Saturday, July 9, we had another free Holiday Inn Express night in Calgary, Alberta, home of the 1988 winter olympics.

 We next drove through Banff and Jasper National Parks.

 This overpass is planted with trees and other flora to encourage wildlife to cross above rather than on the road.

 We saw no wildlife in the parks, but finally saw a couple of caribou when we were almost to Hinton, where we found another Holiday Inn Express.

 Finally, the start of the Alaska Highway:

 More road construction! We stayed at our last Holiday Inn property for a while in Fort St. John.

 It's so beautiful!

 Just chillin'

 A grizzly!

 Awwww...

 Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, home of the Alcan signpost forest. We stayed at a hotel here that was definitely NOT a Holiday Inn Express or any other modern place to stay. It was a "We've driven as long as we can and there's no place to stay for miles and we called and got the last room in town and I hope tomorrow night the mattress isn't older than me...." kind of place.

 A black bear.  One of 3 bears we saw on the 12th of July.

 More wildlife:

 Whitehorse:

 World's largest weathervane: This DC-3, after a useful life, was used to supply parts for other planes until she was restored and mounted on a pedestal, balanced so her nose always points into the wind.

 Near Haines Junction is this church built in 1954 using an old army quonset hut:

 World's largest gold pan:

 And always more construction.

 A rainbow!

 After spending the night in Tok, Alaska, in an ok cabin with a much better mattress than the night before, we arrived in Delta Junction and the end of the Alaska Highway. What an amazing accomplishment when it was built and what an amazingly beautiful drive.