staters"... So that's... Fun. :-/
My lasting memories of Australian highways was all of the "Fatigue kills" signage.
"Don't fall asleep and kill yourself, dummy!", lol
It's funny because the same could definitely be said of boring, long Canadian highways, but there's no similar PSA preachiness.
Maybe it's because for one half of the year it's ice on the road that kills you and for the other half, it's smashing into moose and deer.
It's less about the drive and more about the story. I had intention to map out a longer, more scenic drive, with stops on the way and on the way back. I'm coming from the Midwest.
In particular, there is a particular car I want to take the trip in. It's a rarity.
Ah gotcha.
If you are coming from the east, you miss out on a lot of the north-south monotony that I mentioned.