A Cloudy and Beautiful Drive on Alaska 1-South // Alaska

September 27, 2018

Happy Thursday y'all! Today I am so excited to share with y'all about the road trip on Alaska 1- South on the fourth day of our Alaskan Road Trip. Because we were driving all the way from the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge to the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge (located in Cooper Landing in Kenai) we started the day very early in the morning. 

If you don't plan any stops and you don't run into traffic you could make the drive in approximately 5 and 1/2 hours (according to MapQuest). Because I was the only one driving throughout the entire road trip, I knew that I would not only would want to leave time to pull off and explore different areas, but also wanted to make a brief stop in Palmer and also in Anchorage. 
For the entire stay in Alaska we were honestly blessed with the best weather and the clouds on this morning gave a different look that was such a blessing to this beautiful land that I fell in love with.
Isn't it amazing how the mountains are so tall that they are rising above some of the clouds in these pictures? I was in awe as we drove through this section of Alaska 1-South.
Alaska 1-South, also known as the Alcan Highway, is a 545 mile highway that runs throughout the southern part of Alaska. One of the things that I loved most about our road trip was the opportunity to drive throughout so much beauty. It left me so incredibly speechless every single day. 
The sun had started to peak out a little bit on these mountains as I drove south towards Anchorage. It provided such unique colors against the grey and cloudy skies above.
So as I mentioned above, Alaska 1-South is about 545 miles long and we ended up in our road trip pretty much covering all of the highway. One thing that was fascinating to me about the drive (and all of the road trip in Alaska in general) was how unique and different looking different areas of the highways and road seemed.
This road was incredibly beautiful and I would go around a bend and just gasp at the amazing beauty that I was seeing. Despite this though it still seemed different than other areas of Alaska that we had explored and driven through (such as our drive through Hatcher Pass (which y'all know was a favorite *smiles*) or our drive to Cantwell, our time on the amazing Denali Highway, or the drive to Thompson Pass). 
I don't think that there was one "bad" section necessarily... it was all too unique and beautiful in precious ways. If you have ever taken a road trip through an area that you find incredibly stunning than you know exactly what I am talking about. The beauty around every corner definitely energized me in profound ways. I wanted to get out of the car, park, and just start hiking through the mountains we were seeing.
I also found the uniqueness to be a blessing on this road trip as I was doing all of the driving. I have received so many emails asking about this and so many of you were sweetly praying for strength for this aspect of the trip. I have had so many of you sweet readers ask if I found that difficult with my health and honestly... I didn't. I was so thankful for the experience of everything I was seeing that I was just trying to soak up every single moment that I was there. 

Ultimately it would have been "perfect" if my traveling companion felt the same way I did about what we were seeing and experiencing so that it could have been a better shared experience. I think that makes any trip special. But at the end of the day, the truth was that this was just not the case for my traveling companion. She ended up being on her phone anytime there was service, spending time scrolling through social media, wanting to be out of the car, and sleeping while I drove. 
I have already said this several times throughout these posts from Alaska but I had always dreamed of going to Alaska so this was an amazing experience for me and I actually loved it more than I could have ever imagined. The beauty to me was indescribable and it just swept me up in a way that I still struggle to find appropriate words to even adequately describe what I was seeing throughout the adventure.
But the opposite was true for my traveling companion. She expressed each day that she appreciated the beauty, but if we were without cell service for even a few minutes or if she was unable to connect to her social media, it was not enjoyable to her and she was ready to be off the highways and back into "civilization" as she termed it.

As I have thought back on this trip, I realized that I learned a very big lesson in this regard. Traveling for different people looks really different. I grew up in a family that made life an adventure and this translates into travel. Some people love to get out of their comfort zones, fully immerse in a new culture or experience, and others don't. Whatever works for you is awesome, but I say and share that as a bit of a word of caution for those who are considering a similar road trip in Alaska that we did, and one that includes a lot of driving on the Alaska highways. Those of you who know me well know that this would totally be my element. I LOVED every minute. I loved the beauty, the vastness, the experience and the disconnectedness from social media, etc. To me it was all an incredible adventure that I wanted to grab hold of and not let end. I wanted to get out and just grab hold of all we were seeing.

But if you are more like my traveling companion, a person who likes to visit nature very briefly, enjoys city life, or likes to be constantly connected to your social media, than this span and type of trip may not be as enjoyable for you. Had I considered this more ahead of time I definitely would have chosen a different traveling companion for this trip just because this experience was not enjoyed by her really at all.
But if you love an adventure than I can't recommend the road trip in Alaska enough. 

Seriously. I absolutely loved it.
It seemed that around every bend there was a new view to behold. 
And then we came around this bend and I gasped out loud. The blue skies were starting to be seen in the distance and the colors of the mountains, the rivers, and the greens were absolutely stunning and breath-taking.
Just around this bend I pulled off by a lake that was gorgeous that I can't wait to share with y'all in the next Alaska post. If you saw these instagram pictures HERE or HERE than you know it was one of my favorite stops! It felt like a dream it was so beautiful!

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading this post today! 

PS- If you are curious about the specific details of the road trip that we took throughout Alaska or if you are planning a similar road trip (or just want to see and dream about visiting the beauty!) I hope the information below is helpful. You can read all of the posts from the trip by clicking on the links below:

Anchorage: // Anchorage Travel Guide//

Chugach Mountains (Alaska 1-South Drive): // Scenic Seward Highway Drive (Turnagain Arm Drive)//

Chugach Mountains: // Eklutna Lake//

Cooper Landing (Kenai Peninsula): // Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge Nature Trail//



Girdwood: // Winner Creek Trail //

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